How the Perfume Business Lost Its Class

Ivanka Trump is no Audrey Hepburn

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In the old days, celebrity perfumes were plush, rarified things—scent couture, if you will. The lucky fan might get a whiff of the magic scent, but the juice wasn’t for sale. Today, of course, every celebrity has a perfume, and all it takes is a call to the Home Shopping Network to buy it. Ever wonder how this part of Western civilization devolved in this manner?

Our story begins with the lady at right, who appeared at Hubert de Givenchy’s atelier in 1953 to find a dress for the movie Sabrina.

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