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September 2008 Archive
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 As all Chanel devotees and cultural observers are waiting with baited breath for the upcoming biopics (three, no less) about Coco Chanel, including the one by Anne Fontaine starring Audrey Tautou, Coco Avant Chanel, Lifetime Television was all ready to show their own version the past weekend. And according to Matthew Gilbert, it did not smell of anything much, "Coco Chanel," tonight at 8, also doesn't feel like the story of a
fashion icon, never mind one who revolutionized women's clothing. The
movie, "freely inspired" by Chanel's life, plays like a generic,
picturesque, gauzy tale of romance in France during the first half of
the 20th century, with world war, and not world fashion, as the
backdrop. The heroine's name could as easily be Smith as Chanel. There
are castles and horses and bucketloads of l'amour, all loosely strung
around a few vague facts about Chanel's life. Let's hope that
Lifetime's "Project Runway," due next year after the series finishes on
Bravo, is less beside the point. Lifetime appears to think viewers will
have little interest in the evolution of clothes design. (...)
The movie looks great, like a very extended perfume commercial. But it
has no substance. Indeed, I don't think the owners of the Chanel label
themselves could have made a more harmless movie."
Read more in Just A Faint Scent of the Woman...
David Wiegand is a little bit more tender, seeing enough pages taken out of fashion history books to quell his thirst for knowledge in this field...
Continue reading "Coco Chanel On Lifetime TV: Critiques of a Biopic {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 After publishing a commentary to an article on the, reportedly, first ever perfumery founded in order to be exclusively devoted to niche scents in Romania, we received news from the owner of another exclusive fragrance store located in Bucharest, Madison Perfumery, explaining that their own business had been established before the recent La Maison des Parfums, that is in 2007. In fact the owner of the brand-new business is a former patron of Madison Perfumery. As you can see, the perfumery scene is evolving fast in the capital city of Romania. The pictures of the Madison Perfumery boutique look wonderful. I think that Bucharest is teaching us some lessons in perfumery decoration and premium customer experience. From the owner Madeleine Florescu, a former marketing executive for Kanebo USA, "Our portfolio includes names such as Annick Goutal, Creed, Clive
Christian, Parfumerie Generale and Nasomatto, and starting September I will add
Bond No 9 and Puredistance"...
Continue reading "Madison Perfumery, The First One Of Its Kind In Romania {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}" »
 We announced the other day that the house of Guerlain was taking to the street for their new perfume, Guerlain Homme. The jungle display at Opéra Garnier for the new Guerlain Homme looked nice but the atmosphere was flat. The only emotional reaction the event elicited in me was a smile after I heard, several times over, the line from the Guerlain Homme commercial by Jean-Paul Goude booming across the street: " pour l'animal qui dort en vous" " for the animal that sleeps in you". Contrasted with the sedate ambience and the unconcerned or weary airs of the tourists resting on the steps of the opéra, many of them white-haired, it was rather amusing. This attempt to reach out to urbanites where they are to be found, on the street, seemed to be marred by a lack of staff support from Guerlain. If the decoration was pleasing to the eye and the Goude commercial well-visible and audible from a distance, the impact on passers-by seemed minimal. A couple of fragrance models were supposed to cover the large stretch of sidewalk girding the front of the opera house and they were huddled together in exactly the same spot joking between themselves while spraying almost absent-mindedly on strips of paper without offering any eye contact to their consenting victims. The lack of conviction was palpable. There were no Mojitos in sight to refresh potential customers and I realized after leaving the scene that the air smelled of nothing... 
Continue reading "Tame Jungle for Guerlain at Opéra Garnier {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses} {Scented Images}" »
 La Maison des Parfums in Bucharest - don't you love the fact that you have room to breathe and contemplate the bottles with a sense of perspective instead of being hit on the head by an army of perfumes?
