Now, the stories about Anna and Christian haven’t yet reached December, but I will still allow myself to speculate a bit about Christmas gifts, inspired by ‘Where to Meet Christmas 1906’, which is ,admittedly, a few years older, but the shops still exist in 1910.
Finding presents for each other can be a challenge, and Anna can buy whatever she likes – including a plane such as the Demoiselle, which was delivered as a flatpack from Santos-Dumont’s factory near Paris. (Ikea was not the first). But it doesn’t have to be that extravagant, and one thing is for sure – Christian will never, ever buy a plane for Anna. He simply doesn’t have the nerve for it. More likely, he will look at jewellery, such as those at Michelsen’s, where we can see the display of corpus silver. Christian’s taste is similar to Anna’s, and perhaps he will design the jewellery himself – it has happened before.
If Anna were to think of a Christmas gift for Christian, it might well be travel accessories. He hasn’t travelled as much as she has, so one could imagine Anna going shopping and ordering custom design trunks and suitcases with monograms from Danielsen’s. You can’t see it in the picture, but the large travel trunks back then could be entire wardrobes with hangers and drawers, etc., that stood upright, so you had everything ready. It wasn’t unusual to travel with 10-20 suitcases of different kinds if you belonged to the upper classes. Anna’s aunts travel with so much luggage that it fills her entire studio, and most of it is sent ahead if, for example, they are on their way to Deauville. In England aunt Kate has her own train carriages as befitting a dowager countess.
Anna might also consider designing an updated version of Christian’s detective bag, so they have a matching pair when they head out to crime scenes.
She could also visit Valdemar Jørgensen and find a new scent for him. He does use scents – including Penhaligon’s Hamam Bouquet – but it there were other men’s fragrances. The selection was vast.
Anna’s own favourite is Jicky from Guerlain, which was considered very risqué the time. It has also become my personal favourite, but one must remember to use it ‘the old-fashioned way’ – as shown in The Danish Girl, for example. You spray a puff into the air and walk through the mist. The idea is that the scent also gets on the clothes; it is designed for that. You should not spray it directly on yourself, as with a modern perfume. You’d choke yourself. It is rather overpowering but very long lasting.
Anduin