Tabu by Dana (1932)

 

In the same way that people want to drink a full-bodied red wine or peaty scotch on winter days rather than, say, a vodka grapefruit, perfumistas often veer toward fragrances in the Oriental category when it's cold outside. (I'm in New York City at the moment, and the Weather Channel is telling us that the "real feel" temperature is hovering around 7 degrees. Eeep!)

Well, lucky for me, my shipment from the Miniature Perfume Shoppe arrived. The vintage Tabu perfume I received has been a revelation, not just in comparison with the pathetic Tabu formula available now in drugstores, but in allowing me to think about Tabu's relationship to the Oriental fragrances that followed it and to the concept of overt sexuality in fragrances.

Top notes: Bergamot, Orange, Neroli, Coriander, spice notes
Heart notes: Clove bud, ylang-ylang, rose oriental, jasmine, narcissus, clover
Base notes: Patchouli, civet, cedar, vetiver, sandalwood, benzoin, amber, musk, oakmoss

Created by perfumer Jean Carles of Ma Griffe, Shocking, and Miss Dior fame (co-created with Paul Vacher), it's said that Dana's brief to Carles was along the lines of: "Make a perfume a whore would wear." This makes me chuckle a little because so many commenters on Basenotes said of another Carles creation, Ma Griffe, that their mothers and grandmothers told them it was dubbed the prostitute's perfume! (And let's not forget that Shocking and Miss Dior both have the ol' "whiff of lady's underpants" note.)

Perhaps Carles was simply fine with overt sensuality in perfume rather than merely a hint of it, and given that the bulk of his perfumes were created in the ladylike '30s and '40s, he was certainly being subversive.

But on to the perfume. Tabu is a full-on Oriental — sweet, ambery, spicy and complex. The sweetness comes from the heady florals, clove, benzoin and amber rather than vanilla. (I was surprised not to see it in the notes in my H&R fragrance guide, but if you've ever smelled benzoin, it has a subtly vanillic scent embedded in a heavy cream richness.)

Tabu has an almost spiced, stewed fruit accord, although there are no fruit notes indicated. It's a perfume to curl up to on a cold day — and I'm talking about the vintage formulas only. I bought a bottle of Tabu in a drugstore, and although it's a cliché way to disparage a perfume, I'm not kidding that this wasn't fit to scent a taxicab. It was cheap in a way I cannot recall encountering before in drugstore perfume: the color was an unappealing orange, every note smelled synthetic, and even the plastic label was affixed askew. What a sad fate for a gorgeous Oriental that I bet inspired Calvin Klein's Obsession and probably a few other modern hits. But at least vintage Tabu is readily available online.

Unlike slightly intimidating Orientals like Opium and Magie Noire, Tabu is friendly. (Perhaps it's this, "Hey there, how YOU doin'?" personality that makes it "whorish." But let's think about how gender is constructed in this formula: If you're sexy and friendly — you might as well be a prostitute, but if you're sexy and slightly imperious or intimidating, no one can blame you for enticing the menfolk.)

As for the ads, I love how they directly address perfume's relationship to fantasy. In some, single women lost in reverie appear before the perfume's iconographic image of a couple in a passionate embrace. "Depend on it for ANYTHING!" promises one ad featuring a daydreaming, amorous-looking lady. In another, a cryptic, censored tagline reads, "In spring, ___ ___ ___!" Add your own fantasy, ladies; it's Mad Libs for the frisky woman.

In another ad, a woman with a man looks over his shoulder to a picture on the wall of the Tabu couple in a passionate embrace. Underneath is the perfume's tagline: "The 'forbidden' perfume." And then, the not-so-subtle "Tonight CAN become very special." Ha! Let's break it down, shall we? Wear Tabu, ladies, and get lucky tonight!

This is a pretty radical break with feminine propriety for the time. Women are supposed to want to be desired, but they usually stop short of (consciously) desiring to consummate their romances. I guess this ad lets them have it both ways. Since it's a fantasy — it's OK. The woman in this ad, after all, seems to be simply getting ready for a night on the town.

