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subscribe to beauty blog via RSSFirst Look: Jade Jagger Does Shalimar
July 27, 2010 11:48 am
The storied love affair between the seventeenth-century Indian prince Shah Jahan and his beloved Princess Mumtaz Mahal inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal, one of the greatest monuments ever built. It also happened to inspire the creation of Shalimar, arguably one of the greatest fragrances of the twentieth century. Named for the magnificent Indian garden that witnessed the couples’ epic romance, Jacques Guerlain’s oriental eau has captured the hearts—and noses—of millions of women, cherished for its rich, opulent scent and its Baccarat crystal flacon with the blue stopper. Since debuting in 1925 at the International Exposition of Decorative Arts in Paris, the fountainlike curves of the original Shalimar bottle have experienced their fair share of transformations. The streamlined “bat bottle” sticks out in recent memory, having encapsulated the vanilla, iris, opopanax (sweet myrrh), and Tonka bean scent since 2001. With a new decade upon us, though, Shalimar’s eau de parfum bottle was due for a post-aughties makeover—and who better to come in at the design helm than rock progeny-turned-jewelry designer Jade Jagger? (Keith Richards’ wife and daughters have already served as spokesmodels for the fragrance, and you can never really have too many Rolling Stones tie-ins, right?) Jagger’s bottle (above, left) officially debuts in September, but we’re premiering it here to ogle its new shape (oh, the beveled glass!) and see a couple of its predecessors, including the original. If we could somehow program a “seek and find” game so you could click what’s new and what has stayed the same, we would. Until then, please feel free to list your discoveries in the comments section below. Which bottle is your favorite?
tags: Fragrance, Guerlain, Jade Jagger, Shalimar
Favorite bottle? Tough call…
Seeing the versions lined up makes me curious about their respective formulas: what changed, what stays the same in them?
What comes to mind is that without Guerlain going for a dig in the archives and a run of some historic pantry of perfume ingredients, no one could feel the first incarnation even if a bottle of the vintage may have survived. Perhaps a rewind of the timeline back into living memory would befit the nod to the first bottle design? Jut a nice thought…
By NotMod on 07/28/10 at 7:18 am