What does elegant even mean these days? It feels like a throwback concept that went out the window along with occasion wear. For the most part, you don’t see us wearing ball gowns or elbow-length gloves when we head off for the evening (at least before pubs were shut down by the 10pm curfew). And, it’s pretty rare that you’ll spot someone dressed for work in a matching tweed skirt suit with a string of pearls and a pair of Mary Janes.
Like our outfits, our fragrances have become more casual over time. Ever since the 90s, and the rift created by lightweight perfumes like CK One and Dior Dune, undone and pared-back scents have seen an explosion.
New introductions in heavy, heady “occasion scents” have tended to take a backseat (with a few notable exceptions, like Frederic Malle’s Portrait Of A Lady), while existing classics from fragrance houses like Guerlain, Chanel and Cartier, have stood-in whenever we’ve needed something with old-school sophistication.
Which brings us back to elegant scents, and what they mean today. If you ask OG perfumer, Coco Chanel, “elegance is when the inside is as beautiful as the outside,” which translated, surely means that elegant perfumes are the feel-good scents that you feel a personal connection to. They’re the scents that make you feel fancy, or powerful, or pulled together, or at ease. They’re intimate, they’re quietly confident and the only person they have to impress, is you.
Which means that they could really be anything that makes you feel chic, special and a little bit more polished.
To get you started, here are a few of our favourites, from classic to unconventional.