What Befits a Legend?

It's not every day that you get to have lunch and a good gossip with a living legend. Yesterday, I had a delightful five hours with Miss Martha Reeves.  Younger readers may be thinking "Who?"  I advise them to YouTube "Dancin' in the Streets", "Jimmy Mack", "Heatwave",  all staggering examples of the joyous Motown sound that delighted the world nearly five decades ago.  What's amazing about that music is how fresh and exciting it still sounds today. These are tracks that work on every level, and I always think that Motown is the one style of music you can put on at a party without a single objection.

As an unashamed fan, I wanted to give the delightfully naughty Miss Reeves a fragrance worthy of her, and it was agonising.  What perfume encapsulates glamour, longevity and style, with a bright commercial appeal?  It had to be Youth Dew, albeit the slightly-tweaked Tom Ford remix, Amber Nude.  Swathed in fox fur, the irrepresible Martha's eyes twinkled as she opened the packaging...  "My, what a pretty bottle!" was her first response, then a quick spray on her still-fabulous cleavage led to that famous grin. "Just the one spray, honey?" she asked.

The truth is that one spray, at lunch, will suffice. We are educated into not smelling too heavliy, not smelling too strongly, and this is totally appropriate around other people, particularly over food. Youth Dew has a regality about it, perfect for one of the Queens of Motown.  In small doses it beguiles, intrigues.  In large doses, this behemoth is like a Siren, luring men to ontold carnal pleasures.  I love its very heavy-handedness, its inability to slink in the background like a Vera Wang perfume.  It's made to last, looks amazing after all these years, and sings a beautiful melody. Wear it, and smell rum and Coca-Cola (from a cold glass bottle, naturally). Wear it, and take a little journey back to when women smelt unashamedly divine, and strong, and passionate.  If you find yourself dancing in the streets with joy, don't blame me.

          [By PETER]