SMELL WORLD

SMELL WORLD

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SMELL WORLD
SMELL WORLD
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A new publication about scent and the intersection of art, culture, and technology.

Quinn MacRorie
Jul 11, 2023
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SMELL WORLD
SMELL WORLD
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Smell World is a space for musings on scent in aesthetics, art, culture, and technology, past and present.

There is plenty of fragrance-focused media that answers the basic question “what does this smell like?” Smell World is not a publication focused on reviews (though they will pop up occasionally). I’ll probably never publish a list of the top ten compliment-getters or espouse the sexiest smelling fragrances according to Perfume Tok.

Instead, Smell World attempts to move beyond surface-level marketing and base consumerism to explore the wider culture context and role of fragrance in our lives. What does scent communicate and how? How are wider historical and cultural trends reflected in scent? Does scent merely reflect these trends or does it shape them? How could we construct and ontology of fragrance?

We will examine these questions and more. Join us, won’t you?

A 1970s perfume ad for Charlie by Revlon. A smiling woman wearing a disco jumpsuit stands in front of a sparkly blue background. The words "let's dance" are printed next to her. "Charlie" is printed over the photograph along with, "the gorgeous, sexy-young fragrance by Revlon."
A 1970s ad for Charlie by Revlon

Charlie, from 1975, was one of the first perfumes to capitalize on the women’s liberation movement in its marketing. It was positioned as the fragrance for the fun, free girl-on-the-go—a retro precursor to today’s girlboss.

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