IPBA Glamour Icons: Perfume Bottle Design by Marc Rosen

Mr. Rosen has written this absolutely spellbinding book about his career as a creator of perfume bottles for commercial fragrances beginning in 1972. Beautiful photos of his creations for Revlon, Elizabeth Arden, Karl Lagerfeld, and Fendi (among many others) are on almost every page, along with interesting tidbits of his personal and creative history.

He shares the process behind the art of designing a perfume bottle. He describes the steps he uses, and the guidance he gives his graduate students at Pratt Institute where he teaches the only course world-wide on this subject.

Needless to say, his beautiful wife, actress Arlene Dahl, is prominently photographed! Who knew he had created a special bottle for her in 1976 called “Dahlia”? Or that he created a bottle honoring Marilyn Monroe in 1999? Fascinating tidbits abound in this book.

In addition, he discusses and pictures many of the great icons of perfume bottles of the past which in his opinion reflect the crème de la crème of creativity. The pictures alone make this book stupendous, even if one did not devour the fascinating text.

Mr. Rosen was the keynote speaker at the IPBA 2012 annual convention in Jacksonville, Florida. We are very honored to have him as an IPBA member and a longtime supporter of our Association.

Reviewed by Lenore Worth Hiers.