Welcome!

Welcome to my unique perfume blog! Here, you'll find detailed, encyclopedic entries about perfumes and companies, complete with facts and photos for easy research. This site is not affiliated with any perfume companies; it's a reference source for collectors and enthusiasts who cherish classic fragrances. My goal is to highlight beloved, discontinued classics and show current brand owners the demand for their revival. Your input is invaluable! Please share why you liked a fragrance, describe its scent, the time period you wore it, any memorable occasions, or what it reminded you of. Did a relative wear it, or did you like the bottle design? Your stories might catch the attention of brand representatives. I regularly update posts with new information and corrections. Your contributions help keep my entries accurate and comprehensive. Please comment and share any additional information you have. Together, we can keep the legacy of classic perfumes alive!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Chas. A. Stevens

Chas A. Stevens was a Chicago department store. It started in 1886 as a catalog business and eventually grew to 29 locations in the Chicago metropolitan area. In 1988 the chain filed for bankruptcy and liquidated.


Its flagship State Street store was the hub of fashion in the forties, fifties and sixties in Chicago. It featured six floors of women's clothing only. The top floor housed a beauty salon called The Powder Box, which employed more than 50 operators and was famous for catering to visiting celebrities, etc. The Powder Box at Chas. A. Stevens carried a popular but often hard to find line of cosmetics, by Irma Jean Shepherd. The store also was an exclusive retailer of Anjou fragrances. The display windows on the main floor were often chosen as the best in the city, and received many awards.



Chas. A Stevens sold perfumes under their own name. These perfumes are:
  • 1925 Durante el Invierno (During the Winter)
  • 1925 En el Verano (In the Summer)
  • 1925 Para el Otoño (For the Fall)
  • 1925 A la Primavera (In the Spring)
  • 1925 El Ano Perfumado (The Fragrant Year, a presentation)
  • 1927 Ci-Cix 
  • 1927 Tears
  • 1928 C'est Ca (Right)
  • 1930 Ci






Durante Pars Invierno by Chas A. Stevens: launched in 1927, black glass tall bottle, three corner bottle, the corners of the bottle feature finely molded & gilded women’s faces. This bottle was used for the following Chas A Stevens perfumes: A la Primavera, En el Verano, Para el Ontono, and Durante Pars Invierno. The women's faces and hairstyles were different for each scent.

A four piece presentation set called El Ano Perfumado, included all the previously named perfumes enclosed in a unique metal stand to hold the four bottles. Each bottle sold individually for $15. This set retailed for $70 in 1928 which is equal to $1,056.61 in 2020 according to an inflation calculator..

I believe the bottle may be a rare Lalique experimental or by Depinoix or Viard.


No comments:

Post a Comment

All comments will be subject to approval by a moderator. Comments may fail to be approved if the moderator deems that they:
--contain unsolicited advertisements ("spam")
--are unrelated to the subject matter of the post or of subsequent approved comments
--contain personal attacks or abusive/gratuitously offensive language

Featured Post

Faking Perfume Bottles to Increase Their Value

The issue of adding "after market" accents to rather plain perfume bottles to increase their value is not new to the world o...