What in God’s green earth (well, snowy in Paris for the moment) possessed Guerlain to name their new fragrance La Petite Robe Noire, aka « the Little Black Dress »? As every blogger and her sister has remarked by now, the item is kind of a Chanel trademark; and the scent itself, as Octavian Coifan says, is anything but black, unless the black refers to the defunct Black Cherry Vanilla Coke.

Guerlain’s scents were always too narrative to lend themselves to the abstract, stylized, go-with-everythingness of the LBD. And despite the lovely array of black dresses lent by star vintage dealer Didier Ludot’s Petite Robe Noire boutique in the Palais-Royal (both vintage and reproductions), the new Guerlain isn’t so much a garment as a bit of pastry – definitely closer in spirit to Sofia Coppola’s gourmande Marie-Antoinette than to Blake Edward’s Holly Golightly.