Scent and Scandal: an afternoon of misdemeanor

Odette Toilette, purveyor of olfactory adventures, is teaming up with historical specialist Mary Evans Picture Library at Brasserie Zedel’s Crazy Coqs cabaret theatre for an afternoon of scents and stories inspired by the nightlife scene of early 20th century London. Over high tea and fizz, be entertained by tales of some of high society’s most celebrated and notorious characters and introduced to fragrances that once wafted around the capital’s fashionable clubs, restaurants and parties.


This will be the first collaboration between Odette Toilette and Mary Evans Picture Library, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014. Drawing on images and archive material from the library’s extensive collection, together with historic fragrances specially selected by Odette, the event promises to conjure up the sights and smells of London’s glamorous past.


Odette and Luci Gosling of Mary Evans Picture Library will lead you on a journey through nightclubs such as The Embassy and the Monseigneur and find out what life was like for a debutante in the 1930s. Enjoy the delicious scandal surrounding the lives of women such as Margaret Whigham (later the notorious Duchess of Argyll) and Idina Wallace of White Mischief fame, and discover why Maidenhead was smart society’s favourite out-of-town destination, not least for its outdoor dance floor.


Situated close to Piccadilly Circus, The Crazy Coqs’ art deco-inspired cabaret lounge makes an evocative setting for this decadent afternoon.


Luci Gosling will be signing copies of her book, ‘Debutantes & the London Season’ (Shire Books, 2013)


Mary Evans Picture Library is the UK’s leading source for historical images covering all aspects of the past from prehistory to the 1980s. From its vast archive of prints, periodicals, photography and ephemera, the library supplies subjects as diverse as fashion and food to politics and portraiture to a wide range of clients including publishers, television companies and museums. Founded in 1964, the Blackheath-based library is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014. www.maryevans.com


Scent-lover Odette Toilette has since 2010 hosted events and experiences that make fragrance more fun. From a make-your-own Lickable Perfumes masterclass at Somerset House, to a perfumed walking tour at the Tate and a collaboration with the Royal Observatory Greenwich on the scents of outer space, no theme is too strange to form the basis of an unusual day or night out. Odette has been shortlisted for the Cosmetic Executive Women Rising Star Award, and this year was a judge in the Jasmine Awards for fragrance writing.