How the Perfume Market Game is Changing

 The drift into the corporate mainstream by some of the older niche brands always creates the risk of a possible (or rather probable?) diminishing of innovation and creativity as a result: Tom Ford, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Penhaligon's, Le Labo, Diptyque, you name it... We're therefore experiencing niche 2.0 with newer artisan and indie brands. Creed is the latest brand to be sold to a large luxury group, to Kering to be specific. 

Creed was a family business with a disputed past into fragrance making (the history of the Creed fragrance brand as examined for inconsistencies is laid bare in this piece I wrote). In short, Creed is a Paris-based perfume house renowned for its self-styled history and the unquenchable thirst for name-dropping. It has been possible to find and acquire in garage sales and collectors' catalogues perfumes created by Guerlain, Chanel, Caron, etc. worldwide. Yet it proved virtually impossible to find specimens of a Creed fragrance prior to the '70s.  

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In 2020 after decades of tight family management, the perfume house of Creed was sold to BlackRock Long Term Private Capital and Javier Ferrán, the Spanish businessman and chairman of Diageo. At the time, Olivier Creed said that Ferrán and BlackRock LTPC were “ideal partners for Creed, given their collaborative approach to working with their companies and their long-term orientation. I also look forward to continuing to work with all our staff, suppliers and distributors, and I know that they will continue to share in our success.” BlackRock is incidentally one of the biggest property management firms on the planet. It was around that time that Aventus for Men had become their ultimate best-seller, the best-seller to end all best-sellers, a Jean-Christian Herault composition with prominent fresh pineapple over notes of green apple, patchouli, birch and ambergris.  

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 Creed has now been bought up by a large luxury group that controls famous houses. Kering is a French multinational company specializing in luxury goods. It owns the brands Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Gucci, Alexander McQueen, and Yves Saint Laurent. It remains to be seen what will happen to Creed and to Aventus in particular, which latter subject has been under scrutiny for watering down by its many fans for a couple of years now... 

 

I guess we will see about that. The point is the perfume market game is changing and we'll see more developments soon. 

Luxury and the Hermessences: Fragrant Musings

Hermès has always seemed to me the height of luxury: not just a status symbol to carry around, but a brand organically grown out of that most aristocratic accoutrement, horse riding and its paraphernalia. As saddlers, Hermès have distinguished themselves in the axiom of "beauty serving functionality", a sort of van der Rohe "less is more" philosophy where every touch is truly meaningful, truly essential. Their fragrances are a reflection of this effortless luxury, diverting from bourgeois spick-and-span, and speaks of old money, not new. 

 

The fact that Réna Dumas (née Gregoriadès), architect and mother of Pierre Alexis Dumas, was of Greek extraction, alongside her pushing a Hellenic aesthetic to the brand through collaborations with artists and illustrators, has solidified this classical approach in my mind. She detested pomposity, she embraced serenity and douceur de vivre.

 

This fusion of functionality and douceur (softness) is what is also reflected in Jean Claude Ellena's work for Hermès, especially in the Hermessences, their boutique-only line of fragrances which are simple like haikus, harmonious like the Parthenon, but never simplistic, nor unnecessarily imposing. They retain a human closeness, a sort of philosophical proximity with the culture of light, a message read on the pure blue skies of a life bathed in inherent goodness.

 

The Hermessences line, essences by Hermès literally, is comprised of laconic names, often with a double entendre, focusing on unexpected facets of a given material, rather than trying to highlight its stereotypical olfactory profile. They do not rely on in-your-face exclusivity or luxury, like other designer lines, but rather a desire to explore new pathways to pleasure.

After all these years, I'm still taken with their subtlety, their grace, their effortless nod to luxury, a suspension of time. 

Fragrance Industry News: Big Brands, Niche Players and Celebrities

The perfume industry is going through different phases and looking into the developments, what with the mergers, acquisitions, take-overs and profit reports, as well as the perfume best-sellers lists, is always interesting in its own way. According to the latest reportage there are news in what concerns big players and the continuing growth of niche in the market segmentation.

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As per the BBC news, "Coty - the New York beauty brand behind famous names such as Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs, Gucci, Hugo Boss and Chloe - has faced headwinds this year.
In August, it reported a surprise quarterly loss that was partly blamed on "materially" higher marketing costs for the launch of new fragrances, including Gucci Bloom and Hugo Boss Tonic.
L'Oreal, which sells fragrances under brands including Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren and Diesel, also reported disappointing sales and profits for its most recent quarter." 

It's interesting to note one particular detail which might be explaining the differentiation of niche in practical terms for consumers.

Again according to BBC News, "[market research firm]Mintel estimates UK sales will be worth about £1.5bn this year, making it the fifth-biggest market globally behind Brazil, the US, Russia and France. As with other retail sectors, she says one of the problems is savvy consumers who try out products in a physical store but then go online to buy it for less." 

Niche perfumes by default offer less sampling opportunities in store and they also have different sales practices regarding shop distributions and to the sales bonuses of the sales assistants pushing them.

The data for the celebrity fragrances however seems contradicting. One source (Mintel to be precise) "releasing a fragrance emblazoned with the name of a celebrity, such as Britney Spears, Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez - appears to be waning. A third of consumers describe this approach as tacky."
The Washington Post cites that sales of celebrity scents "have dropped by half since 2000, while luxury perfumes have seen a recent sales increase of 16 percent, bringing them to a record high".  There is nevertheless the counter argument.

In an Allure article touting the quality of many celebrity fragrances (and indeed we have shared a bit of the love, when deserved, on these very pages) there will always be a place for celebrity scents. "We experience them not as people, but as products, ingesting whatever song, photo, or product they choose to release. They are not so much revealing themselves to us, but continuing to build the character they are projecting themselves to be. We are falling in love with someone we will never know.
In that way, celebrity fragrances are different than scents from the big houses — the Armanis and Chanels. While brand loyalty is certainly a factor in what helps fragrances from the big guys fly off of the shelves every season (not without the help of a celebrity as the face of the brand and scent) celeb scents tap into a different part of our psyche." and concluding "the trend of celebrity fragrances will only completely die out when our collective obsession with celebrity does — which is to say, not any time in the near future."

Worth keeping in mind.