Romania just saw reportedly the opening of its first luxury perfume store in history. It is located in central Bucharest in a villa and was baptized with a French name, Maison Des Parfums (The House of Perfumes). "Luxury" in this case means very expensive and niche and is not used with the same meaning as in the West where it is commonly applied to department-store fragrances. The offerings there are exclusively "niche" as we learn that for Romanian consumers, to manage to stand out from a crowd with scent is an essential and much sought-after quality. Romanians apparently are not just content with smelling good but would rather smell interesting and unique, and price is no object too making them ideal consumers for this sector of perfumery...
Continue reading "A Luxury Perfumery Is A First In Romania {Fragrance News}" »
 Here is a picture of the 150 m2 set-up by Guerlain at La Défense to showcase their new cologne, prior to it opening to visitors. So, if you have the time you can swing by to get a spritz of Guerlain Homme until 19h 30 today. They are distributing alcohol-free Mojitos, samples and coupons. Via Défense 92.fr
 Niche perfume brand Memo founder Clara Molloy is preparing to launch a duo of perfumes for adults and children in September in her Les Echappées collection called Jannat meaning paradise in Urdu and other languages of the Middle East. The grown-up version is an eau de parfum and the kiddie one is a lighter eau fraîche. They were created by perfumer Aliénor Massenet, like the rest of the brand's offerings... 
Continue reading "Memo Jannat For Kids & Grownups (2008) {New Fragrance} - New Book By Clara Molloy {Fragrant Reading}" »
 Promoting a perfume as being the most expensive in the world is not new. Joy by Jean Patou is probably the best-known example of this genre of ultra-competitive globally-framed advertising. Clive Christian is the current official holder of the title as the Guinness Book of World Records has handed him the sceptre. Derek McCormack writes an ironic and funny piece about the branding efforts of Clive Christian around an interview with Victoria Christian, his daughter. It helps to show how perfume as a luxury product, not necessarily a work of art, is immensely susceptible to effects of prestige. In fact one sometimes sense that promoting a perfume is an operation that must feel like walking delicately on egg shells to the people in charge of the luxury image. Queen Victoria, a crown logo, a noble motto, crystal, gold, diamond etc. are all needed to make it look legitimate and steeped in tradition. These efforts certainly do not just stem from the brand owners' own dishevelled thoughts however. Customers, rich and not-so-rich, love royalty too so it makes good business sense to indulge, "Fax animi honestae gloria," she says, reading the Latin motto
inscribed on Clive Christian's coat of arms. " ' In honourable
thoughts, glory is born.' The coat of arms was granted us by the Royal
College of Arms." Royal regalia is of paramount importance to the Clive
Christian company. "You see that each of the stoppers on our bottles is
in the shape of Queen Victoria's crown," she says. "It was the only
time that Queen Victoria gave an image of her crown to be used by a
company."...
Victoria in L'Illustration, 25 août 1855
Continue reading "Clive Christian ≈ Queen Victoria, Who Knew?: Deconstructing The Royal Ad Copy {The 5th Sense in the News}" »
 Marie-Antoinette is pleasantly and rather perversely paid homage to by niche brand Tokyo Milk Parfumarie Curiosité this fall (how trendier can it get with a name like that?), with their gourmand scent called Let Them Eat Cake.The infamous and unflattering bon mot attributed to Marie-Antoinette to construct the image of a frivolous queen disconnected from the reality of the cycles of famine and bread shortage in 18th century France is turned into a concoction seemingly blended by a marmiton or kitchen boy of great chef Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Forget about history and smell your edible best and democratic with simple notes of sugar cane, coconut milk, vanilla orchid and white musk. The packaging is cute as can be with its dusty-pink Charlotte cake. The scent is priced at $28 and available at both Anthropologie and Beauty Habit.
 This month Hermès has introduced a new concentration and re-composed version of Kelly Calèche, launched in 2007. It now comes in pure-parfum concentration and is housed in a Kelly-bag lock made of steel. One has to note the transparency with which the news was conveyed. Hermès is not just saying that it is a more concentrated version, but that it was re-worked by perfumer Jean Claude Ellena to become "more sensual"...
