Perfect Scent A Year Inside the Perfume Industry in Paris and New York

New York Times scent critic Chandler Burr spent a year behind the scenes of the perfume industry -- one of the most secretive, glamorous, and lucrative in all the realm of luxury goods. The result is a remarkable work of reporting on both art and business, a nuanced portrait of two dissimilar people, Jean-Claude Ellena and Sarah Jessica Parker, who had one thing in common: their quest to create the perfect scent. Ellena was hired by Hermes in Paris to create a fragrance that will rival Chanel No. 5, the perfume that has, for 90 years, dominated sales around the globe. In New York, Coty enlists Parker, a star and style icon, to create a celebrity perfume. She is ¿obsessed with scent,¿ and every aspect of the perfume will bear her artistic imprint.