Report on Prince's New Perfume 3121, Le Labo Scent Le Méridien, When It Is A Good Time to Perfume Ourselves And When It Is Not, Summer Perfumes, An Interview with Frederic Malle & Pierre Bourdon {The 5th Sense in the News}
Nick Coleman reports on Prince's new scent 3121 and loves to use overused stereotypes when describing the fragrance. 3121 might smell like one's Grandma or French bordellos, you choose. I think that if he tried harder he could come up with "smells like Grandpa" and "smells like Nevada bordellos" and his readers would find that even more amusing and coherent....but maybe I am just being too optimistic.
Indeed, it seems that It's Not Easy To Make Sense of Prince's New Scent .....
Le Labo has been called upon to scent the chain of Le Méridien hotels. "Le Labo, the innovative perfume house, has created a signature scent for Le Méridien. The different fragrance notes of frankincense, musk, iris and earthy notes vibrate from the central theme of cedar wood, creating a round, distinctive and enveloping scent."
Le Meridien Appoints Innovators In Design, Scent, Sound, and Light
An article in French on smell scientists and different studies they have conducted. Some of their conclusions? A perfumed individual on the street is more likely to see people rush to help her/him to pick up her/his dropped handkerchief than a non-perfumed individual. On the other hand, when trying to make an impression at a job interview, it has been found out that men recruiters underestimate the candidate if that person is perfumed while women recruiters overestimate a perfumed candidate. It sounds like another case of men-are-from Mars-and-women-from-Venus.
Ces parfums qui veulent nous faire tourner la tête
An article in French on sunmer perfumes
A very interesting article in French on Frédéric Malle, with the participation of Pierre Bourdon. Malle explains, among other things, that his perfumes that sell the least make him proud because they are very elitist, show risk-taking, and are artistic products that are ahead of trends. Pierre Bourdon reveals that Davidoff Cool Water was an underdog before becoming the epitome of mainstream.
I like Bourdons work but I would like to hear what he thinks of Creed Green Irish Tweed (which Cool Water was so very obviously "inspired" by) and Creed Orange Spice (whos core accord of clove-spice-oranges is used in the first half of YSL Kouros).
I think that one could either view this as a complex topic or a very simple one. Perfumers seem to be pretty uninhibited regarding perfume borrowings. On the other hand, there is an aesthetic discourse about being a revolutionary in art that seem to point to some tensions about their self-images. I wonder what Creed thinks of these borrowings. I am going to give a good sniff to Cool Water now.