Hermes 24 Faubourg: fragrance review

Named after the famed "faux bourg" rue of Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the 8eme arrondisement in Paris, where the headquarters of the Dumas-family luxury house are situated, 24, Faubourg was immersed in luxury from the very beginning; to the manor born.

Like many perfume lovers I'm not averse to luxury per se. Luxury and luxuria pose an interesting thought; luxuria is the Latin name for...lust. One of the 7 deadly sins. Luxury lovers do lust over the objects of their desire, do they not?  Desire is sparked by lack. Lack creates eros, the urge to fill the lack, the platonic ideal of uniting two parts that once made a whole. It's a metaphorical concept. Explains why brands keep us on our toes searching for the part that's missing!

In rebelliousness against social class and perhaps due to anti-snobbism on my part (or is it just plain snobbism in reverse, I sometimes wonder?) I have refrained from conscious overt exhibition of the insignia of wealth and embracing the lowly and the humble on purpose. Look at that drugstore item, isn't it fabulous? And that Zara fragrance at a fraction of the cost of a designer one, yet made by Puig just the same? Who needs logos and frou frou, it's the quality in things that matters. The axiom of Coco Chanel has always guided me. It'd be quite inelegant to hang a 50 carat diamond from one's neck, as surely as it'd be gauche to hang a check from it. So why indulge in the luxuria of capitalism? Wanting more, exhibiting more?

I have been perfectly happy going for my esoteric woody incenses for everyday wear. People usually don't even ascribe the aromas emanating from my humble person as "perfume", even when they like them. It's not like Coco Mademoiselle, "hey, you're wearing perfume". I suppose it's like I just left Vespers or something or have been spending a lot of time at the library, which is not unusual come to think of it. I'm also big on white florals and on spicy orientals, though these have a harder time passing under the radar of "perfume awareness". Not that it really bothers me if they do make people notice. After all, many a time a potent scent has sparked an interesting conversation. People united by scent are people united at breath, it's a powerful connection.

The scent of 24, Faubourg is floral, undeniably floral, white floral drenched in honeyed tones, to be exact, not just "a floral".  It's the floral to end all florals, and yet it's not only floral. In its elaborate, Byzantine bouquet I can detect resins, balsams, fruit (fuzzy peaches and tangy citruses), a soft powderiness of orris, some wood, something intangible, something aching to overreach...Sounds like everything and the kitchen sink (same thought with the original feminine Boucheron ) and yet it is not that in effect. Instead, a perfectly judged, lush, satisfying, calorific, dare I say it, yes, I will, RICH effect comes out of that lovely bottle shaped like a carré silk scarf that the Dumas house is famous the world over for.
Although the orange blossom and the jasmine and the (rather less copious in the mix) gardenia owe as much to analytical chemistry as they owe to nature's laboratory, the experience feels like a silken thread woven by some exotic insect with beautiful wings in an engulfing tropical greenhouse.
The allusion to the sun is nowhere more evident than in the advertising images which reflect the golden, ambery aura of the scent. I wrote before that "solar notes" stand for warmth and luminosity and although this is not especially salicylates-focused, it does smell snuggly and jovial and reminiscent of the touch of the sun.

Perfect for the Indian Summer days and evenings we're going through then!

Guerlain: The liquidation of heritage

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Succumbing to celebrity culture has never been the Guerlain way.
Guerlain does not follow the Guerlain way anymore. Time to let that sink in.

Thomas Fontaine: New In-House Perfumer at Jean Patou, Scherrer & Worth

After the acquisition of parfums Jean Patou by the company Designer Parfums, a part of the Shaneel Enterprises Group (who took the helm from P&G who previously owned Patou), Paris-based perfumer Thomas Fontaine will work alongside Designer Parfums’ existing team on new launches and will have a specific responsibility overseeing the fragrance development for its heritage brands, namely Worth, Jean Louis Scherrer and Jean Patou. The portfolio of the company also includes Agent Provocateur, Aigner Parfums and Monsoon fragrances.

Thomas Fontaine has worked with an international client list and displays an extensive track record in creating fragrances for bespoke houses such as Lubin (Black Jade, Bluff, Inédite, Figaro, Gin Fizz), Grès (Cabotine Floralisme, Miss Cabaret), L'Occitane (Miel et Citron), D&G (L'Amoureux), Léonard (Eau Fabuleuse) and JC Brosseau (Bois d'Orient, Ombre Platine); as well as major brand owners such as P&G Prestige. [Indeed he worked on Caline Tender Moments and Caline Blooming Moments, flankers to the original J.Patou fragrance Caline]

He is the perfumer and founder of Pallida and has worked at renowned aroma-producing companies such as Mane, Charabot and Technico-Flor.
Fontaine studied perfumery at the Ipsica Fragrance Academy at Versailles under the patronage of the House of Jean Patou, so you can say that some things are in the cards from the very beginning.

Today Thomas Fontaine is recognised as a leading specialist in recasting vintage formulas for modern times. Which is of course wonderful news for us perfume lovers! Imagine if the old Patou Ma Collection miracles came alive again!

Designer Parfums Managing Director Dilesh Mehta commented:
“Thomas has a wonderful understanding of the history of perfume and also knows how to create beautiful fragrances for the modern international marketplace. I am sure that by working closely with him we will benefit greatly from his knowledge, experience and passion.” [source]



Let's hope for new beginnings and exciting announcements along the way! All the very best, mr.Fontaine!

Chanel No.5 Bath Oil: Inspiring the Aspirational & History of No.5 Bath Oils

When the times are tough a little pampering goes a long way. But it also proves to be a wise marketing strategy with a purpose. French fashion house Chanel is enticing online purchasing and emphasizing its exclusivity with a limited-edition Chanel No. 5 Bath Oil and limited-time free shipping on its Web site. Chanel is no stranger to upping the aspirational factor, or even obscuring a few of the less than nice aspects of its history, in order to create buzz. In Tilar Mazeo's book these are plenty evident.

But today's world rolls on word of pixel, rather than just word of mouth ~or even aesthetically glorious advertising. Indeed the new bath product is advertised by just its bottle, with newsletters announcing it in bold typeface of white on black background. Very Chanel!

This current strategy has even inspired Luxury Daily to comment that "Chanel may be aiming for younger consumers by connecting with them on a channel where they usually are found. The brand could also be trying to connect with consumers who may not be able to afford luxury products now, but may be able to in the future. The younger aspirational consumer is a market that many luxury brands are trying to hit, most notably through online marketing".

