
France was the center of fashion for all matters of beautiful living in the first half of the 18th century. The court indulged in heavy scents. Perfume was a fashion statement as well as a necessity: scents were used to protect oneself from bad smells that might be contagious, and they were also a symbol of social power.
All this was to change in the 2. half of the 18th century, and the change moved on to Britain: British noblemen and -women on their Grand Tour of the Continent witnessed and adopted the so-called olfactory revolution of the late 18th century …