Changing Tastes

Why do our tastes change? Collectively, we have seen major transitions in the perfume tastes of the world. The world's first cologne (Germany's fabled 4711, still around today) is a citrus; then the world fell in love with florals (also still around today). In the 1920s, adelhydes came into vogue (still around today). By the 1950s, we were all about Orientals. Remember Youth Dew? I bought some Youth Dew last year because I like it but it seemed downright nostalgic. It was almost olfactory history. That kind of scent--deeply Oriental, spicy, strong, sultry, almost dark--is totally out of vogue.

Today, our perfumes smell like food (Sugar and Lemon Sugar by Fresh, Pink Sugar by Aquolina, Almond Cookie by Carol's Daughter, and so on). The trend toward fruity florals is very popular and sometimes we leave out the floral part.

But why does this change? Does it have to do with our collective fashion sense? One would think that perfumes are "invisible fashion" and that people would feel freer to indulge in what suited them rather than the "in" color or hot new style. Is our love affair with food spilling over into fragrance?

While I was pondering this, I had an experience I've heard about but never had personally. A scent that I previously liked and wore (albeit occasionally--I have a pretty big perfume rotation going so I don't often wear the same scent over and over) came up again in the rotation. Without even thinking, I sprayed some on.

Yuck! I suddenly wanted to get it off! I have never had that kind of negative response to a perfume that I previously liked. I'm wondering whether our "nose" changes with our physical condition, diet, health status, and medications we might be taking. Or whether it's a taste thing. This scent seemed suddenly too powdery and there was an odd clunker note in it. Do we lose our preferences for powdery scents the way we might suddenly get tired of our black clothes or our Burberry purse?