“With the introduction of the No. 5 essential bath oils and all the hype around the product being labeled ‘heavenly’ by fashionistas everywhere, this is a great way to get a younger demographic onto the Chanel ecommerce site,” according to Tania Doub, retail strategy lead for Optaros, Boston, as quoted by the journalist.

For those who are wondering about the new formulation of the iconic Chanel No.5 feedback is positive. Chanel is no stranger to luxurious and silky body products. Indeed it was some years ago at the advent of the millenium when they last issued a specific  bath oil with the tag Chanel No.5 Huiles Essentiels pour Le Bain (Technically not 100% accurate; this was a three-phase product with segments floating on on top of the other which you had to shake in order to mix and pour, as you can see on the picture on the right. It made for fantastic displays on bathroom shelves, I can tell you! Plus it smelled like a softer, still musky, but much less aldehydic version of the scent of No.5, which is enticing enough for both those who can't stomach the aldehydic load and those who just flat out love the classic fragrance).
Chanel also produced a regular Bath Oil in the No.5 line as far back as 1966, advertised with the face and body of Ali MacGraw in memorable ads circulating in the UK.

But that's not just it!

The Bath Oil was produced prior to 1966 (and the subsequent 1971 campaign) still: Older advertisements from 1963 suggest "now bathe in Chanel", with just a sketch of a young agile woman putting her hair up in order to enter a bathtub filled with foamy water containing scented bath oil.

And two years later the formula becomes an After-Bath Oil Spray, thus providing a non-alcoholic version of the iconic perfume for fans to enjoy, at a reduced price and a more practical edition.


The new Chanel No.5 Intense Bath Oil formulation follows into the steps of the older one, providing either a stand-alone fragrancing product (as suggested by its intense moniker or to accompany Eau Premiere (with which it would amorously couple) or alternatively under any of the versions of the classic Chanel No.5 for loyal fans.

vintage ads via http://www.advertisingarchives.co.uk. Click to enlarge.

What Constitutes Luxury & How is it Marketed Right Now?

L' Association des Professionnels du Luxe is today debating the question of luxe and premium as pertaining to terms used to communicate products to consumers at the Westin hotel (with the participation of Michel Teychène, marketing director at Air France and a trio off Added Value comprising Cécile Gorgeon-Pompéi, director, Leslie Pascaud, marketing director et Mark Whiting, director.) This gives us an excellent opportunity to question the theme for our own purposes regarding luxury brands and lessons learned from them.

News surrounding the luxury segment devising new techniques to capture the attention of consumers amidst an economy that is still not recuperating from the recession (and in fact might be in for another bout) have been landing on news sites thickly recently. Witness the mega-news that Gucci devotes an entire blog-site to the China market: Gucci China. The question of whether China is an applicable market for luxury brands or not is rather an over-discussed point. Obviously it is, otherwise so many brands with huge marketing offices standing behind them wouldn't try to infiltrate it so passionately. To point, the Hermes offspring specifically for it, as announced on these pages over a year ago, has been doing amazingly well according to reports. What makes Gucci stand out in this piece of news is that they dedicate a blog site, rather than just a part of their site, thus personalizing the platform for users and importing content that can be peripheral. The marked similarities with the Sartorialist in the layout of street fashion photography is also intriguing to watch. Could it mean, to make this a broader discussion, that one successful amateur might pose as an exemplar to the professionals? To bring this to perfumes, could it mean that specific elements of presentation offered by amateur/indie authors (be it producers of aromatic compositions or troubadours of perfume prose) can slowly become the expected way in which certain aspects of the trade will be communicated from now on?

The Missoni Target collection which sold out within the first day is another example of a new spin to the techniques of making luxe products stand out. “The combination of the excellent marketing strategy, a large number of resellers looking to profit off of the limited availability of the line and Target vastly underestimating the popularity of the collaboration are what led to such a successful, sold-out first day of the Missoni for Target launch,” said Emily Connor, conversation manager at Media Logic, Albany, NY. It's also a lesson in how social media could be of tremendous help when mobile Web problems and in-store fights erupted due to over-demand (Web crash happened on Sept.13th 9am.Eastern time).

On what constitutes the targeted market segments, two interesting facts emerge: Male consumers with an aspirational streak consume more luxe goods and the affluent family is becoming a new target within brands.

Aspiration male consumers increase their spending "dramatically", according to American Express. “As consumers grow more confident coming out of the recession, many are returning to their luxury fashion shopping behaviors from years past,” said Ed Jay, senior vice president at American Express Business Insights, New York. "[...]online and discount and flash-sale spending has provided another platform for buying favorite brands, all contributing to increases in luxury retail spend across the board". (According to numbers, that's a staggering 126% increase on premium luxe brands for non-enthusiast males in the USA). Maybe some of the Missoni-Target audience consisted of those? Compare and contrast with male fashion enthusiasts, who spent 11% less on premium luxury overall, while affluent female consumers did not change their spending habits.
Cuing in this data with the rise in masculine fragrances released by mainstream luxury and niche perfumery brands makes sense: indeed the tsunami of releases presents fragrance addressed to men like never before seen in the history of mankind. There's definitely something here. Could it also mean that the (traditional) role of women buying perfume has finally shifted?

But it's the affluent family which might be the emerging target of the luxury world: According to the Ipsos Mandelsohn 2011 Annual Affluent Survey families buy products in mass (that pertains to the digital and electronic goods especially, but a concept store that caters to each and every member of the family can also see this materialized in higher sales). The reason behind it is suggested to be one of being in control and effecting changes in an are that the consumers feel they can make a difference. Children and teenagers are increasingly monitoring purchases for families. A fact that is well known by the perfume industry as well, which has been catapulting us with releases that address the under-teens (see Justin Bieber celebrity fragrance) or slightly above.

“Additionally, it’s undeniable that the line is successful in the fact that it was truly able to keep the traditional Missoni elements, yet design a much less-expensive group of products, ranging from clothing to luggage to kitchenware to electronic accessories, that was accepted by this key demographic,” she said.

