Cocktail Bar Perfume Presentation

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Anonymous as part of The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.

This bar-form set held a selection of liquor bottle–like perfume bottles entitled “Bittersweet,” “Sweet,” “Dry” and “Angostura no. 1” through “Angostura no. 7” that equated the sensuality of perfume with drinking in a not-so-subtle reference to the illicit cocktail culture during American prohibition. The empty bottle entitled “My Own” was provided to encourage the owner to mix and match her own scent. In 1928 Patou installed a women-only cocktail bar in his Paris boutique for clients, many American, to enjoy while making final decisions on garments and waiting for fittings and alterations.

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s.