La Petite Robe Noire by Guerlain: Say What? (New Fragrance Musings)

Some time ago, last August to be exact, Perfume Shrine had speculated that Guerlain would be issuing new perfumes soon with city/travel names etc. (you can read that article here) Among the already registered, copyrighted names was Habit Noir (=black dress). The name was eerily reminiscent of the classic masculine in the Guerlain range, Habit Rouge. It was perhaps the stroke of unoriginality to name something "noir" amidst a plethora of products on the market termed Black-this and Noir-that. Even Guerlain themselves had recently issued the limited edition bottle Black Mystery for their iconic Shalimar! It took a reader of mine to point out that Aromamundi had been privy to interesting facts:

"This sweet gentleman had access to the new Guerlain Homme quite some time ago, and talks about new Guerlain releases for 2009, including ("including", goodness gracious!), I quote, a "Voyages à ..." series (might be the capitals you spotted?), "Une Petite Robe Noire" centered around a candied cherry note*, and the "Habit Noir" you talked about".

To which I had replied:

"Voyages must be the line with the capital cities, Habit Noir must indeed be another Habit Rouge flanker and the Petite Robe Noire (sounds like an Frenchified Avon that one!! LOL) must be a new feminine limited edition, perhaps".

Une Petite Robe Noire has materialized and is set to go it seems, according to this press release appearing on Vogue.fr, hence the picture:

The fragrance, a fruity gourmand, starts on notes of Sicilian citron, licorice and almond*, over a heart of rose and smoky tea to finish on a musky and vanillic background ~translation by Helg

*{NB: Please remember how often the cherry-pie note and almond are referenced in heliotropin-based fragrances, which is one of the key ingredients in Guerlain fragrances}.
The bottle is the classic Mitsouko and L'Heure Bleue design with a sketch of a negligée-looking black dress on it that reminds me of several things: for starters Plum Syke's heroines of the chic-lit novel "Bergdorf Blondes" (English mid-maintenance girl goes to NYC and conforms to high-maintenance lifestyle aiding her "catch" the perfect romantic suitor where she leasts expect it); then the illustrations by Ruben Toledo in Laren Stover's delightfully light and fun "The Bombshell Manual of Style" (a beauty boards' afficionados best-seller); and finally the "girly" stationnery that looks like something coming out of a Sex & the City old filofax.
If I judge by comparable "guides" to looking elegant or looking French (tongue-in cheek or not) or even more weirdly living a la Francaise there is a wide market for that sort of thing! (I urge you to click on the links and see for yourself; one of the basic taglines for the book is "perfect black dress". Come to think of it, it's interesting to search "little black dress" on Amazon by itself!). And no nation wants to be Frencher than the North-Americans (the love-and-hate between those two cultures is well-documented). It's interesting to note that all those guides are written by English-speaking individuals with various degrees of competency or indeed fashion sense/knowledge (this one commits the grave faux pas of attributing an emblematic Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn to Coco Chanel for instance!)

The above observations are completely my own and Guerlain is not corroborating (nor refuting yet) any of the above. Yet, they're there! A direction towards the American market seems Guerlain's latest strategy it seems, as discussed in detail in The Guerlain Conundrum article here. But more importantly I sense a further disorientation in strategic mapping out: As succinctly our guest writer AlbertCan noted on Now Smell This :

"The little black dress? How is this referencing the Guerlain heritage?(Getting into Chanel marketing territory--yet again)".

Another reader comments on the heels of that:

"As for the "invention" of the black dress which has become a classic, I think this is now in the public domain. Most designers put them out and black is worn ubiquitously outside of funerals."

and another

"there is some book cover with a little dress... and it's a white dress, but it reminds me of that bottle"

and yet another

"Is it just me or did Guerlain just scoop up a name that would have been perfect for a new Chanel perfume instead?"

Aside from the well-known fact that Avon already has a fragrance exploiting the concept of the "little black dress" since 2001 in -you guessed it!- Little Black Dress by Avon, the name alludes clearly to what is considered a "chic" French classic. Vogue.fr presents the new Guerlain fragrance with the tagline "un parfum déjà culte" (an already cult perfume). Clearly the "cult" is the harvesting of the iconic status of the little black dress, a concept synonymous with images from another era.

But the thing is, the little black dress matched with the set of pearls and the red lipstick is such a cliché now that no truly chic woman in French-inspired Europe (or at least in the circles I move in!) readily chooses to wear it any more. I am not disputing the ease, comfort and elegance of the little black dress idea. I even have several in my own wardrobe. It is a landmark in the history of fashion for a reason! I am merely commenting on the over-analysed, over-simplified "trickling down" of its appeal which has conspired to ultimately cheapen it ("wear this and feel like Audrey Hepburn" proclaim all the rock-bottom and mid-price lines ~sorry, that ain't gonna happen that easily..). Personally, Hepburn physique non-conforming aside, I would never pick a little black dress for a semi-formal/formal occasion now exactly because it's so expected, nor would I pick a fragrance "to go with it" as a result.

But here is the really interesting part and pay attention, dear readers: One of the quite frequent questions appearing on fragrance-discussing fora on the Internet is about what fragrance to match with a certain "look". There was this example on a very popular forum a while ago, which I am linking here for your perusal and no doubt interesting deductions. The question was paused by a lovely American lady from New Jersey:

"This Saturday I will be attending a pretty swanky wedding. Guests have been asked to wear black and white attire. A friend gave me a gorgeous designer cocktail dress which I had fitted perfectly. It's very Audrey Hepburn and I can't wait to wear it. My mother had vintage heels and a bag which are the perfect compliment to the dress. I have not been this excited to dress up since my own wedding. Now that my clothing and jewelery are selected I've turned my attention to fragrance. What shall I wear? So, dear POL members, what fragrance would you wear with your "Little black dress"? I hope to be inspired by some of your suggestions."

I will save you the trouble of wading through the thread if you lack the time. I did it for you: The resounding answer is "something from Chanel" amidst other recs, very few of which happen to be Guerlains.
Something tells me headquarters are paying very, very close attention to what is being discussed online (the new marketing is taking note of online communities) and trying to come up with the tricky part of reconciliating the appeasal of the core fans of the Guerlain brand with the commercial potential of their new products. The task is Herculean, it's easy to lapse, alas and I am not unsympathetic: We LOVE Guerlain around here, if you've been reading Perfume Shrine regularly. And until I get my own share of juice to judge I cannot proclaim whether it is good or bad naturally.
But the news of the launch do give pause for thought, so I decided it's interesting to bring it into the open discussion arena and therefore I would be genuinely interested in your opinion, dear readers; here in the comments or privately if you prefer. As always rest assured that Perfume Shrine is respectful of every range of opinion.

Oh, and I almost forgot: of course La Petite Robe Noire is going to be an exclusive at Guerlain boutiques starting February at 100 euros for 50ml., which I have to admit is not unreasonable (Should you be concerned for Habit Rouge, there is a Sport version out shortly, see our previous news)