When is a Fake not a Fake?

Browsing through online auctions and reading perfume fora one is left with the impression that highly unscrupulous vendors are roaming the Net "selling algae for silk ribbons". This Greek idiom describes exactly what sometimes happens: something quite different with only a passing resemblance to the coveted is being sold with claims of greatness all the same. This has proven a beneficial compass for the average consumer at the back of their minds no doubt, as people have increasingly become more sophisticated over the years and know how to spot a fake when they see one. It has also created a sort of panic and knee-jerk reaction however, even when witnessing unusual but nonetheless legitimate specimens. Today, let's see three unusual offerings which in one capacity or the other I was drawn to offer some proficiency on in the past few days. Perhaps not coincidentally, they all involve Guerlain...(To explain myself, I simply mean that a fragrance house with hundreds of flacon designs and as many perfumes of modern or vintage cut to contend with, being confused comes with the territory).



Exhibit A:

L'Heure Bleue by Guerlain 75ml Eau de Toilette in the typical "bouchon coeur" bottle (1911) in which the fragrance (as well as Mitsouko) is traditionally housed. YET the label and box are identical to the old "petit beurre" design (from 1916) which also housed Vague Souvenir, Pour Troubler, Kadine, Rue de la Paix, Candide Effleuve.... What's happening? Are we confronted with a fake label and box? Or with a rare, precious vintage? Relax; neither is the case. It wouldn't make sense to fake the label/box, but not the bottle or the fragrance. And the seller has actually five identical offerings to sell, making it rather less rare than one might at first think. Plus the juice looks pristine and very fresh (sprayer mechanism too) for an old vintage.
Verdict: A limited edition bottle from the "limbo" years when the recent LVMH take-over had resulted in several issues of renewed presentation.


Exhibit B:

My friend Dimitri got hold of that one and consulted me about it. I was greatly intrigued! A Shalimar extrait in the typical "bouchon coeur" bottle in glass that only ever housed L'Heure Bleue, Fol Arôme (both from 1912) and later Mitsouko (1919). Since Shalimar has a well documented history on these pages, how could this be possible? The juice is authentic and so is the bottle and label, incidentally. The bottom (not shown) has a label typical of the years between the two world wars and the 1960s, but without the usual stamping in red ink.
Verdict: Shortages of war probably resulted in using a former mould (that of L'heure Bleue indeed) to house a fragrance in search of a bottle.


Exhibit C:

Another Guerlain "bouchon coeur" bottle, this time bearing a (rather worn) Calèche by Hermès label! It looks like a mutant, infested with great genes which somehow got jumbled when the genetic dice was cast and is forever incancerated due to collateral shame. Technically not a fake, but doubtful that either Guerlain or Hermes fans would be very much pleased.
Verdict: Someone once owned and liked the "bouchon coeur" bottle very much; so much in fact that they decanted their Caleche fragrance into it and relabelled so as not to confuse themselves. Then again, that someone probably died at some point and left someone else with something incomprehensible on their hands...which they're now trying to sell with ludicrous results.

The Jasmine at your Door

"The jasmine at your door, my jasmine,
oh and I came to prune it, my little bird.
And your mother thought, my Yasemin,
that I came to take you away.

The black eyes, which are sweet, my Yasemin.
Oh, the brows, which are long, my little bird.
Made me forsake ~my Yasemin~ oh, my mother's milk, my little bird."



Thus runs this Cypriot folk song which plays with the double entendre of the word jasmine: the wonderful trellis that grows upon doors and windows of course, but also the traditional Eastern Mediterranean women's name, Yasmin/Yasemin (which means of course Jasmine). So the poet is in turn speaking of the flower and of the woman, the two becoming one and the same...

Savina Yannatou and Primavera en Salonico perform the traditional Cypriot folk song The Jasmin from the album "Mediterranea: Songs Of The Mediterranean" (1998)
Translation author's own.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: the Jasmine Series

The winners of the draw...

...for the Paris exclusive Boxeuses samples are:

Lubasa
GatorGrad
Gina
Trebor
Qwendy

Congratulations to all and please mail me (with Boxeuses draw in the title) using the contact email in profile with your prefered shipping address, so I can have these out to you soon.
Thanks for the participation everyone and till the next one!

Frederic Malle Interview

"The result is a good fragrance, a sexy thing, that makes you look better. It’s the salt and pepper of sex, I suppose. It makes people more attractive. It’s a very beautiful but abstract thing. But then when you make the perfume, it’s like a Rubik’s Cube. It’s a chemistry, very tangible, concrete and matter of fact. "


Thus explains the difference between the product and the creation process Frédéric Malle, founder of Les Editions de Parfums, the famous niche line which put the perfumers on the forefront 10 years ago. Malle is not mincing words when he disparages marketing people starting with the brief rather than the smell, because -obviously- they don't know anything about the creation process or what perfumery entails (Is it any wonder there's so much dreck and sameness in the market today?)
He also reveals the best-sellers of his line per country/continent: Bigarade for most Asia, En Passant and Lys Méditéranée for China, Carnal Flower (reportedly ahead of Chanel No.5 please note!) in the US and Une Rose in the Middle East, where he plans to open a boutique. Interesting!

Read more, including who is the perfumer he considers most knowledgable, where he was inspired from for the look of the line and what he thinks about online and eponymous star-spangled criticism, in Nathalie Atkinson's article on the National Post.

Chanel Les Exclusifs: Size Small For Fit

Finally...It was a long-held rumour but it just became a fact. After the 'demand' of so many for some scaling down of the honkers (each scent in Les Exclusifs came in a 200ml -otherwise awesome- bottle), Chanel is now officially offering them in the travel-friendly size of 75ml/2.5oz which they affectionately call "petit flacons". The line-up doesn't include all the fragrances though: only Beige, Sycomore, Eau de Cologne and Coromandel benefit. Apparently they're the best-sellers.
Let's hope the less commercially viable ones follow.
STOP THE PRESS ADDITION: Indeed Chanel sales representatives have been informed that the smaller 75ml bottles will be available in ALL Les Exclusifs Eau de Toilette scents in February 2011.
How's that?