Paul Poiret
le Catalogue Publicitaire des Parfums de Rosine (cover and page)
circa 1923
Of this catalogue’s seventeen featured scents by Poiret, the compositional layout of le Mouchoir de Rosine (right inset) is, in opinion, one of its finest. The columnar arrangement of text and image, as well as the choice of dainty, effeminate typeface, exudes on behalf of the perfume the sense of an unfussy and to-the-point character, fiery red (though discreet) in determination and stature. The perfume’s deep orange casing itself, while unopened, stands tall with prominence and solidity, rather like a miniature Greek pillar fit to leg any great monument heralding a goddess. With its top off, the casing’s base transforms into the gilt pedestal of a wonderfully crafted bud of tissued flame, or indeed a plume of satin petals, inside of which is no doubt wrapped the precious flask of le Mouchoir. Floating to the left of the photograph and its supporting description is a monochromatic illustration of two flower heads, each cleverly mirroring the shape of the blossom-like tissue assemblage in the photograph while also drawing a visual parallel between the catalogue’s cover page (left inset) and those which follow, and therefore allowing a continuous and uninterrupted flow of reading ease. In all, there is a dreamy quality which delicately saturates the pages of this catalogue, whether seen as a whole or, as in this case, seen only by a page. Nearly one hundred years on this quality remains, hovering as a mist over leaves of paper and ink slowly fading with the inevitability of time.