Quotes & data provided by Rachel Lamb and Kayla Hutzler. Photo via thelocal.de

Parfums Boucheron Change Hands

Parfums Boucheron, sprung out of the famous jewellers by the same name and until recently in the hands of L’Oréal, will soon join Interparfums, a dynamic group of no less than 259 millions of euros in sales last year. The agreement will be effective January 1st 2011 and will last for 15 years.

Founded in 1982, Interparfums control the licences of fragrances for Burberry, Paul Smith and Jimmy Choo (a new, upcoming fragrance by the celebrated shoe-maker is in the works), while they also own parfums Lanvin.
Boucheron, on the other hand, is making its presence known in the Far East with the launch of 6 to 10 jewellery boutiques in the following 5 years in the Chinese market, in accordance to Sparkle Roll Group Limited of Hong Kong.

The fragrance portfolio of Parfums Boucheron is fairly restrained: Five fragrances comprise the current line-up, invariably of high quality (and in the case of Boucheron de Boucheron, to majestic effect): B de Boucheron, Boucheron (femme), Boucheron pour homme, Miss Boucheron et Jaïpur Homme. Boucheron Trouble and Initial have been discontinued, according to our sources.
Usually take-overs spell news on the fragrant front, be it in the way of repackaging (usually with a face-lift to the scent itself) or a new plate of advertising opportunities. Let's hope for the latter, rather than the former. Parfums Boucheron are fine as they are.

How will the LVMH Hostile Stake Affect Hermes Fragrances?

It's no news that Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy (LVMH) acts as a real-life Pacman, trying to eat all pac dots, i.e. luxe companies, through the maze of the international luxury market, digesting them into an undistinguishable mush which tends to divest them of their artisanal roots and top-notch quality control in lieu of creative bean-counting and super profits for crass product that screams "look at me".

Their latest desire to impose a hostile takeover at Hermès International (or at least the deciding majority of votes at board meetings), as announced at the end of October 2010, poses some serious problems and lots of opposition, no less from the heirs of the late Jean Louis Dumas. Of course with Hermès set to report another revenue increase, a 30% for the third quarter 0f 2010, it’s easy to understand why LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault ~whose own profits have slipped in the last year~ has such a keen interest in the company! "The family has clearly and unanimously told Le Figaro that the French mogul is to back off: "If you want to be friendly, Mister Arnault, you need to withdraw," Bertrand Puech, a fifth-generation descendant of founder Thierry Hermes, was quoted as saying. The family owns about 73% of Hermès' share capital, and its partnership structure means no change in contral can take place without family agreement. Afterall, it's family-run which cemented both their heritage and their endurance during the international economic crisis. With Arnault banging down the door, "will class be turned to mass", as Newsweek wondered?

It is not widely known however that LVMH had already acquired some shares at the beginning of 2008 through societies which belonged to them (equity shares), but it was the announcement on Reuters of 17,1% retaining of the total capital of the rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré house which sparked the flames, especially since it was reported to the saddle-producing house only hours before going on air: Actually it was 5% and 10% of the capital of Hermès on October 21st and 15% on October 24th, to be more precise. According to the same source "LVMH said over the weekend it had acquired its Hermes holdings at an average price of 80.5 euros a share, or a 54 percent discount to Hermes' closing share price prior to the announcement, raising questions as to how it had secured such a price."

Women’s Wear Daily reports that the company used a number of stealth maneuvers, including cash-settle equity swaps and use of several cannily named LVMH subsidiaries, to increase its stake in Hermes by over 14% without identifying itself as a competitor to Hermès brass! [quote] Is Bernaud Arnault the Anti-Chirst? Meanwhile, the group will await the French market regulator's decision on whether LVMH's stake purchase happened legally.

The fiercest competition and the heavyweight fight concerns handbags, the two competitors owning the top prestigious manufacturing of coveted luxury handbags in the world. But since they also own some of the best known and respected fragrances sectors respectively the questions does enter the scope of the Perfume Shrine.

Hermès is a peculiar case and merits its own analysis, because it's the last ultra-traditional, ultra-refined, top-notch recognisable luxe company with fragrances in its portfolio standing on French soil still. The historic house of Guerlain has been already taken-over by LVMH several years ago and the effects have been somewhat less than satisfactory for those of us who appreciate history, family-held tradition and minute attention to quality controls and artistic concepts. The flux of the the behemoth's money benefited the refurbishing of the perfume mecca that is the flaship store at Champs Elysees, yet it has resulted in dubious reformulations, an avalanche of questionable releases priced for Arab shieks with a penchant for showing off French insignia and the reliquinshing of the firm's control by the last heir, Jean Paul Guerlain.
Parfums Dior have suffered an even worse fate in the hands of LVMH, lowering the quality of the vintages and repackaging blatant lies with the same names on the tags but half the soul. Givenchy, the former bastion of restrained elegance under Hubert de Givenchy, became the producer of myriads of mainstream fragrances for men and women who dare not differ from their fellow commuters on the train to work.
Chanel, on the other hand, although still independent, stirred surely by the Wertheimers, has profited by a long-held respect and almost awe which it doesn't wholly deserve nowadays. Although the Les Exclusifs move was one of quality, albeit also of impressionalism and opposite awe towards Hermes who had just issued the Hermessences before them, the latest releases ~from the shampoo-formula trite Chance Eau Tendre to the uber-bland and predictable masculine Bleu de Chanel~ point to a downspiral fall which is echoed through the halls of Rue Cambon and its mirrored staircase in no uncertain terms.

The only one left to guard Thermopylae in what seems like the last bastion of French tradition is Hermès and I for one sincerely hope it does not go down in history for a Spartan ending. In perfumery terms, that would mean a capitulation to the lowest common denominator, an eradication of everything and starting afresh (look what happened to the Italian house of Fendi parfums, which had a sudden discontinuation of ALL its perfumers upon seizure by LVMH) and a spike at prices on faux-luxury "fountain" extraits de parfum with fancy names going for several thousands of dollars...

Luxury writer Dana Thomas, who famously wrote the pithy Deluxe: How Luxury Lost is Lustre is fingering the French mogul as a fiendish money-making former property developer with no artistic sensibility and comparing Louis Vuitton to McDonald’s “A million served,” says Thomas drily. The logo is as recognisable as the golden arches. “It really is. I would certainly put it in the top 10, along with Nike, Coca-Cola...”