Continue reading "Hermès Kelly Calèche Re-looked & Re-formulated (2008) {New Perfume}" »
 During four days, Paris is hosting a full-scale open-air jungle promotional event organized by perfume house Guerlain in two very different areas of the capital city to celebrate the launch of their new Guerlain Homme. If advertising for the cologne has been quite present so far in department stores and Guerlain boutiques decorated with rainforest walls and rolling counters complete with a cascading green floral arrangement suggesting a corner of the Amazonian forest, artificial icecubes in a bold square glass, silvery Mojito shaker, didactic pictures of ingredients, blotters, and the fragrance itself, all this posted at strategic corners, it is now exceptionally lavish. By going to both the modernist setting of the Esplanade de la Défense (11-12 September 2008) and to the more classical one of Opéra Garnier (12-13 September), Guerlain seem to be positioning themselves to say that in the 21st century they are at ease both with modernity and tradition, civilization and wildness...
Continue reading "The Guerlain Man: Jungle Man in Paris {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}" »
September 2008 Archive
Page 4 of 6 • 1 2 3 4 5 6
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Cait on
Q & A With Serge Lutens - Part 2 {Perfume Q & A}
: I am impressed at all that you drew out of M. Lutens ...
Andrea on
L'Artisan Parfumeur Mechant Loup (1997) {Perfume Review & Musings}
: Thank you for this review! I love Mechant Loup, I did not ...
chichi on
Aquolina Tweety (2008): Yellow Is Good {New Perfume}
: I hope everyone realises that Tweety is actually a boy canary. It ...
MensNecklaces on
Calvin Klein Man (2007) {Perfume Review & Musings} {Men's Cologne}
: I just love that necklace, I actually have something similar to that ...
jenny on
Emeshel Nubia Yellow, Green, Red, Rose, Violet (2008): Sensually Inspired by Ancient Arabian Virility {New Fragrances}
: Sexy bottles! Anyone can tell me where I could buy one of ...
Flora on
En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti at Editions de Parfums by Frederic Malle (2000) {Perfume Review & Musings}
: Happy New Year to you too! I adore this perfume, if I ...
stephanie on
Perfume Review: Nina (The New Version) by Nina Ricci
: Crazy feminists trying to find an excuse to call anything "degrading". If ...
Mary on
Index of New Perfumes 2006, 2007, 2008; New Fragrances in Chronological Order {New Perfumes}
: I wore Must de Cartier Parfum (not EDT) from 1983 until 2001. ...
Paula Contreras-Carballada on
Perfume Review & Musings: Terracotta Voile d'Eté by Guerlain
: Totally agree with you and you are an excellent writer. I lo-lo-love ...
Anne Moralis on
Fashion Exhibition on the Second Empire, 1852-1870: Sous L'Empire des Crinolines {Scented Paths & Fragrant Addresses}
: Par ce site tu accède à de nombreuses descriptions de mode de ...
Mitsouko on
Bulgari Omnia Green Jade (2008): Green with White Shadows {New Perfume}
: I like this. It has character. Not the tiresome nice, safe, "girly" ...
polarbear2 on
Olivier Durbano Parfums de Pierres Poèmes Jade (2008) {New Perfume}
: Sounds very interesting. I like green perfumes and if theres wood and ...
polarbear2 on
Bulgari Omnia Green Jade (2008): Green with White Shadows {New Perfume}
: What is spring water doing in a perfume ? Is this ...
Steve Chacon, Jr. on
Sean Combs I Am King (2008) {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Perfume}
: I was at a mall recently, here in Miami, and I tried/got ...
Béatrice on
Avon Bond Girl 007 (2008) {Perfume Review} {New Fragrance} {Celebrity Fragrance}
: So, all in all, on which occasions do you think you would ...
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As all Chanel devotees and cultural observers are waiting with baited breath for the upcoming biopics (three, no less) about Coco Chanel, including the one by Anne Fontaine starring Audrey Tautou, Coco Avant Chanel, Lifetime Television was all ready to show their own version the past weekend. And according to Matthew Gilbert, it did not smell of anything much,
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