In 1920’s Paris The Fourrures Weil, founded in 1912, by three furrier brothers, Jacques, Marcel and Alfred Weil were well known for their elegant designs in fur. Weil Furriers was a family business with an elite clientele. A customer of theirs asked them if there was a specific type of perfume one could wear with real furs that would enhance the fur wearing experience and, importantly, be safe to wear with furs. Back then furs tended to acquire their own smell, a musty animalistic odor and this client wanted to mask that with an appealing scent that would not damage the furs.
It just so happened that several members of the Weil family were also interested in Perfumes and creating them so they set about developing specialized scents for this sector of the luxury marketplace. That market was, specifically, Perfumes to Wear with ones Expensive Fur Coats to Enhance the Fur Wearing Experience. Parfums Weil was launched in 1927. The original idea was to pleasantly scent fur coats but this quickly evolved into developing other regular types of perfumes as well. All perfumes that were sold between 1927 and 1954 came in glass bottles made by Baccarat.
In 1928 Weil Furriers developed and introduced a line of 3 Perfumes in Paris for the fur scenting purpose. The perfumes were named after the luxurious furs they were meant to enhance: They were Chinchilla Royal to wear with soft grey chinchilla, Zibeline to wear with rich brown Sable, and Hermine to wear with elegant white Ermine. This was a new concept in the luxury perfume industry and became an overnight success with the wealthy fur wearing clients of Weil Furriers Paris. It also launched the Weil Perfumes as a company separate from Weil Furriers that gradually produced its own line of regular perfumes.
The original vintage perfumes intended to be worn with furs came in beautiful sculptural glass bottles with ground glass stoppers manufactured by Baccarat such as the one pictured below.
This is a print advertisement showing early boxes and bottles for Zibeline and Chinchilla Royal: note the line drawings depicting the fur animals: Zimbeline for Sable and Chinchilla for Chinchilla Royal. The glass bottles came with elegant ground glass stoppers and one could also purchase atomizers to spray on the perfume in a light mist which the furriers recommended doing in their directions on how to use these fragrances to scent your furs.
Following are images of fur fashions from the 1920s and one from Weil Furriers in the 1940s to illustrate the furs worn in that era. I always find such gorgeous photos an inspiration in putting together outfits to wear now whether going all out vintage or just a little! Enjoy!
Rare and beautiful historic clothing and accessories and vintage fragrances are for sale in my online shops. If you see something on this blog that you are interested in buying, but do not find it for sale in my shops message me on Etsy or Ebay and I will get back to you about availability. I check messages daily and can always prepare a special listing for you if you do not find it already listed in the shops. Some perfumes and vintage furs and fur trimmed items are currently listed for sale in my shops and others will be listed as they are ready to sell. Items are always in process of being readied for listing so all inventory is not already listed and photographed. Feel free to message me on Ebay or Etsy if you are seeking something in particular as I may have it or be able to find it for you. There are contact seller buttons on all listings in the stores which allow you to write me messages.
FashionConservatory: Lady Violette Boutique
Tags: Vintage Fur, Vintage Perfumes
