I've just now gotten around to scanning some amazing perfume ads I had copied from vintage Vogue magazines when I was in New York in January. I hope you'll agree that they're worth the wait!
In the grand reading (and sleeping, texting and videogame-playing) room on the third floor of the New York Public Library (main branch), I requested one vintage Vogue after the next. (The earliest ones I got were from the '20s.)
Even as some of the brittle pages crumbled under my fingers, I felt as if I had history in my hands. Or at least the history of what it was like to be a woman in the first half of the last century — that is, better-coiffed, maquillaged, and exhausted from all the effort.
Take this ad for the Bou-K-Bra, "a bra that you scent with your personal cologne or perfume" via a "scent-petal" that fit into the bra's hidden pocket.
Clearly, this thing went the way of the pointy bra, but look how happy you were supposed to be to have a scented sachet crammed into your brassiere. Having watched a slew of Mad Men episodes, I understand what was hidden behind that smile...Enjoy anyway!
This is great! What a fun find...thanks for bringing it to us!
Posted by: ScentScelf | April 10, 2010 at 04:52 PM
What a fun ad!
Would I be crazy if I said I wanted one? (minus the pointy-ness?) :-)
Posted by: Abigail | April 11, 2010 at 01:02 AM
Haha, Abigail. I kinda do too! She just looks so darn happy - I mean, perky! And ScentScelf, I had a lot of fun at the library and I'm glad I get to share my finds. Not sure if the poor staff there had fun lugging giant Vogues for me for the few days I was parked there, but they were awesome to me.
Posted by: Perfumaniac | April 11, 2010 at 02:50 PM
But Vogue is always aspirational. As historical evidence it is only evidence of an ideal, not reality. Hardly anyone dresses out of Vogue now, so would they in 1948? Still, the makers of the Bou-K-Bra were in business, so they must have been hoping to sell it to someone! Anyway, thanks for the ad!
Posted by: Anne | April 11, 2010 at 06:41 PM
Okay, I totally want one of these! :-D
Posted by: Flora | April 12, 2010 at 02:05 AM
I'monna Make My Own Bou-K-Bra... I have cotton pads right here, and perfume, and at least a little bit o'cleavage to stick the scented pad into...
This is pretty great, actually, the scent wafts up to the nose!
Posted by: Mals86 | April 12, 2010 at 10:46 AM
With all the interest I'm hearing from you guys, I'm beginning to think someone needs to patent this— stat! Avery at FirstNerve.com discovered it was never even given one...
Posted by: Perfumaniac | April 12, 2010 at 12:12 PM
C'mon girls !! All you have to do is take one of those little cotton cosmetic rounds, put some perfume on it & stick it inside your bra !! I've been doing it since high school !!!
Posted by: Wild Violets | June 27, 2010 at 01:37 AM
WV: I think this is why you nor I have never seen this product on the market. Although, "Camelflage" exists, so it's not like people aren't still producing weird, unnecessary products! :)
Posted by: Perfumaniac | June 27, 2010 at 09:29 AM
WV, I discovered the saturated cotton ball (suitably flattened out!) in the bra having bought Guerlain Mayotte, a lovely tuberose, for over $200 in the clutches of a Bergdorf SA, which, for my money, should have lased longer than the fleeting hour I could detect it. It came in the bee bottle without an atomizer, so I had been applying it with a cotton ball anyway. Some get tucked into a bra, and some into my pillowcase, though with the cold weather coming on, a switch may be in order.
PM, Camelflage? Oy vey!
Posted by: julie | October 22, 2011 at 06:07 PM