Etat Libre d'Orange to Launch Mx Justin Vivian Bond Scent {Fragrance News} {Celebrity Perfume}

Paris-, Marais-based fragrance house Etat Libre d'Orange will launch a new "celebrity perfume" in 2012, they have announced, in collaboration with transgender artist Mx Justin Vivian Bond who just launched "hir" first album, Dendrophile.

Justin Bond happens to be a protégée of actress Tilda Swinton, who also did a perfume with ELO called Like This. Swinton in turn was inspired to get in touch with ELO via Rossy de Palma who has her own scent with them, Eau de Protection. It's starting to look like a Sufi lineage...

The brand has come to specialize in edgier celeb personalities, not necessarily known by millions, in contrast to big corporate structures like Coty, Inc, who also specialize in capturing the essences of the personalities du jour, preferably of the mega-wattage kind.

We see a potential cultural face-off between Lady Gaga by Coty and Justin Bond by Etat Libre d'Orange. The first one gets massive doses of inspiration from the drag culture while the second one lives it.

WWD have also announced that Etat Libre d'Orange will work on a new level of expansion thanks to their new minority shareholder, Goldsilk Holdings, LTD from Hong-Kong. The plan is to reach 5 times their current annual revenue of about 1 million Euros in 3 years. They intend to enter the South American market while broadening their base in Asia. They wish to reach a higher level of visibility while maintaining the character of the label, which thrives on playful provocation and loves to flirt with the underground.

For customers, they will be able to surf on a new, "simplified" website from January 2012 and buy bigger 100 ml bottles from May 2012 emblazonned with the house's playfully Royalist motto "Le parfum est mort, vive le parfum."

Via WWD (non-open source)