Hermès, to their credit, continued to be family-run in a world which moved into complex corporate circles and in a rare perceptive move hired an in-house perfumer of international renown, Jean Claude Ellena, who with his masterful, very refined palette and distinctive style imbued the Hermes fragrances with a clear signature, a refined intellectualism and a sense of true old-money luxury: not trying too hard, no gilted logos, no vulgar display of affluence, a in-the-know hush-hush acceptance of secret codes. Of course this move proved to be financially intelligent while still a continuation of the spirit of the house: The fragrance sector for Hermès bloomed to unprecedented heights and the company even considers expanding to the Asian market with a specific line geared only to them.
Would a take-over by LVMH signal the destruction of such a happy co-existence of quality and successful presence in the market?

According to a very perceptive and spot-on article in Forbes: "Unlike many of its competitors, including major French conglomerates Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy and PPR, owned by billionaires Bernard Arnault and Francois Pinault, respectively, the brand has been able to increase sales by continuing to please its core customer, rather than aiming to attract a broader audience. At Hermès, you won’t find a $500 dollar handbag like you will at PPR-owned Gucci, or $300 plastic costume earrings, which are on sale at privately-owned Chanel. Instead, the 170-year-old company focuses on producing limited editions of their handbags, which begin at $5,000. “What’s really interesting about Hermès is that they have not followed the typical luxury model,” says Lucian James , president of Agenda Inc, a brand strategy firm in Paris and San Francisco. “When other luxury brands were reaching to a slightly bigger mass market, Hermès made a very specific decision not to do that.”

It's interesting to note, according to an interview in French newspaper Le Figaro, how the manager Patrick Thomas has since opposed the behemoth's insatiable appetite in no unclear terms, going at the root of the matter: “Hermès has absolutely no need of help, support or guardian.” “This culture (of craftmanship and strong traditions) is hardly compatible with one of a big group. It is not a financial battle, it’s a cultural battle.”

Indeed...

All opinions pronounced by Elena Vosnaki are the sole responsibility of its author and are not endorsed by any luxury house.

pics via mediairte.com, newsweek & dana thomas

Martin Margiela Untitled wins Grand Prix Strategies Design 2010

Maison Martin Margiela (MMM) won Le Grand Prix Stratégies du design 2010 on the 6th of October thanks to his new perfume release, Untitled (more info on the fragrance on our previous article). The prize includes accolades for both his dossier de press (press-kit) and the Wed design for the homonymous site. Apparently, Untitled is not to remain Unsung; that is for sure.

Dior Diorama new re-issue 2010: Fragrance Review & Musings on Reformulation

When one of the revered classics gets re-issued, it is cause for celebration. Or disenchantment. It really is a delicate balance. Diorama is no stranger to various versions circulating through the years since its original creation by Edmond Roudnitska in 1949. (You can read our own review on this page) Alternatively dirtier/raunchier (perfume aficionado speak is "skanky") or like a bowl of sunny late summer fruit left on the table to ripen a tad longer than usual (thanks to the famous Prunol base which Roudnitska was so fond of), Diorama has had its phases. The latest one involves a re-issue, just this minute going downtown in specific stores wordlwide (contrary to its Parisian Avenue Montaigne exclusivity as of last year) and a different attribution: to François Demachy, creative art director and head perfumer at parfums Dior, rather to Edmond Roudnitska. What does this mean? Many things.

• First of all, the industry secret on it being reworked was revealed to me quite a while ago alongside the difference attribution, when approached by a journalist who wanted my input for his research on something concerning the brand and the perfumer. I hope to be able to reveal the length of our coming and goings in the future. But I digress. The matter is the attribution to Demachy signals a change in the formula. Surely, the formula had been tweaked a couple of times already, like mentioned above. But the name of the illustrious creator was guarded as a porte-chance (a good luck charm). Divesting it of its legendary lineage creates an enigma as to whether Demachy has gained full creative control at Dior under the LVMH shortage of budgets for creations or whether his talents are sort of "sold short" as I believed, especially given his tutoring under Edmond himself. (After all François Demachy did beautiful work when the formula restrains were either lifted momentarily for J'Afore L'Absolu or concaved into the inherent idea of simplicity in the style proposed, as in Escale à Portofino). Is an attribution of the reworking of an acclaimed fragrance the final test and the signal from LVMH that there is perfumer lineage there? Is it merely a marketing trick? Or a desire to highlight the role of their head perfumer?

• Another aspect is that the former unattainability of Diorama (being a Paris flagship Dior store exclusive) for most of the perfume lovers the world over is now into crumbles, even if the places of sale are not low-brow at all. Still, the opening to the Anglo-Saxon market signals something important in the luxury business outlook. Namely that creating a hard-to-get exclusive creates a frenzy (uncle Serge played this game first and best) but you have to make sure that that frenzy finds a way to invade the biggest consumer market of them all and the one more attuned to the Internet: the USA and North America in general. Ergo Saks is now carrying Diorama as an exclusive, catering for the increased awareness of classics and more obscure fragrances by an audience which was brought up on the Internet or delurked enough to take notice. It was with surprise I had found out last year that even regular fare which we consider normal perfume counter-material (Diorella, Miss Dior etc.) is hiding beneath specific counters in the US and you have to explicitly ask for them to try them out. Maybe LVMH has finally realised they're sitting on a (very) dumped down brand (lately) and decided to make amends? Let's hope so!

• Which leaves us with the actual fragrance of the re-issued Diorama. How does it smell like? To cut a long story short, it is still recognisably Diorama, meaning a ripe juice with plummy goodness embracing an unidentified white flower at the heart, somewhere between sweet jasmine and the caramelised scent of immortelle.
  Comparing with the till recently circulating re-issue on Avenue Montaigne one would detect some cleaning up which veered it further into Le Parfum de Thèrese direction with a bastardised peach overripeness rather than melon; and at the same time further away from Femme (both Roudnitska creations, the latter preceding Diorama, the former following it). It was still a nice perfume, but not on a par with the older vintages and I personally voted with my wallet for the contemporary bottles of Diorling.
  The Diorama re-issue of 2010, much like the 50s vintage versions, is closer to Femme with its patisserie density and its bosom-heavy cumin tonalities and sports a particularly vivid Damascena rose on its lapel alongside the peaches and plums. Still, the inky, muddy depth of oakmoss is flamboyant in its...absence. The new re-issue of Diorama feels more like a fruity woody with a thin voice than a traditional chypre with timber tibre, much as it tries...

