Empress Josephine and the Patchouli scented Pandora's box.

Back in the days when I would drop orders off at Saved (now Hotel Delmano) I would always have a coffee at St. Helen (also defunct) and visit CB I Hate Perfume, (blissfully thriving). Amongst all the seductive scents in his tidy, light space I could still sniff out a fellow bibliophile.  Everything Christopher Brosius creates is lyrical and thoughtful, indeed so thoughtful that I am considering changing my opinion on Patchouli based on the story behind his Patchouli Empire.  

I also discovered that Patchouli first came to the attention of the western world one of my favorite periods of history the Regency/Empire era of the early nineteenth century. The cashmere shawls made so fashionable by the Empress Josephine & the heroines of Jane Austen novels arrived in Europe rolled in patchouli leaves. This protected the delicate fabric from being devoured by moths on the long sea voyage from India. The scent of the leaves was so pervasive that for a very long time afterward, a faint exotic perfume still wafted from these popular wraps. My inspiration for Patchouli  EMPIRE is that subtle scent the Empress Josephine might have smelled when she first opened a teak box of cashmere shawls sent to her from India.