Red Moscow

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Red Moscow ( Russian Красная Москва Krasnaja Moskwa ) is a classic Russian fragrance for women.

history

The last Russian Tsar Nicholas II is said to have commissioned a perfume in 1913, which was intended as a gift for his wife. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov family , the tsar presented his wife, Maria Feodorovna , with Le Bouquet préféré de l'Impératrice [“The Tsarina's Favorite Scent”]. The gift was received with enthusiasm and the fragrance quickly established itself at court and subsequently within the Russian bourgeoisie . With the end of the Tsarist Empire, the heyday of Russian perfumery also ended.

The creator of the regent perfume was Auguste Michel from France , a student of the famous perfumer Henry Brocard (1839–1900), who founded a factory in Moscow around 1864. Brocard felt closely connected to Russian culture and later called himself Andrej Afanassjewitsch . His soaps and fragrances found recognition not only in Russia, but also in Paris. Michel took over the management of the company after his death. After the October Revolution , the company was nationalized. While Brocard's heirs fled to France, Auguste Michel stayed in Russia and in future created fragrances for the general public. When the Soviets wanted to give the factory a new name, Michel suggested “Novaya Sarja” (Новая Заря, New Dawn). The idea was taken up and implemented. Polina Schemchuschina , the wife of the then head of government Molotov, ran the factory from 1930 to 1932.

The Tsarina's favorite fragrance has also been renamed and repositioned: Red Moscow as an exclusive Soviet perfume for festive occasions. The name evokes images of hammer and sickle , Lenin and the Russian Revolution . The same product was no longer in the tsarist tradition, but represented the new ideology. The target group was no longer a few noble women, but many female workers. Due to its low cost, the fragrance quickly found widespread use and received international attention. In 1958 he was awarded a prize at the Expo 58 in Brussels. Red Moscow survived the end of the Soviet Union, is still produced in the same fragrance note and is now considered a connoisseur and collector's fragrance. The production facilities are still located in Moscow's Danilovsky district.

Viktorija Vlasowa considers the product identity to be an invention and claims that Krasnaya Moskva was a new development from the 1920s, perhaps 80% identical to the odor mixture of Le Bouquet préféré de l'Impératrice . However, she does not provide any evidence to support her thesis.

Characteristic

The scent is bitter, heavy and can be perceived from afar.

It is a product of the Chypre floral fragrance family . For many Russians, the scent is associated with melancholy and a certain sentimental mood, often with nostalgic memories of the Soviet times. A heavy sweetness is accompanied by a hint of citrus fruit and clove grass and unmistakably mixes with the scent of birch wood and musk . The recipe consists of more than 60 components. The official description of the perfume reads: "Fine, warm, noble aroma with a hint of orange blossom". The perfume critic Rudolf Friedman wrote in 1955: "Krasnaya Moskva is associated with elegant warmth, playful and flirtatious indolence, melodious, plastic melodicity." He also praises a special beauty and a rich smell. Renata Litvinova associates the scent with a “feeling of normal healthy nostalgia”.

distribution

Red Moscow with its “sweet, heavy aroma” was represented at all Supreme Soviet celebrations and at military parades on Victory Day from 1925 , in the Moscow Conservatory and in the Bolshoi Theater , at weddings and graduation ceremonies, and later also in the Warsaw Pact countries . The fragrance met the taste of Soviet women and their husbands and lovers very well. Russia Beyond the Headlines writes that in the USSR “the smell of cigarette smoke, alcohol and dust was often omnipresent. But in the midst of the smell, you could often make out the distinctive and incomparable note of a Soviet perfume. ”It was clearly Krasnaya Moskva . The recognizability of the fragrance led to its long-lasting success.

The perfume was omnipresent, it was "in the air wherever it was particularly festive in the Soviet Union", according to the historian Karl Schlögel . The limited competition also promoted the supremacy of the fragrance in the communist sphere of influence. The end of the Soviet Union meant that many women now avoid the fragrance because a larger selection is available and the individual note is sought.

The Chanel Nº 5 fragrance was created on the basis of Le Bouquet préféré de l'Impératrice .

swell

literature

  • Rudolf Arkadjewitsch Friedman: Perfumery. 1955.
  • Karl Schlögel : The scent of empires. Chanel No 5 and Red Moscow. Hanser, 2019.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Paula Pfoser: Chanel No. 5 and the scent of the Soviets. ORF (Vienna), February 22, 2020, accessed on July 3, 2020.
  2. ^ Cladia Wegner: From Tsar Gift to Nostalgic Perfume - Rostes Moscow. In: Gentleman Blog. October 18, 2016, accessed July 3, 2020.
  3. ↑ Viktorija Vlasova: Krasnaya Moskva: The Life of a Legend. fragrantica.com, January 12, 2018, accessed on July 3, 2020. (With numerous images)
  4. ↑ Anna Trofimowa: A red breath: The fragrances of the Soviet Union. In: Russia Beyond , May 10, 2014, accessed July 3, 2020.
  5. ↑ Sasha Raspopina: Smells like Soviet spirit: a brief history of perfume and cosmetics. Originally published by The Calvert Journal , reprinted by The Guardian (London) November 19, 2014, accessed July 3, 2020.