The re-issued Diorama is currently a Saks exclusive in the US, and available at Harrods and Fortnum's in London. Dior is re-issuing their classics under an umbrella collection called Les Créations de Monsieur Dior (no matter that Dior died in 1957 before many were conceived). You can read all about those here.

The Givaudan iPerfumer Application: Cutting-Edge or Demystifying?

Technology would get to perfume; it was only a matter of time! Studies had suggested that "particularly among young people, there is no propensity to buy perfume, but on the contrary, they are enthusiastic about technology" (according to Maurizio Volpi). So in order to boost perfume sales, what better than to engage them through technology? This after all is the method employed by several companies of other products as well: entice with something irrelevant so as to stir into the wanted direction. We "consume" loads of digital media every day (blogging, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) so is this the new direction, especially for luxury brands to communicate their message? And is this message a frank one? Vivien Westwood had said during a speech at Unesco: "We can lie to one person once, two persons twice.... but never to everyone everytime".

According to the press release by Givaudan who introduced the iPerfumer application (for iPhone) in mid-June, shortly after beauty giant Estée Lauder announced its Ascent iPhone application to facilitate in-store perfume shopping: "Givaudan, the industry-leading perfumery house has created a unique tool to help individuals select their perfect fragrance. Now available for free download from the Apple App Store, iPerfumer offers individuals tailored advice on which perfumes to try, removing the confusion that often surrounds choosing perfume. Revolutionary in its approach, iPerfumer is a personal fragrance consultant in your pocket. It provides fragrance recommendations to help make informed choices, either for yourself, or when buying gifts for others". The technique is a rather standard one, pioneered by Michael Edwards who also has his own "recommendations" method on his Fragrances of the World site and has Sephora utilize his system (by fragrance sub-families and common notes).
On iPerfumer, after identifying yourself by sex, age and country, you're asked to take note of the six olfactory families proposed (Citrus / Chypre / Floral / Fougere / Oriental / Woody) ~famous examples for each provided to make it easy for novices. Then you can enter some of the perfumes which you like. And after processing those results, the application recommends several fragrances for you personally.
But is the new iPerfumer application as plain sailing as all that? We decided to investigate.


Michel Gutsatz, a brand strategy expert at The Scriptorium Company and the head of Le Jardin Retrouve, takes a critical look at the iPerfumer application by Givaudan at LuxurySociety.com. His doubts corner three drawbacks which also seem crucial to me: no motivation to try out the recommended fragrances (no info, no story, nothing), lack of ergonomy in acessing previous part of the profile created, "sterile" treatment of perfumery (the application doesn't create any of the inherent magic of perfume).
The matter of Augmented Reality (a hot topic that garnered a lot of momentum after the success of James Cameron's Avatar) surfaces when talking about how the iPhone rates compared to other methods. iPhone applications are entertaining, but the technology within the iPhone (and soon the iPad) is not yet able to unlock the true potential of Augmented Reality to the same extent that different media (a web-cam enabled shop display, a home computer or laptop) can. In the luxury industry (and perfumes do belong there for better or worse) where gimmicks are usually not taken very seriously will the iPhone and its applications find the fertile ground they need to catch the eye of the consumer and would they need to make the leap from "techie geek" to "lifestyle" to do so?

My additional qualm is that the results garnered on the iPerfumer often bear little relation to what a seasoned perfume enthusiast would expect out of the submitted information to begin with. But bearing in mind how in order to get recommendations in the first place, you're asked to "rate" (enough) fragrances according to preference, I would think that the ulterior purpose of the application is to provide Givaudan with an extraordinary cheap market research tool via which to monitor the scented tastes of iPhone users worldwide! And it does look like it's going to be updated at intervals, with a version 2.0 to roll around when there is need for yet more monitoring and see how tastes have evolved.

What do you think?

Annick Goutal Distribution in USA Under BPI Aegis

Great news for US fans of the Annick Goutal line of pretty and interesting fragrances! After a problematic distribution which resulted in unsubstantiated rumours of discontinuing the line across the pond, Beauté Prestige International has announced (and it has been broadcast on several venues) that their USA branch will be marketing and distributing the brand themselves under an exclusive agreement.



Previously the Goutal line of fragrances, skincare, home scents and candles was carried at select doors including Barney's, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. Several products however were out of stock for a long time in the past year, raising concerns. The explanation was simple, as stated in simple terms by The Non Blonde. Now we learn even more details. "BPI spokesperson Jessica Barlow told CosmeticsDesign.com USA that for the last 9 months Annick Goutal has been handling the distribution of its products in the US from its Paris headquarters. BPI will maintain the current distribution channel, said Barlow, which currently stands at approximately 150 prestige stores".
The Goutal brand, founded in 1980 by former model and pianist Annick Goutal herself and with a strong personal streak running through the creations, was associated with the Taittinger group and by extension with Baccarat crystal in 1985. After the death of Annick in 1999 Brigitte Taittinger entrusted Camille Goutal (one of Goutal's daughters) and Isabelle Doyen, Annick's perfumer since 1988 with the continuation of the brand, which materialised admirably. The Goutal company was acquired by the Starwood Capital Group in September 2005, alongside the whole Taittinger Group. And now, another change.
May I remind you that the Parisian-based mother company, Beauté Prestige International, are handling the Shiseido and Lutens portfolio with great results so far. And the USA branch is also handling the distribution of parfums Hermes in the States. Also included in the company’s portfolio are fragrances from Issey Miyake, Jean Paul Gaultier and Narcisco Rodriguez. So it all worked out for the best!

According to Forbes: "Over the past three decades, the name Annick Goutal has become virtually synonymous with the very highest level of quality and luxury in the realm of lifestyle fragrances," says Nicholas Munafo, President of Beaute Prestige International USA. "The perfumery house has consistently raised the bar with each successive launch, solidifying its position as a leading creator of artisanal scents, while faithfully maintaining the traditions so integral to its core values. BPI's proven strategy of growing distinctive, high-end fragrance brands in limited distribution channels seems a natural fit for Annick GoutalParfums, and we are well-positioned to maximize the brand's significant potential in the US market."
According to Brigitte Taittinger, President of Annick Goutal, "Since the creation of the brand, the US market has always been our first export market. Our distribution, very selective since the beginning, is a reflection of our brand positioning. We have total trust in the 'know how" of BPI USA to support the development of Annick Goutal in the states, respectful of our image and specificities".

The new distribution agreement will be effective as of July 1st, 2010.

Photo of Goutal boutique by the helpful Lianne Tio in the Netherlands.

Takashimaya: Bad News Ahead

WWD revealed that elegant Japanese department store Takashimaya which occupies more than 37,000 square feet for retail and office space on New York City's posh Fifth Avenue will close its flagship store in June. The building is owned and controlled by Takashimaya Fifth Avenue Corp. and Takashimaya Singapore Ltd. "Takashimaya said it plans to sell the real estate and dedicate the proceeds to faster growing markets in Asia," the paper reports in a short blurb. [source]

Somehow this reminds me of what I had said (a propos LVMH expanding into new markets via Tony Blair's consulting, scroll the article to the last paragraphs) in regards to the move of western companies into the Asian expansion being the only solution right now. Hermes as we had reported a while ago is even launching an exclusively Chinese line called Shang Xia!

The current issue of WWD reveals that the Takashimaya closing will be effective come 10th of June 2010. "This June, the company will shutter its New York flagship at 693 Fifth Ave., between East 54th and East 55th streets. It has been at the building, which it owns and plans to sell, since 1993, though its first store on the gilded Fifth Avenue strip opened in 1958" [source] while WWD mentioned that the store "will no longer be merging with H2O Retailing Corp., parent company of Hankyu and Hanshin department stores". Apparently not only is the Fifth Avenue store closing but another 6 stores have already closed in Japan. The reason isn't hard to see: Low sales have given the kiss of death. Given that they recently announced carrying the elusive (and unjustly underrated) Mona di Orio line, let's hope it didn't jinx it. (This is only a joke, folks!)
On the whole it was a matter of time before the hen that lays the golden eggs, namely the sector of niche fragrances, becomes oversaturated and confuses the consumer who cannot be fooled into paying, especially in this economy, for triple-the-price concoctions which are made the same way as mainstream fragrances but circulate in a je ne sais quoi way supposed to make them more "luxurious" and "exclusive"...

If interested to follow my thoughts on this track, I had posted an article wondering How Much Will the Niche Market Bear? on this link and recently discussed Niche Degeneration on that link on the Perfumism website.

Pic of Takashimaya New York via Atherton Bartelby

How Much Will the Niche Market Bear?

The news on the discontinuation of some Serge Lutens fragrances we broke on these pages as well as the Guerlain discontinuations we also had the honerous duty of introducing to you a while ago have prompted me to think long and hard about the fragrance market and its trajectory ever since the Internet became a major player from 2000 onwards; first with budding perfume discussing fora and later in 2005 with the emergence of the first fragocentric blogs. Nine years and counting later things have profoundly changed and the scenery is altered.
Everyone jumped on the bandwagon of niche perfumery and with aspirations of artsy-fartsy pretence about how "perfumery is an art too" (Chandler, if only you knew what a monster you created!) they have been indundating the market with overpriced dreg ever since. There is simply TOO MUCH JUS OUT THERE!! Whether it's for the best or the worst I am leaving this up to your intelligent discussion in the comments. But first let me present some facts and some trivia for your consideration.

First there were the Hermessences in 2004: A major luxury player who was active on the fragrance sector as well decided to do the unthinkable ~present an exclusive line of top-tier scents reserved for their interior boutique only circuit. Guerlain had their own plan upon refurbishing their flagship store in 2005, plans which materialised and some which were almost cut mid-stream (Il Etait une Fois reissues, I'm talking to you!). Soon enough ~it seemed to me before the word Hermessence had dried on the staff memo~ Chanel pulled an Hermes as well, 3 years ago almost to the day, with their Les Exclusifs to be sold exclusively at Chanel boutiques. The two luxe lines were received with accolades, enthusiastic bises in a very European manner and profound respect from the whole perfume community, even if there were a couple of critical voices on the concept and coherence of the thing.
Just last year both "exclusives" were renegated to online shopping, making the acquisition of a coveted haute bottle approchable at the click of a mouse to anyone in upper Minnesota who had the requisite checkings account. Where's the exclusivity factor?

Several established brands followed (Dior Prive, Lancome La Collection, Tom Ford Private Blend, Lauder the Private Collection Line fragrances trio), and the few remaining ones came out just recently with their own "exclusive" sub-line within the line, cashing in on the hen who lays the golden eggs (or so they thought): Cartier Les Heures de Parfum, Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire, Dolce & Gabbana Anthology. They employed top tier perfumers, they advertised intelligently by word of mouth, they even brought original "ideas" for inspiration. (The Tarot deck for D&G, for Chris's sake. What's next? The Mayan calendars of doomsday?) The results? Rather lukewarm reception to varying degrees of temperature nuance. Even though there are a few specimens in there which are indeed great (especially in the first two brands), the idea seems tired, been-there-done-that and the audience doesn't seem to go back for much more... Not at those price points in this economy at least!

Uber-luxe brands positioned themselves in a place of de juro superior price point (often with the corresponding quality in the formula): Amouage and By Kilian are good examples. Recently By Kilian has introduced the smaller traveller bottles and the refills in order to appeal to the less cash-flowing clientele. Smart move! Still not every release can be received with enthusiasm. Writes Pam from Olfactarama regarding their latest Back to Black, giving it 2 stars out of 5: "A combination of pipe tobacco, cherry syrup (maybe cherry pipe tobacco?) and vanilla. After 2 or 3 hours only vanilla; after six it's a generic heliotrope/vanilla with a slight Play-Doh note. I don't know what all the fuss was about". One can re-invent the wheel so many times, I guess.

