NEWS FOR WOMEN Director Of German Perfumery In City

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28182, 22 January 1957, Page 2

NEWS FOR WOMEN Director Of German Perfumery In City

When the French Army occupied the old German town of Cologne in the late eighteenth century, military administrators found the street names confusing. Orders were given to quartermasters to ride round the town and put numbers on all houses, for easier identification.

In Glockengasse (Bell street) a perfumery was numbered 4711. That number and a bell on a blue and gold scroll is still used on the label of the products of the famous German perfume manufacturers, “L 1711 Cologne o/Rh. This is the firm that was established in 1792 in the Glockengasse house. The story was told last evening by Mr Herbert Schutte, managing director of the firm, who is now visiting Christchurch with his wife and daughter on a world tour.

Eau de cologne, a classic among perfumes, was his firm’s first product. but now the company makes a full range of exclusive perfumes as well as “everything else for a woman’s beauty,” he said. Old Favourite After some 300 years on the market, eau de cologne is still regarded as the most refreshing perfume made. It was originated by an Italian fruit vendor, who used orange and -lemon peel, a type of pear blossom found only in Sicily, orange blossom, lavender, rosemary and volatile oils as ingredients for the scent. In Cologne this perfume was known by the Latin name, .aqua mirabilis, or wonder water. French importers called it eau de cologne because it was manufactured in Cologne.

Mr Schutte believes that a woman, no matter how welldressed, is not completely groomed unless she wears perfume. But she should choose it to suit her personality and the

natural odour of her skin, under expert advice. General rules are: put the perfume on your skin or hair, but never on your clothes, he says. The warmth of the skin brings out the full strength of the scent and helps it to cling. Brunettes should choose heavy perfumes; blondes should wear something lighter. Good perfumes were expensive because the cost of ingredients was high, he said. Jasmine, a base of all the best products, costs about £4OO a pound, wholesale price. Women expected to buy their perfume in attractive bottles, daintily packed, and this also put up the retail valife. Age-old Lure Scent bottles, their -contents well dried up. have been found in excavations of Egyptian tombs about 4000 years old. Women, even then, knew the lure of perfume after carefully bathing and dressing for an important engagement. From the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, scent was used in Europe for another purpose—it covered up body odours because frequent washing was not a popular habit. Now the use of perfume has come back to its original purpose, to give a feeling of personal assurance and well-being. In Europe and in the United States, elegant women would no more forget to dab on their perfume than they would forget to use their lipstick when they went out in the evening, Mr Schutte said.

Mrs Schutte wears eau de cologne in the morning because it is refreshing and right for any occasion. For evening wear her favourite is Shahi, a perfume of Persian origin, which has a scent like ripe peaches. Miss Sabine Schutte, who left school recently, is allowed to use only eau de cologne.