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"Every celebrity whose “anybody” needs to have a perfume and as we all know, Lady Gaga’s scent will smell like an expensive hooker.
Competition to bottle Gaga is fierce, but the Swiss fragrance company Givaudan is working to collaborate with her when she releases her first scent, reportedly with the intent of blood and semen in the mix. Collaborating with names such as Lady Gaga would bring a boost to Givaudan’s fine-fragrance unit." [source]
The perfume will circulate later in 2012.
"Like an expensive hooker". Let's think about that for a moment: "like an expensive hooker". Out of all the possible briefs in the world of smell, you go for "expensive hooker"!
Reminds me of the following anecdotal dialogue attributed to George Bernand Shaw:
GBS: Madam, would you sleep with me for a million pounds?
Actress: My goodness, Well, I’d certainly think about it.
GBS: Would you sleep with me for a pound?
Actress: Certainly not! What kind of woman do you think I am?!
GBS: Madam, we’ve already established that. Now we are haggling about the price.
(This dialogue is also attributed to Winston Churchill).
If you're set on hooking, why does the "expensive" adjective have anything to do with it???
pic via globaldebateblog.blogspot.com
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"Expensive" merely implies a powdery note mixed with the expected fruity floral notes
ReplyDeleteOr how about the classic Henny Youngman:
ReplyDeleteHooker: "I'll do anything for fifty dollars."
Prospective customer: "Paint my house!"
I thought GaGa looked very last year at the Grammys the other night, btw...
Remember how Coco Chanel is said to have been inspired by the smell of high class courtesan Emilienne d'Alencon? Apparently Ed'A did not smell of the heavy musk and jasmine scents associated with prostitutes at that time. She just smelled of clean hair and skin. This is in Tilar J. Mazzeo's book on Chanel No 5, and while Mazzeo produces no direct evidence for it, it is a good story!
ReplyDeleteOn that old supposed George Bernard Shaw quote, if the woman is only considering sleeping with you for the high amount, you negotiate up, not down. Otherwise it really is just an insult, and an assumption that a woman selling sex has no option to refuse. Sex workers have the option to say no, or should, though it can be hard to enforce.
ReplyDeleteAn expensive sex worker or courtesan would most likely smell really good, and probably invest some time and effort in finding a really good individual scent.
Whether Lady Gaga's scent will smell really good, I have no idea. However if it is heavily marketed to the masses and distinctive, I don't know that actual high priced hookers will have anything to do with it.
I'm pretty sure Lady Gaga's fragrance will smell hookerish, trashy and slutty but expensive, let's just say I have my doubts!
ReplyDeleteEmma
You ladies sound like a bunch of catty teens. Shame on you.
ReplyDeleteWe are catty because we've got refined tastes. I'm betting that this latest offering by Lady Gaga is probably the biggest dose of the most animalistic musk imaginable and lots of the rotted fruit smell.
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeletepowdery is the new pink, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Come to think of it, powdery+fruit? Hmmm.
P,
ReplyDeletehahaha!!!
This is probably how "madams" "in the scene", if you know what I mean, get their errands done, you know!
Annemariec,
ReplyDeletenice story, I agree!
Indeed there is no evidence produced by Tilar, though it's covered in some degree that Chanel admired Emilienne in the other book about Chanel, by Chaney (review coming up) ~admiration however is not basis for grounding her scent product (already envisioned by Beaux years ago) on her, unless she sensed there would be a demand for it anyway.
Courtesans were both admired & reviled in a way, forming the "demi monde" (hence the term demi mondaine) on the cusp of respactability and utter digrace. So it's a thin line and if Chanel did get inspired by it, I believe it was a calculated risk.
Jenna,
ReplyDeleteI always thought the GBS quote (if indeed his) was not a put down on hookers/sex workers (indeed, a more accurate term) but rather a put down on hypocricy: that women who did sell themselves out, offering their company for material recompensation, didn't admit in doing so and considered themselves somehow "superior" to those who merely street walked.
To this, I do agree personall, btw: there's nothing more vulgar IMHO than staying with somoene you don't like just because he's providing for you (but that's just me and I do accept disgreement)
Sex workers absolutely have the right to say no! There is such a notion as "rape" even for a sex worker (or a wife, come to think of it). I suppose coming into a deal where a certain degree of lenience on the other's needs, looks, situation, behaviour allows us to think that maybe there wouldn't be limits, but limits are there, or at least there should be there I hope.
Now, on to the smelly stuff.
I have heard of sex workers in the US smelling of Angel and of Jovan Musk. This is anecdotal (dont' even recall source) and it could be bogus. See if you can correct me on that point, I would be interested to find out.
I don't equate either scent with individuality or distinctiveness, to be frank, but that's just because they're supremely popular scents in the general population.
So the question boils down to what you so succinctly conclude: by the time something becomes popular, it's out of interest for those who are seeking to differentiate themselves through it. I think the same happens with fragrances and perfumophiles (there's an inherent degree of snobbism, we have to admit), actually!! ;-)
I just think that the whole "expensive hooker" business is there for shocks (after her previous "blood and semen" perfume brief which just reminds me of having sex on your period) and it's not really that shocking in the end, therefore meaningless. Agree?
Emma,
ReplyDeleteGaga is running for shocks and there's an inherent degree of non refinement in that attitude. True.
Now, how her actual scent might turn out? I don't know. I'm not that interested in finding out but that's just us. There are tons of fans who would be thrilled by its release (if not actual scent). I'm just so bored of this celebrity scent mania.
Anon,
ReplyDeletegrowl! :P
But seriously (and thanks for commenting, every opinion is welcome around here) do present the ladies on this page with a defensive argument. I'm sure there would be one!
I rather like what Gaga did with herself (making her name in just a short two years requires some intelligence to be sure), but the announcements for her celebrity perfume have been nothing but moronic so far, sorry!
Eld,
ReplyDeleteit's all relative, I suppose. To someone else refined taste might appear snobbist or deluded. (?)
You might be right in what the perfume would entail; it's certainly very probably. The one constant is "fruit" however. Funny how we have come to associate it with very specific, negative associations in perfume-talking land, eh?
i have the feeling gaga has seen her day, had her big wave, and is pretty much yesterday's news - so why is she coming out with a perfume NOW? (i know - money.) i mean, she's done the over-the-top dressing bit to death, and has fallen from the headlines from what i can see. is it just me? am i the only one to whom she fells like old news?
ReplyDeleteexpensive hooker? could smell really good - if that hooker has been around men with expensive, sophisticated taste, it could've rubbed off on her. so to speak.
cheers,
minette
J,
ReplyDeletecould be, as things evolve in such mind-blowing velocity these days, don't they. So your hypothesis is indeed based on solid experience and history.
The press likes to build them up and then tear them down, so I suppose now is the time to attempt doing that second part (which might explain why they might tear the scent apart when it comes out "whoa? no blood and tears and bodily fluids? what a scam!" etc).
Can't envy celebrities in the least as they often seem like cornered animals, persecuted by their own fame. :/
On the other hand, I have no doubt that having culture and chic rubbed off on you is possible; it happened to some of the most prominent style figures of the 20th century after all.