Beginning in the mid-1930s, Baron Walter Langer von Langendorff, an Austrian chemist, and his British-born wife, Evelyn Diane Westall, known to society as Lady Evyan, set out to challenge the dominance of the French perfume industry by establishing their own fragrance house in New York. Baron Langer, who was often referred to as Dr. Walter Langer due to his advanced scientific training, was deeply devoted to his wife. His affection was such that he named the perfume company Evyan in her honor, a lasting tribute that intertwined their personal and professional lives. Beyond the fragrance house itself, Evyan became a holding company, incorporating several business names and subsidiaries, including Dr. Walter Langer Co., Westall, Westfall, Estall, Felice Co., and Hartnell. The name Parfums Hartnell Distributors appeared in use as early as 1947 under Wolf J. Overham.
In 1940, Evyan introduced its first major perfume, White Shoulders, which remains a recognizable and widely available fragrance to this day, often found in American drugstores. Unlike French perfume houses that cultivated an aura of continental sophistication and exclusivity, the Langers sought to create a fragrance for American women, free of pretension and foreign dependence. Every element—from the scent itself to the packaging—was designed, manufactured, and produced in the United States, a proud statement of independence from the French tradition. In this way, Evyan elevated American perfumery, demonstrating that quality, artistry, and luxury could be achieved without reliance on Europe.
The choice of the name “White Shoulders” has been the subject of charming anecdotes. One story claims that at a dinner party, Lady Evyan appeared in an off-the-shoulder gown, prompting a guest to remark: “Your white shoulders are beautiful.” Another account suggests that the Duke of Marlborough raised a toast in her honor, declaring: “To the whitest shoulders I have ever seen.” Whether born of admiration or aristocratic wit, the name perfectly captured a quality of elegance, femininity, and sensuality. The phrase itself conjures images of sophistication, romance, and refinement—an idealized vision of beauty that American women of the time would have found both aspirational and relatable.
The perfume’s debut in 1940 placed it firmly within a complex cultural context. The United States was on the cusp of entering World War II, and while Europe was engulfed in conflict, America remained a place of optimism, industry, and shifting fashion. This was the tail end of the Art Deco era moving into the wartime Utility period, when fashion was marked by structured shoulders, nipped-in waists, evening gowns with dramatic silhouettes, and a return to practical elegance. A perfume called White Shoulders resonated deeply in such a time: it spoke not only to physical beauty but also to resilience, purity, and understated sensuality. For women navigating a world of uncertainty, White Shoulders offered a touch of glamour and an affirmation of their femininity.
As a fragrance, White Shoulders was positioned as the prototype of the multiple-flower perfume concept, boasting a carefully orchestrated composition of 800 floral and other harmonizing notes. Classified as a floral fragrance for women, it opened with fresh, luminous florals, unfolded into a multi-faceted floral heart, and settled into a powdery, subdued base that emphasized femininity and grace. The combination of richness, softness, and warmth created a uniquely memorable scent profile. The Langers insisted on using only the finest natural ingredients, underscoring their belief that perfume was an art form rather than a mere commodity.
When considered in the broader landscape of perfumery at the time, White Shoulders occupied a fascinating position. The floral bouquet style was not new—French perfumes such as Chanel No. 5 (1921) and Joy by Jean Patou (1930) had already established the allure of lush, complex florals. However, Evyan’s creation was distinctly American, not only in its production but also in its branding. Whereas French perfumes often leaned on romantic mythologies of Parisian glamour, White Shoulders embodied a more direct, sensual appeal: intimate, elegant, and tailored for the modern American woman. It was simultaneously in line with international trends and yet unique in its refusal to lean on European pretensions.
Ultimately, White Shoulders was more than just a fragrance—it was a cultural statement. It represented American independence in perfumery, the merging of chemistry and artistry, and the devotion of a husband to his wife, embodied in a perfume that continues to endure as a classic nearly a century after its launch.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? White Shoulders by Evyan is classified as a floral fragrance for women. It begins with a fresh floral top, followed by a multi faceted floral heart, resting on a feminine, subdued, powdery floral base.
