New Perfume & Fragrance News: Black Orchid by Tom Ford & A New Line of Unisex Fragrances
The much awaited Black Orchid by Tom Ford that will come out this fall has been unveiled for WWD. It is an opportunity for Ford to express some of his ideas about the contemporary fragrance scene. As he states,"For the last decade, I think we've launched fragrances which, like everything, have become so stripped-down, so transparent in terms of color and often in terms of scent. They often become quite watered-down…everything is tested and retested, and while you might end up with a lot of fragrances which smell good, it's not fragrance development in the old-fashioned sense. I really wanted to create old-fashioned, but in a new sense."...
"The fragrance, by Givaudan, has top notes of French jasmine, black gardenia, ylang ylang, bergamot, mandarin and effervescent citrus; a heart of Tom Ford black orchid, spicy floral orchid accords and lotus wood, and a drydown of patchouli, incense, amber, sandalwood and vanilla."
The ad wants to reconnect with the glamour of the 1950s Hollywood. Personally, both the name of the perfume and the style of the ad make me think of the movie the Blue Dahlia with Veronica Lake.
The 50-ml. eau de parfum is priced at $90, while the 100-ml. eau de parfum will retail for $135.
Tom Ford will also launch a new line of 12 unisex fragrances next spring simultaneously on March 12 2007. They will be distributed through a chain of store-in-stores and are targeting a clientele of connoisseurs. There will be the option of having them custom-blended for oneself.
Finally, to summarize his approach to fashion and fragrances in a nutshell, he concluded, "I don't believe in the customer telling you what they want. I think you tell the customer what they need."
You can now read my review of Black Orchid here.
Source: Women's Wear Daily
I don't like Tom Ford much, I think he's a narcissist with a general contempt for women, but I will admit grudging admiration for YDAN ... at least it's not light and girly. I think the Black Orchid sounds very tempting, and my guess is his unisex scents will be interesting.
I'm with March, I don't like Tom Ford's personality/persona very much... But he's still extremely interesting to follow, and I'll be watching for his fragrances. The ad is very much in keeping with the style he developed at YSL, isn't it?
I 3rd the emotion. And, Susanne Lang already has a lovely fragrance called Black Orchid, so how unoriginal can old TF be?
But I do love the YSL look of the ad and the obvious allusion to the Black Dahlian which you so aptly pointed out.
Hugs!
March,
Unfortunately, I have to admit I have no impressions of Tom Ford to share as so far I've only paid attention to his two latest scents, YDAN and Azurée oil both which are very good summer scents in my opinion.
He seems to have a ton of energy and to be brimming with ambition and ideas. That's all I can say so far.
Carmencanada,
Actually, TF stresses that it's a change for him to do away with nude and to go back to dressed glamour. So,hmm, maybe you could point out better than me his inconsistencies.
R,
What did he do or say? I just know he's still debating whether he's going to develop a womenswear line or not. So you would say he comes through as a mysoginist?
I read a couple of articles on him, and he comes across as a non-stop (which is good), high energy (good, too!), controlling (oops, he's slipping), micro-managing-egocentric-very-pompous-self important- person. LOL!
LOL!
Mimi -- I don't hold Ford's megalomania against him, that's true of many great designers. When Ford was driving the Gucci bus, his collections were relentlessly, in-your-face sexual, to the point that women who were not 6 feet tall and model-esque would have trouble finding anything in the collection to wear. But that was fine with him, because his attitude was clearly that he didn't want his clothes slumming on the bodies of the less-than-perfect. At some point he was critically dismissive of the clothing of Carolina Herrera, which, whatever else you might say about them in terms of luxury or expense, are generally wearable and flattering to the women who can afford them. I guess I've never forgiven him for slandering Carolina, which is petty, but there you are. He is clearly gifted, and I am looking forward to his next move in women's-wear, like him or not.
Actually, I think Tom Ford is extremely consistent. He's more of a brilliant (self)marketer than a designer-artist going out on a limb (John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, Nicolas Ghesquières of Balenciaga come to mind). And if you look at the YSL ad with Karen Elson featured in Aromascope, you'll find a very similar, high-glamour style (which he developed during his tenure at YSL Rive Gauche). IMO, Ford's saying he's over nudity because of the "scandale dans un verre d'eau" of his Vanity Fair cover with nude actresses.
March,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I see what you mean and btw, I'm not defending him at all, I'm just saying that I do not pay attention to him usually and therefore have no idea what kind of character he is. He comes through in this article as someone very driven essentially.
Carmen,
Thanks for filling me in. I must say that looking at the YSL ad I find it to be, let's say, average high-glamour while the Black Orchid one I find truly stunning. It has a mystery and a naturalness about it that I like very much, probably due to the natural beauty of the model, Julia Restoin-Roitfeld (a friend of Ford and the daughter of the French Vogue editor.)