Windsong and White Shoulders

Today's momentary passion is a memory - a memory my nose remembers best. Windsong perfume, by Prince Matchebelli and White Shoulders, by Evyan of New York city, are two signature fragrances worn by my late mother, Caroline. When a girl of 19 loses her mother she has but her memories to carry her a lifetime. It's amazing how the mind, body and senses work together to ensure we do not forget those who go before us. I had not thought about these fragrances in a long time but something in this hot summer day clicked and there I was digging around the WWW doing a little research. When I happened upon an image of the very regal "crown" bottle of Windsong there was surprise and instant recall of this bottle on a dresser top from my childhood. It might even be my grandmother's dresser top. Of course most folks my age remember that ...Windsong stays on your mind. Commercial from the early 70's drilled that into us. :-)

The fact is although I have memories of both fragrances, White Shoulders is what I think of most when I think of mom in the summertime. Never overpowering, lightly floral with a fresh bathed crispness and a bit of sexy base notes. LOL! Readers should be warned I haven't a clue how to describe fragrances - it's hard enough to try to keep up with my wine snob friends and their descriptions. Others in bloggy-land are more experienced in the history of fragrances and I will hook you up here to a fabulous post by Amelia about this truly American perfume over at The Vintage Perfume Vault.

Created in 1940 this perfume is considered to be one of the most desired and successful of all American perfumes. It was war time and Americans wanted to spend their money on things made here at home. Hmmm - something sounds familiar.

I'm simply going to have to smell some White Shoulders fragrance today - somewhere. I will search out a Sephora if I have to; it's hard to explain, but I may even need to buy some White Shoulders today. If you think about how fashions come back in style it is not a stretch to imagine that the accompanying fragrances regain popularity as well especially when they remind of of better times.

P.S. The formatting of this post has been a battle today - for no apparent reason. Ug!