- Top notes: neroli, aldehydes, leafy green notes, peach, bergamot
- Middle notes: tuberose, clove bud, gardenia, lily of the valley, lilac, narcissus, jasmine, orris, rose
- Base notes: sandalwood, civet, oakmoss, ambergris, benzoin, musk
Scent Profile:
The very first impression of White Shoulders is a luminous one. The sharp green lift of neroli, distilled from the delicate blossoms of the bitter orange tree, feels radiant and elegant. Neroli from southern Italy, in particular, has a honeyed nuance, bright yet soft, lending the fragrance its first impression of pure femininity. Alongside this, the perfume sparkles with aldehydes—synthetic molecules created to mimic airy, effervescent effects in perfumery. Aldehydes don’t smell of flowers or fruit in the traditional sense; instead, they shimmer, adding a champagne-like fizz that makes the natural notes feel more expansive, more glamorous. It’s this aldehydic “halo” that immediately places White Shoulders in the company of sophisticated classics like Chanel No. 5.
Supporting this brightness are leafy green notes, crisp and cooling, like the freshly torn stems of spring flowers, balancing the sweetness with a touch of natural sharpness. Then comes the peach, juicy and velvety, providing a soft fruitiness that lends the top a suggestion of tender skin. Finally, bergamot—the sunlit citrus from Calabria, Italy—offers a slightly bitter freshness, unmatched by any other citrus. Calabrian bergamot is prized for its complexity, with facets of green, floral, and even peppery tones. This carefully orchestrated blend sets the stage: sparkling, elegant, and subtly sensual.
The heart of White Shoulders is an opulent bouquet, layered with nearly every floral archetype of classic perfumery. Tuberose, creamy and narcotic, dominates with its voluptuous sweetness. Tuberose from India is especially lush, brimming with indolic tones that feel almost carnal, ensuring the fragrance has a bold, sensual spine. Alongside tuberose comes gardenia, velvety and waxen, another flower associated with glamour and evening sophistication.
Lily of the valley, a fragile flower that yields no natural extract, is re-created synthetically using aroma chemicals like hydroxycitronellal. These molecules impart a delicate, watery sweetness, crystalline and pure, echoing the flower’s innocence. It contrasts beautifully with the richness of tuberose and gardenia, lightening the density of the heart. Lilac, similarly reconstructed through synthetics, adds a powdery floral whisper, recalling spring blossoms carried on a breeze.
Narcissus contributes a green-floral sharpness with hay-like undertones—this flower, when extracted, has a complex duality of brightness and earthy depth, reminding one of meadows in bloom. Then comes jasmine, the queen of perfumery. Jasmine absolute from Grasse in France or from Mysore in India has a distinctive richness—honeyed, indolic, and velvety. In White Shoulders, it lends radiance and depth, amplifying the sensuality already suggested by tuberose.
Balancing this intensity is orris root, a rare and costly material from Italy, which must be aged for several years before it reveals its prized powdery, violet-like aroma. Orris anchors the floral bouquet, adding a soft, cosmetic elegance. Finally, rose, perhaps from Bulgaria or Turkey, completes the heart with its timeless velvety bloom—at once romantic and grounding, it adds structure to the blend, linking the top brightness to the florid depth. Clove bud brings a subtle spicy edge, a prickle of warmth that keeps the florals from becoming too saccharine, hinting at sophistication beneath the surface beauty.
As the florals fade, White Shoulders lingers with a base that is soft, powdery, and enduringly feminine. Sandalwood, likely Mysore sandalwood from India, is creamy, woody, and slightly milky, unmatched by any other variety. Its richness envelops the florals, turning them supple and smooth. Oakmoss, harvested from lichen growing on oak trees in Europe, adds a chypre-like depth—earthy, bitter-green, and slightly leathery. Oakmoss grounds the perfume in sophistication, giving weight to its airy florals.
Animalic notes heighten the sensuality. Civet, a secretion historically sourced from civet cats in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), is here used in trace amounts. Black and greasy in its raw form, civet transforms in dilution into a warm, velvety softness, giving the perfume an intimate “skin-like” warmth. Ambergris, the rare substance from sperm whales, adds a salty, radiant, and slightly sweet effect, like sunlight on skin after a day at the seaside. These materials don’t dominate, but they create an enveloping aura of warmth and sensuality, turning the floral heart into something deeply human and magnetic.
