At Last: Guerlain Homme

We had announced a while ago that Guerlain is issuing a new masculine fragrance this year. We're pleased to see that the photos of the ad campaign and the bottles are great (created in collaboration with the Pininfarina automobile design studio) and the notes sound good. Not to mention the slogan: For the animal in you! (growl!!!)

The fragrance acknowledges the “animal instinct” every man harbours, according to the company. However, Guerlain is anxious to point out that its target market is no “hairy, lantern-jawed beast”, but a male who has razor-sharp reflexes, smooth moves, natural flair and an “undeniable aura of masculinity”.

This positioning is perfectly illustrated by the TV advertising campaign (devised by Jean-Paul Goude, who also shot the print ad), which features the green-eyed Brazilian model Renne Castrucci completely at ease in a jungle setting.
Guerlain Homme is supposed to be a fragrance that defies the traditional pyramid structure. The juice, created by Thierry Wasser and Sylvaine Delacourte, is said to have been composed in three parallel phases: Consequently the notes include, in the middle, beginning and end of the composition a mojito accord of sweet lime, mint, rum and rhubarb. The second accord features floral-citrus notes of bergamot, green tea and pelargonium. The third phase combines cedar, vetiver and green rhubarb, to echo the initial freshness.

Pics and press release via the Moodie report

Guerlain News

News about Guerlain drop like bombs this morning for us, evening for some. There are groundbreaking developments which merit their own mention.

First of all Thierry Wasser was appointed head perfumer at Guerlain, succeeding Jean Paul Guerlain after years at the helm up till 2002 and being the first one tied so tightly to the house without being family. Of course other perfumers had worked for Guerlain before: Maurice Roucel for L'instant and Insolence, Edouard Flechier who had reformulated Mitsouko...But somehow this is the end of an era. I am crossing my fingers it will be the best possible development for the historic house. Previous work by Wasser for Guerlain included Iris Ganache and Quant Vient La Pluie.
Sculptor Sacre Nobi, founder and artistic director of S-perfumes, >was on to something when he was commenting a few days ago about the upheaval in the big perfume companies and the moving of noses from one to the other.

According to fashionweekdaily:

Thierry Wasser has been named the exclusive perfumer for Guerlain as of June 2008. The announcement was made today by Laurent Boillot, Guerlain's chief executive officer, and master perfumer Jean-Paul Guerlain.

"This appointment upholds the Guerlain philosophy of entrusting its olfactory creations to a 'nose,' a tradition that has been followed for almost 180 years," Boillot said in a memo. "Five generations of Guerlain perfumers have produced an incomparable body of know-how, illustrated through bold creations, unique in the history of perfumery."

As one of the leading figures in contemporary perfumes, Wasser became a perfumer after studying botany and training with Givaudan. He joined Firmenich in 1993 and spent nine years in New York before moving to the company's office in Paris in 2002. [...] In his position as perfumer, Wasser will work closely with Sylvaine Delacourte, who joined Guerlain in 1983 and is actively involved in the development of numerous Guerlain perfumes, including L'Instant de Guerlain and Insolence.

On the heels of that news, Guerlain announces the launching of the three Carnal Elixirs to be issued in autumn in the exclusive Guerlain Boutiques and available at Bergdorf Goodman, The Breakers, and Neiman Marcus at San Francisco.
The fragrances are named all after "femme" and the notes are as follows:

Femme Fatale (fatal woman): white peach, rose, pachouli, vanilla
Femme Erotique (erotic woman): Clemintine almond, tonka bean, vanilla
Femme Enfant (woman child): black pepper, rose, rum, chocolate

The bottles of 75 ML Eau de Parfum will come at $250.00.

Finally the new Guerlain for men we had announced some time ago is materialising and will simply be called Guerlain Homme, built on lemon, citrus and mint. It will be at the Saks and Neimans counters come October. Created by artistic director Sylvaine Delacourte it will be encased in a bottle designed by Paelo Pininfarina, the Mazeratti '06 and Porsche designer.


So, what are your expectations?

Thanks to Reckless Red of POL for shopping info. Vintage ad from ebay. Pic of Thierry Wasser courtesy of What we do is Secret