Is Serbia “Land of Lilacs”? – Perhaps, But It Already Has a National Perfume Smelling of Plums and Frankincense, Created by the Famous Jo Malone

“Is Serbia a land of lilacs or not?” and “Are they kidding us or are we kidding ourselves?”. These are the topics and dilemmas that have set social networks on fire since yesterday, and the occasion is the “first Serbian national perfume”, which was presented yesterday in Paris by the first lady of Serbia, Tamara Vucic.

The national perfume was created at the oldest perfume factory in the world, and at the same time, as the media report, is the first perfume of a country that aims to “represent its national scent”.

Lilac Valley

The perfume will be called “Land of Lilacs”, hence the abovementioned dilemma. To clarify, many claim that Serbia has nothing in particular to do with lilacs. However, that’s not entirely true – history says that lilacs were brought to Serbia by King Stefan Uros I of the Nemanjic dynasty, for his spouse, Helen of Anjou. In honor of her arrival, he had an entire forest of lilacs planted in the Ibar valley, so that her new home in Serbia would remind her of her previous home in Provence. It is there, around the remains on the medieval town of Maglic, that the Lilac Valley is still located.

Perfume bearing the Nemanjic dynasty coat of arms

We’re going to skip the second dilemma mentioned at the beginning of this article, but we do have one of our own: Is “Land of Lilacs” truly the first Serbian national perfume?

The range of products of the Belgrade-based company Rebox doo says that it’s not.

The “Serbia” perfume was designed, according to the website of this ad-material company, precisely as Serbia’s national perfume, which can be used as a protocolary present.

As they say, they worked on this perfume, available for women and men, with the French company Amazon Cosmetics, and its creator is the famous British perfumer Jo Malone from London, who sold its brand in 1999 to the fashion house Estee Lauder.

The “Serbia” perfume smells of frankincense, plums, raspberries and mountains and meadows, all of which are reminiscent of Serbia, representing the Serbian character, as the authors say, “in an innovative way”.

The bottle was designed in Italy, and the box features the coat of arms of the Nemanjic dynasty and the text of the Serbian national anthem.

The perfume comes in packages of 15 and 30 ml, and the price of the latter goes up to over EUR 50.

What is the “perfume index”?

Perhaps some still wonder what all the commotion regarding the national perfume is about. Those who love to complain present the well-worn argument: “Of what importance is a perfume if people are hungry?”

Well, from the economic standpoint, it is not entirely irrelevant.

The gross domestic product, consumption and investments are the main indicators of a country’s economy, but there is also something called the “perfume index”.

This concept is modeled after the famous “lipstick index”, a phrase coined during the 2001 global recession, which showed that, during economic crises, women buy lipsticks at an increased rate, which was interpreted as a way of “treating” themselves and forgetting about the bleak reality.

Similar to that, the perfume index shows that people want to smell good in times of inflation, because a nice perfume improves the mood and, again, makes one forget about the existential problems.

Escaping into a more fragrant reality

The trends in the fragrance industry for the next several years support this. They say that, during the crisis of the living costs, perfume brands will increasingly develop on the consumers’ association of scents with moods.

Research has shown that relief from the stress and anxiety caused by the inflation could be the deciding factor when it comes to consumption in the current economic climate.

As many as 81% of the customers in Great Britain are already showing a great interest in perfumes which make them “feel good”.

That is why, from now on, perfumers will aim at escapism, and the scent components most frequently associated with escaping into a better reality are nature and flowers.

“Let them…”

Malicious commenters have a response to this as well – all this, Paris included, they say, is redolent of Marie Antionette and the famous quip (misattributed to her): “Let them [put (the national) perfume on themselves].” To be fair, the Maison Dorin factory did indeed design perfumes for Marie Antionette in the 18th century.

What can we say to all this? We can only cite the famous perfumer Sophia Grojsman, who said it well when she called a perfume – a promise in a bottle.

Perhaps we should also remember Walt Whitman’s poem “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”, an elegy to President Abraham Lincoln.

We could also add – if we have to be sprayed with something, let it be perfume.

B. P.

Rebox doo Beograd

Rebox doo Beograd

Maison Dorin

Tamara Vučić

Land of Lilacs perfume

Serbia perfume

first Serbian national perfume

lilacs

King Stefan Uroš I Nemanjić

Helen of Anjou

Marie Antoinette

Walt Whitman

Abraham Lincoln

Sophia Grojsman

Lilac Valley

perfume index

When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomd