Dubious Blondes, Sexy Male smells, and a found relative

EMOS

This is most excellent Finding Emo from the Christchurch Informer.

Perfumes

Luca Turin's famous blog is over, but its content is preserved in PDF form.

I loved this article on classic men's perfumes. The descriptions are to die for:

EAU SAUVAGE, BY DIOR, 1966, £31 for 50ml; 020 7216 0216 Still the bestselling fragrance in France — and has been ever since it was launched. An aggressive citrus that fades to a subtle but dangerously woody and oriental mist.

HABIT ROUGE, BY GUERLAIN, 1965, £30 for 50ml; 01932 233887 The most exciting male fragrance of all time: a fizzy, semi-oriental vanilla that stays on the skin for hours. It’s strong, but with no difficult notes, and the crackling vanilla makes you feel very sexy.

EAU D’HERMES, 1951, £45 for 100ml, from Harrods; 020 7730 1234 Refined cumin and subliminal flowers, but basically ragingly feral and leathery: the divine stink of shameless and corrupt wealth.

POUR UN HOMME, BY CARON, 1934, £35 for 75ml, from Fortnum & Mason; 020 7734 8040 One of those ‘appreciate the art of the perfumier’ numbers — the vanilla and lavender battle it out, then settle and glow. Subtle, powdery, dry and sweet. And girls love it.

CUIR DE RUSSIE, BY CHANEL, 1924, £120 for 200ml; 020 7493 3836 Smooth leather that sinks gracefully to a rude animal note. Sold as a women’s fragrance, but its take on femme is so Dietrich in drag, it may as well be pour homme.

ARAMIS, 1964, £27 for 60ml; 0870 034 2566 Non-ironic bloke fragrance that, despite its dad rep, is actually a rapture in bronze or brown, culled from spices (bay leaf and juniper), shiny wood and thick leather.

LE DANDY, BY PARFUMS D’ORSAY, 1923, £60 for 100ml, from Selfridges; 0870 837 7377 Luscious, with a sugary plum, Armagnac, whisky and tobacco hit. A reissue that still carries the feel of brandy, cigars and late 19th-century dining.

HAMMAM BOUQUET, BY PENHALIGON’S, 1872, £45 for 50ml; 0800 716108 An intriguing oriental that threatens to overpower you with roses and musk, then gracefully bows and recedes.

Sunday Times Style magazine is one of my favourites for its great writing. Our NZ Sunday Star Times recycles a lot of its content, but without its panache. Plus the Sunday Times Style has AA Gill's restaurant reviews.

Dodgy types

Apparently this year you get to vote for NZ's proud representative in this tawdry old comp. Txt away. Yeah right.

On the topic of dubious blondes, a new novel by Rupert Thomson tells the story of a police constable guarding the body of Moors murderer Myra Hindley. Sounds like a riveting read:
"It is here that one senses Thomson's real purpose and his real triumph in a novel that is as unsettling as you would want any piece of art to be: that Billy's final, bathetic judgment on Hindley - 'You did something people couldn't bring themselves to think about. You forced them to imagine it. You rubbed their noses in it' - is clumsy and inadequate, and yet as articulate as it is possible to be."

Myra Cohen

While doing some training at work, I came across an entry in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography for my great aunt Myra Cohen 1892 - 1959 - Barber, dental assistant, entertainer, milliner. My great grandmother was her sister Kate Cohen.

Comings and Goings

I want to see this exhibition of knit art. Jacquelyn Greenbank is simply genius.

Alison recommends: Charlie Brooker in The Guardian. She is right, he is ace.