Unlike Axe cologne ads, which suggest the ladies will come chasing after men who wear it, Tabu ads don't promise that men will fall over themselves if women wear it. The ads do something more interesting: they invite women to have a relationship to their own desire, to dream and fantasize about romance and sex. Ultimately, the taboo of Tabu is for a woman to have a relationship to her own erotic fantasies, however culturally constructed or conventional they may be.

Go for demure perfumes if you must, but for me, if loving perfume made for whores is wrong — I don't wanna be right.

Comments

[Flora]

Interesting - I just won a vintage mini bottle on eBay, the one shaped like a violin. I love that painting used in their ads! I wanted to purge my brain of the cheap drugstore version and smell it in the older formula. I don't think it's "me" but I have not smelled the real thing for many years, and it's time I revisited this. Tabu is nothing more than a cheap joke now, but it was not always this way. I eagerly await the arrival of my little violin!

[Perfumaniac]

Hi again, Flora! I went crazy with this one and just added a few more lines about the ads. Crazy! And yes, I bet you'll enjoy your little violin bottle. Vintage Tabu is something else!

[kate]

hi I live in Australia and a year or so ago tabu bought out TABU DIAMONDS AND TABU BLACK PEARL both were beautiful but I can't find it any where and I am hiping you may have a bottle tester or not thank you

[Shirley Crowell]

I am 62 and when in my teens wore Tabu...I loved it then. Now, my 70 yr old sis still wears it and thinks it smells so great; I always tease her and tell her she smells like an old lady. That's just because we wore it all those many years ago. I still do have fond memories of the scent. I also, have a vintage violin shaped bottle in my possession.

[Perfumaniac]

Thanks for the wonderful comment, Shirley! The vintage Tabu is so beautiful.

[Cathlyn]

I just won a vintage bottle of Tabu (The old Violin) on Ebay. Can't wait. This is another that I wore when I was waaaay younger. It was so inexpensive- I won't even tell how much I didn't pay! Today I am still basking in the Vintage Intimate I received yesterday. The sillage is awesome....Yay!

[Perfumaniac]

Cathlyn, I love that inexpensive perfumes back in the day smelled as good as Tabu. (The reformulation is wretched. I'm not kidding when I say I've smelled better toilet cleaners.) You're gonna have so much fun. Between Tabu and Intimate, be careful! You're going to get yourself into some trouble. ;-)

[Cathlyn]

I know! I've smelt the new stuff and it is wretched (What an excellent descriptive word) hahaha. I've been doing my best to get into trouble- but no luck so far.

[Martha McLemore]

I am 64, have worn Tabu, seasonally, since I was 18. When I bought a replacement bottle a few weeks ago, I noticed right away that the scent was off, as well as the color. In addition, wherever I sprayed it left a temporary skin irritation I have never had from Tabu, in all the years I have used it.

There was no information on the bottle itself to explain the change, but the box carried, in tiny lettering, the disclaimer that the frangrance oil, made in the US, was the original formula, but the cologne had been packaged in China. I'm guessing that the diluant used in China is not the same as was used in US bottling companies.

Unless I can find a reliable source for original formula Tabu, I will give up wearing it. I am bitterly disappointed with the Dana company right now.

Glad to find your site. I'll return, I'm sure.

Martha

[Martha McLemore]

P.S.: I heartily recommend Hove Parfumeur in New Orleans. Send for their catalog, order samplers to test their perfumes. Tea Olive and Creole Days are two of theirs I like very much.

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Martha. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. You can be reunited with your beloved Tabu again — go on eBay and buy a vintage Tabu in a bottle you recognize. There are lots of them! Good luck, and come back and tell me if you got one and what you think.

[Perfumaniac]

Creole Days is such a fantastic name! I'll have to try it out again. And Tea Olive is their best-seller I think.