My Life, My Dream, My Passion - Parfums Grès Collection: Hommage à Marlene Dietrich {New Perfumes} {Retro Celebrity Fragrances}
Grès is proposing an altogether new concept for the brand: the retrospective homage paid to a star customer of the house. It seems to be a twist on the major celebrity fragrance trend breaking into the market. This one could be called the "Retro Celebrity" sub-category of celebs perfumes.
Grès is launching a trio of perfumes called My Life, My Dream, My Passion in the Parfums Grès Collection: Hommage à Marlene Dietrich which are each said to reflect a different facet of the Golden Age of Hollywood actress and singer Marlene Dietrich who used to patronize the house of Grès.......
Marlene Dietrich is already known to have had a signature perfume with Creed called Angélique Encens.
From the Moodie Report,
"My Dream – Hommage à Marlene Dietrich is described as classic floral perfume in the great tradition of Parisian haute parfumerie. The exhilarating head note is permeated by Italian mandarine orange accompanied by the fruity aromas of pineapple, melon, black currants and apple, with a spicy hint of cloves. In the heart note are Casablanca lilies contrasting with the delicacy of lilies of the valley, roses and violets. Both melt into the heady scent of orange blossoms and heliotrope. The base note features woody notes such as sandalwood, finely enhanced by iris, vanilla, ambra and musk.
My Life – Hommage à Marlene Dietrich is a chypre perfume that reflects the self-confident side of Marlene Dietrich. The head note is fresh from the essences of orange blossoms, wisteria and pink grapefruit. Warm, sensuous rum extract blends into the heart note with Sambac jasmine, heliotrope and cedar wood. The base note reveals the touch of the orient, with seductive woody aromas such as patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver, as well as resins like labdanum and benzoin.
My Passion – Hommage à Marlene Dietrich is a sensuous perfume with a head note of apple, cinnamon and lilies of the valley. The floral heart note is filled with orange blossoms and salicylate. Warmth and passion is displayed with rich portions of ambra, vanilla and musk unfold in the base note."
Each perfume housed in a high quality heavy glass bottle will retail for 59 €.
(Photo from Divas)
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Comments
What a great idea! Of course the compositions sound utterly modern (what with the grapefruit and berries and the apple etc.), but the image is so strong that I am sure it will generate interest.
Let's hope they deliver.
Posted by: helg | November 1, 2007
The image will be strong only if they invest enough advertising money and effort in it, which they did not seem to do for their two latest releases.
I must say that I have considerably evolved on my "conservative" position regarding the unmatchable beauty of old fragrances. It may be true still concerning some fragrances. For example, I still get a sense that some of the classic Guerlains have become much thinner and sometimes even adulterated, yet L'Instant Magic shows they can offer a superb classical texture with new elements. There are so many perfumes now that are better than the old ones that I feel very optimistic.
Posted by: Marie-Helene | November 1, 2007
I have to say that I agree with you on the modern take on clasical structures; I always thought it was a sign of mental old age to focus so much on the past and of budding perfumista mentality to always revere the old in place of the new ;-)
Posted by: helg | November 1, 2007
I am not convinced by this idea of the stages of transformation of a perfumista as if it were something like a linear progression with a 101 level and a PhD and post-doctoral levels of appreciation. It's rather rigid and artificial. I think it's more complex than that, like life. You go back on a take, you set it aside etc. I think it's also a question of personality. Some people prefer to study a certain period of history or are particularly sensitive to the charm of the past. (Also we have to be careful to distinguish "old perfumes" from "old formulas".) It might be the medieval period or the contemporary period. By the way, you are working on the antiquity, aren't you? So it does not correlate:)
Posted by: Marie-Helene | November 1, 2007
I came across a lot of new Gress fragrances in Paris, some of them not quite advertised. I have the impression (smell+bottle design) they turn with great speed into the mass market universe. The idea with Dietrich woul be great but the names (My Dream, My Passion, My Life) are closer to the way mass market fragrances used to be (like cheap bodysprays in all colors in the 90s). And I agree with you abou new vs old. There are really old beauties... but old doesn't imply great ( neither expensive natural ingredients).
Posted by: Octavian Coifan | November 2, 2007
Sure I do, but that does not mean I am fixated in the past, only revering past glories...
I merely hinted at a pretentiouciousness that is sometimes apparent within certain circles that only the old is good, the new is for the dogs. Or some such notion...Not so, in my humble opinion.
And terrifically apt comment on the old perfumes vs. old formulae! Something that is so often disregarded. And please point to me a handful of perfumes that are 100% exactly as they had been produced in the start of the century. You get my point.
Re:perfume appreciation. There is I think a certain progression, but it is multi-nuanced and not meant to be compared to academia, as you so note yourself. Perhaps if the specimen at hand is good quality and artistically integral then one is bound to go back again and again and find new things afresh.
Posted by: helg | November 4, 2007