FASHION STATEMENTS —— FRAGRANCE HAS bee!" used in various forms for more than 5,000 years bY Egyptians, Romans, Per- sians and Arabians, but i a didn’t actually become P© fume until the French . perfected it in the 18th ce? tury. It was in Grasse, France, that the birth of true perfume esse ; took place in the 1780s, and thi . ob ‘ . IN GRASSE, France, the industry, thousands of flow?’ ALL small city still produces most of the world’s fragrance. The North Shore News recently travelled to Grasse, and visited the Fragonard Perfumery, one of the world’s largest producers. Grasse is located in the Riviera region of France, just north of Cannes, and the countryside surrounding it is covered in roses, jasmine and lavender flowers. As far back as the Middle Ages the town was an important eco- : nomic centre because of its leather tanneries. ‘During the 16th century, - Catherine de Medicis introduced the fashion of wearing perfumed gloves, and Grasse began growing the plants to supply its tanneries . with the raw materials for making the fragrant gloves. Today Grasse is the world cen- tre for a multi-billion dollar business, with fragrance being the major source of income for the ci- ty and its neighboring villages. The most enchanting aspect of Grasse’s perfume industry is the harvest. Thousands of flowers are handpicked at dawn. Handheld lights trace a path through the colorful fields to collect the petals which are still moist with morning ‘dew. Photo submitted orld cenire tor: the perfume-making rg are hand-picked at dawn. CLOTHING IN STORE ‘ends Ew, 0 Lonsdale 2nd Floor muy 18/93 quay Market ob 4-G044 n BC. Canada ” Made in s ORT CANADIAN sue eos" ORNATE BOTTLES are a nice way to package scents. The essence of the fresh flowers is extracted when they are delivered to the factory. If you would like to try it yourself, here is how it’s done. After the flower petals are gathered and piled high on the factory floor, they are cither distilled or macerated in large vats where the oils are drawn off. Delicate flowers are distilled, with petals heated in water to the boiling point. The essence is col- lected as the vapor condenses. Less-delicate flowers are macerated, soaked in animal or vegetable fat. Fresh petais are ad- ded as old ones are taken away so that the fat eventually turns into an oil essence. This is not the final process, : however, since perfume is not simply made up of crushed flower petals. It would take 2,000 pounds of petals to produce one pound of pure fragrant oil. Since most per- fumes contain from 75 to 200 dif- ferent essences, it would not be financially practical to le. per- fume-making stop here. : A perfumer must add fixatives ASK WAYNE Graduated 1968 from the International Fabricare Institute in Silverspring, Maryland, Q: Kerean Care symbols A: I have received numerous e phone calls about care symbols. Most drycleaners are familiar with the North American care symbols. However, not many people can read the foreign symbols, especialy Asian care symbols. Most Asian care symbols are similar to the North American care symbols, For example, the cir- cle symbol indicates that garments may be drycleaned, The diagonal! cross superimpos- ed on the circle means do not druclean. The wetcleaning symbol is usually a square with some number inside. The number indicates the washing temperature in degres Celsius, Unusual symbols are drying symbols. The Korean ‘hang dry’ and ‘hang dry in shade” symbols are given below: Hany dey Gang dev in shade CAROUSEL CLEANERS Outside location between Canada Trust & Woodward’ 's Mon-Wed. 6:30 to 6.30pm Thurs-Fri 6:30 to 9:00pm Saturday 6:30 to 5:30pm Sunday bie yi to 5:00pm 922-4811 Park Royal Nurth © Visit Our New Location: Dollar Shepping Centre 929-4890 for the perfumes that we buy. The complicated process is described as being similar to a symphony in its many subtle harmonizing variations. He can distinguish the subtle to essences to produce the fragrance, A tour of the Parfumerie Fragonard demonstrated methods of making perfume, a perfume museum illustrated its history, and the factory’s retail outlet stocked dozens of the most famous de- See Scents page 17 signer fragrances at cost price. . Fragonard produces scents not only for the perfume and soap in- dustry but also for cosmetics and food flavoring, It has been in operation since 1926. Well-known fragrances by de- signers including Chanel, Guerlain, Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Robanne are created at this factory from dif- ferent natural substances. In its laboratories, these subtle perfumes are developed daily by the com- pany’s ‘‘nose.”’ The perfumerie’s clients have chosen the particular type of mood and smell desired for the new fragrance before the flowers are even planted, but following the harvest, the expert nose does his work. The mixing-master sits in his laboratory behind a table stacked high with row after row of amber colored bottles, labelled like a chemist’s. He (there are only male noses at Fragonard, and only two female noses in the world) is responsible *European Facials . f ¢Pedicures : *Manicures # Waxing »Cift Certificates . 4 BEVERLY BALL . 986-1818 DEN Tr ean bat we e oe ie *e fristbtion, ye lg Asa public Service we Rafle fee, f. CHRISTIE & Co. Dugald E. 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