Balancing these animalics are resinous and sweet materials. Benzoin, a resin from the styrax tree, imparts a balsamic vanilla sweetness, soft and powdery, enhancing the powdery impression of orris. Musk, whether originally natural or by this time synthetic, provides the final lingering effect—warm, skin-like, and sensual, ensuring that White Shoulders clings to the skin for hours, intimate and memorable.
Taken together, White Shoulders unfolds as an opulent floral bouquet that is simultaneously luminous, sensual, and refined. Its aldehydic sparkle gives a glamorous lift, while the heart is a lavish explosion of white florals and greens, softened by rare powders and spices. The base grounds the fragrance with mossy depth, resinous sweetness, and animal warmth, creating a trail that is both sophisticated and unapologetically feminine. In scent, White Shoulders interprets its name beautifully: the fragrance suggests the image of smooth, pale skin revealed in candlelight—innocent yet sensual, refined yet undeniably alluring.
Bottles:
In 1947, White Shoulders was advertised with the romantic tagline: “To Keep the Exciting Shadow of Romance Ever Over Your White Shoulders.” This evocative line positioned the perfume not merely as a scent, but as a lingering aura of allure—a trace of intimacy and elegance that followed the wearer like an invisible veil. It played directly into the mid-century ideal of feminine sophistication, promising women a fragrance that would embody romance and refinement.
The perfume itself was presented with equal attention to beauty and symbolism. It was housed in etched glass bottles, which were then carefully encased in round peachy-pink satin boxes trimmed with Chantilly lace. These satin-and-lace “bandboxes” were as much part of the White Shoulders identity as the fragrance itself. Prices in 1947 ranged from $3.00 for smaller sizes to a luxurious $110.00 for the largest presentation, ensuring the perfume could be accessible while still offering an extravagant option for collectors and connoisseurs.
The choice of lace was not incidental. The lace motif was a direct homage to Lady Evyan herself, who was known for her off-the-shoulder lace evening gowns and her cherished collection of heirloom laces. By dressing the perfume in satin and lace, Evyan tied the fragrance to Lady Evyan’s own persona—romantic, refined, and distinctly feminine. Today, these original peachy-pink rayon satin and Chantilly lace boxes still appear on the secondary market, sometimes with their perfume bottles intact, sometimes empty, but always treasured as reminders of an era when perfume presentation was a work of art in its own right.
Fate of the Fragrance:
The success of White Shoulders proved a turning point in perfume history, demonstrating that American fragrance houses could stand proudly beside the long-established giants of France. Its popularity and longevity showed that a distinctly American creation—designed, bottled, and packaged entirely in the United States—could command the same prestige and admiration as its European counterparts. This achievement gave Evyan a strong identity in the perfume industry and secured White Shoulders a lasting place in the pantheon of classic fragrances.
In its earliest years, White Shoulders was marketed under the name Parfums Hartnell, one of several trade names used by the Evyan company. Evyan also operated under the Evelyn Westall Company of New York, honoring Lady Evyan’s name, and at times employed variations such as Estall, which introduced its own fragrance in 1948. These shifting identities reflected the ambitious efforts of Baron Walter Langer and Lady Evyan to establish their brand firmly in the American perfume market.
Over time, White Shoulders changed hands. For a period, it was released under the name of Elizabeth Arden, aligning the perfume with another powerhouse of American beauty and glamour. Since 1988, the fragrance has been owned and distributed by Parfums International Ltd., which expanded the line beyond perfume into a complete fragrance collection. Today, it can be found in a variety of forms—eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne, parfum, bath and body washes, satin-glide lotions, and dusting powders—ensuring its presence across generations.
Although White Shoulders has undergone reformulations through the decades, a fate shared by nearly every classic fragrance, its essence remains recognizable. The blend of luminous florals, aldehydes, and sensual base notes continues to evoke its original charm. Many collectors and admirers agree that while it may not smell exactly as it did in the 1940s, White Shoulders retains a beauty that still makes it one of the most beloved American perfumes of the twentieth century.
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