Several smaller players emerged lately as well, often with erratic results: French niche line Ego Facto from Pierre Aulas debuted at Marionnaud in France with 7 perfumes: 4 for women and 3 for men and even employed acclaimed nose Dominique Ropion for their Poopoo Pidoo fragrance (inspired by Marilyn Monroe no less) as well as other famous perfumers for the rest. One of my online friends with a discerning nose, who also posts on several fora & blogs, TaraC proclaims: "I just tried all 5 of the Ego Factos yesterday and didn’t like any of them. They all smelled like generic commercial synthetic swill on me… I guess I’m not the target customer!"
Smell Bent on the other hand is a new LA-based indie niche line, which deputed with 10 fragrances (!) at a low price point. A NST commentator calls them "pretty gimmicky too". MakeupAlley reviewers and regulars have varying opinions on them.
What's up? Are then people able to judge independently of the price asked? Big surprise, I guess they are! On an interesting spin of events a graphic outlining perecentages (according to a Sanford C. Berstein survey of 834 U.S. consumers conducted over a two-week period in mid-December) of people who have traded down in various consumer product sectors appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Some include: 34% traded down in laundry detergent, 31% traded down in kitchen paper twoels, 15% traded down in toothpaste & what is within our scope...14% traded down in perfume/cologne! Fascinating, no?

Please nota bene at this point that I have not (yet) smelled any of these fragrances from the two companies above so I cannot form a personal opinion on them. But the saturation of the market does leave a perfume writer with something less than frenzied desire to sample the latest thing, doesn't it? A sense of boredom sets in and samples lie there untouched. But let's forget for a second that this is a second job here, what about the average perfume lover who isn't necessarily writing about perfume: Can the market bear so many lines, so many brands, so much jus? Niche was the only sector in fragrances to show a slight increase amidst the recession. However this is slowly changing, exactly because the consumer is catapulted with "news" and "launches" daily. And the general trends direction isn't sounding too good either.

According to reportage by Jason Ashley Wright on Tulsa World "2010 is the year of the celebrity fragrance, said Megan Hurd, a beauty expert for Amazon.com. Not only is Kim Kardashian’s anticipated first scent hitting shelves this month, so is Halle Berry’s orchid-and-citrus- inspired scent. Others include Beyonce’s (in February) and Sarah Jessica Parker’s third fragrance, SJP NY (early spring). People are gravitating toward lighter, more airy scents, said Pat Hudelson, a fragrance expert at Saks Fifth Avenue in Utica Square. Last month’s deep-freeze temperatures “kind of put everybody in a depressed state,” she said. “Everybody needs something new and kind of fun.”
Some show increase in their stakes even amidst the lagging economy: "Inter Parfums Inc. announced that net sales for the fourth quarter were about $113.6 million, a 13% increase from $100.4 million in the prior year quarter." (to note they distribute Van Cleef,Burberry, Lanvin, and will be collaborating with Montblanc soon). They're bringing out Burberry Sport fragrance line this month and Oriens, a female fragrance line by Van Cleef & Arpels this coming March, so obviously the Van Cleef brand needed some reboosting. (Amazing if you think of it, since La Collection Extraordinaire practically just launched, it was only last autumn!).
Some show decrease and pleas for help: "Mr. Burkle's investment firm Yucaipa Cos. bought up a large chunk of Barneys' debt late last year and has offered to invest at least another $50 million in the high-end fashion chain via a loan deal that would leave him owning 80% of Barneys' common equity. The remaining equity would be held by Barneys' current owner, Istithmar World Capital, the investment arm of state-owned Dubai World" [...]The move is the latest play for Barneys, a swanky New York apparel retailer that has struggled since being taken over by Istithmar just before the recession hit".[source] And some propose a completely different approach still: "Some luxury brands are finding that single-sex boutiques boost the bottom line. While it's not exactly a man's world on Main Street, luxury brands are increasingly offering greater exclusivity in men-only shops" [source] Cherchez l'homme!

So what "fruits" will the future of perfumery, especially niche, bear? Let's hear it from you!

Photo of Audrey Hepburn by Richard Avedon via manishtama blog. Still from Greek film "Rendez-vous at Corfu" (1959) via grcinema.wordpress.com

Valentino Perfumes Bought Out by Puig

Nina Ricci, Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne, Lowe, Massimo Dutti, and Prada perfume sectors will be joined by Valentino perfumes under the umbrella of Spanish Fashion & Beauty Group Puig starting 1st of February 2011. The news of the international fragrance licence obtained (which will span many years) has been just announced right when the Wall Street Journal publishes an article about Procter&Gamble putting an end to their collaboration with the Italian brand named after the famous designer.

According to the WSJ the reason has been underachievement. "P&G produces a number of fragrances for Valentino, which is owned by U.K. based private-equity fund Permira. But sales never reached the heights of P&G's other fragrance licenses, including those with Gucci Group and Dolce & Gabbana, which last year launched a makeup line.[..]P&G wants to weed out underperforming brands to focus on its more competitive products. The company has been moving into luxury beauty products, including the expansion of skin care line SK-II and its acquisition of high-end men's grooming lines such as The Art of Shaving".

Created in 1960 by Valentino Garavani, the firm operates in 70 countries through a network of 1250 points of sale, of which 66 are stand-alone boutiques. Puig is no stranger to an illustrious past either tracing their history to 1914 when they began their operations in Barcelona and currently employiong 3500 employees turning out an impressive 1000 millions of euros in 2009.

Although at the moment of the WSJ announcement there was no official statement from either the P&G or the Puig side, we have just heard from both this very morning: According to Stefano Sassi, general director at Valentino, the choice to work with Puig had to do with "their experience on the luxe sector and their attachment to quality". Mr.Sassi went on to emphasize how important he considers not only Puig's prospective aid to reach the house's goals commercially, but also to cement the notoriety of Valentino fragrances on the market's consciousness. The move aims to extend the potential of Valentino products for long-time objectives and to consolidate its brand name, while Marc Puig, CEO of the group Puig adds that the acquisition of Valentino will enrich their portfolio with "an image that communicates a fantastic potential".
The crux of the matter is that Puig is much better to Valentino than P&G, due to their more glamorous and more beauty-oriented approach. The fragrances produced are not bad either, while there have been some concerns from perfumephiles over the treatment that P&G has reserved for some of their own brands, such as Jean Patou and their diminishing line of fragrances.

This latest move can only be indicative of a greater shift happening at the luxury market right now, as we had tentatively mentioned about the commotion at LVMH the other day, what with their perfumers talking up about perfumery restrictions at last and Tony Blair posing as a strong candidate for business counseling services to them in order to open up new markets. Which those markets will be and how sustainable the luxury sector will be in them is matter for discourse.

pic of Stefano Sassi of Valentino via fashiontimes.it