Otherworldly Scents: A Gothic Guide to Perfumes That Cling to Shadows
A perfume guide for the romantically defiant
By: The Lace Ledger Staff
A spritz of perfume is the final touch, the last touch before stepping out into the world - a sensory cue announcing your arrival to the next room you enter. Applied delicately at the wrist or whispered at the throat, we offer our signature scents like a secret to those close enough to pick up the notes.
When a perfume entwines with your chemistry, it becomes singular, unforgettable, distinctly yours. Choose wisely and it can follow you through decades, as recognizable as your laughter or handwriting.
Perfume has an ancient lineage: once pressed from resins, oils and rare flowers for monarchs and places of worship, later distilled for courts and lovers. They’ve always existed in the space between adornment and power, commanding the attention of the senses.
What follows is a guide to fragrance by The Lace Ledge archetypes, each one matched to a scent that carries her presence into every room and leaves the air changed after she’s gone.
The Widow
Grief made glamour. She wears memory like a fragrance.
Photo Credit: Serge Lutens
Signature Scent:
Serge Lutens – La Fille de Berlin
A blood-stained rose with a peppered bite.
Also try: Diptyque – L’Ombre dans L’Eau (a garden crying at dusk) and Seance – Parlour Ghost (damask wallpaper witnessing something unseen but ever present).
The Heiress
Regal. Slow. She wears a scent refined enough to be whispered.
Photo Credit: Maison Francis Kurkdjian
Signature Scent:
Maison Francis Kurkdjian – Oud Satin Mood
Silken oud wrapped in violet and rose.
Also try: Parfums de Marly – Delina Exclusif (powdered Turkish delight in a Versailles ballroom) and Chloé – Chloé Eau de Parfum (cashmere in fragrance form).
The Brat
Cheeky, sensual, spoiled rotten. Her perfume talks back.
Photo Credit: Sephora
Signature Scent:
Juliette Has a Gun – Lipstick Fever
Smells like raspberry gloss and rebellion in heels.
Also try: KAYALI – Lovefest Burning Cherry (cherry cola and chaos) and Vera Wang – Rock Princess (the cool girl in the smoking section).
The Oracle
She anoints herself with dreams.
Photo Credit: bluebottonshop.com
Signature Scent:
Comme des Garcons – Avignon
Smells like a medieval cathedral, frankincense, myrrh and dry wood.
Also try: Escentric Molecules – Molecule 01 + Patchouli (a warm scent with a sixth sense) and Seance – Absinthe (spirited and ceremonial).
The Corp Goth
Power-suited and perfume-armored. She's the boss, and she smells like it.
Photo Credit: Chanel
Signature Scent:
Chanel – Coromandel (Les Exclusifs)
Incense and white chocolate in a glass tower. Wealth with shadow.
Also try: Tom Ford – Black Orchid (bold, iconic, boardroom-dominatrix) and Burke & Hare Co – Black No 1 (a lunch hour power walk).
The Vamp
She wears perfume like a weapon—and it always lingers.
Photo Credit: BDK Parfums
Signature Scent:
BDK Parfums – Rouge Smoking
Cherry smoke, red lips, velvet danger.
Also try: Frederic Malle – Portrait of a Lady (a rose with fangs) and Heretic Parfum – Nosferatu (an encounter with an apparition).
The Romantic Goth
Love-laced. Soft. The perfume of poems and unspoken confessions.
Photo Credit: Sephora
Signature Scent:
Maison Margiela – By the Fireplace
Vanilla and woodsmoke. Nostalgia bottled.
Also try: Diptyque – Eau Duelle (vanilla made melancholic) and Gucci – Flora (watching the clouds in the garden).
The Whimsy Goth
She smells like a storybook and moss-draped dreams.
Photo Credit: DS & Durga
Signature Scent:
DS & Durga – Rose Atlantic
Fresh rose, lemon leaf, salt air. A barefoot spell.
Also try: Ellis Brooklyn – Myth (clean musk meets antique lace) Anna Sui – Fantasia (a carousel ride after midnight).
The Dark Academic
She wears ink behind her ears. Her scent is a thesis.
Photo Credit: Holt Renfrew
Signature Scent:
Penhaligon’s – Halfeti
Black rose and aged leather in a rare manuscript library.
Also try: Maison Margiela – Whispers in the Library and Zara x Jo Malone – Ebony Wood (morning coffee at the book store).
The Siren
Aquatic, hypnotic, irresistible.
Photo Credit: Amouage
Signature Scent:
Amouage – Reflection Woman
Like soft skin after saltwater, or a gaze held just a second too long.
Also try: Diptyque – Do Son (tuberose underwater in a haunted bay) and Jean Paul Gaultier – Gaultier Divine Le Parfum with Vanilla (a seaside salty kiss embraces a gourmand of vanilla meringue).
The Pinup
Playful and magnetic – her perfume flirts first.
Photo Credit: Heretic Parfum
Signature Scent:
Heretic Parfum x Dita Von Teese - Scandalwood
Creamy sandalwood and rose in silk stockings. Retro glam with a dangerous wink.
Also try: Jean Paul Gaultier – Classique (vanilla and orange in a corset) and KAYALI – Eden Juicy Apple (sophisticated candy apple).
To scent oneself is to declare to the world: I exist beyond the visible.
We believe that everyone should keep three fragrances in their arsenal – one for work, one for everyday and one for romance. Together they form a language: pragmatic, familiar and a little dangerous.
Let your perfume subtly punctuate your story and you’ll be remembered long after the words are gone.
What is your signature scent?
