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Mother's Day always had the feel of something uncontroversial cooked up by the UN at the end of a long session, after difficult things are taken care of like whether 2008 is going to be the Year of the Potato or that of Sanitation (both, actually). It is in fact no such thing, more likely the remnant of an ancient rite to Cybele, and occurs on different days in each country. This pleasantly suggests that a woman of means could avoid housework and get presents most days of the year simply by dragging her family from Nicaragua (May 30) to Mongolia (June 1) and from there to Luxembourg. Like most bland rituals, it can be done either as a gesture or as a heartfelt gesture. The hard bit these days (I speak as the son of a feminist) is to locate a mother who will accept a present on that day, with all the implications it carries that no presents will be forthcoming the rest of the year. I have developed a strategy: give the MD present several days early, seemingly at random, to suggest that a mad vein of profligacy and filial piety is taking root. Then, the next day, suggest that the present will serve equally well for Mother's Day. That way, convention is respected but without any hint that this is, in fact, it for another year. This year, however, is special: in the spirit of the old saying "teach a mother to fish," a novel opportunity has emerged in the form of a brilliant guide to perfume written by myself and my co-author. It overcomes an age-old problem. Instead of spending hours trying to remember what your mother's perfume is without asking and looking silly, or smelling hundreds of celebrity fragrances trying to remember whether your Mom said Paris Hilton (or was it J-Lo?) was a nice girl, you can give the gift that keeps on taking, and help your mother embark on an online spending spree that will likely end up bankrupting the whole family. And when the UN next year cooks up a Son's Day, she'll give you the Beckham's she mistakenly clicked on, thinking it was a girly perfume on account of the cute bottle.
View more information on Perfumes
Tania Sanchez
Luca Turin
Perfumes
guide
scent
fashion
smell
expert
Penguin Books
books
