Etat Libre d'Orange Fat Electrician (2009): An Erotic Ode to a Plumber's Butt {New Perfume} (Updated)

If you catch yourself yawning on a rainy day, all you need to do is go visit the website of Etat Libre d'Orange to get a whiff of recollection of your past antics. The new upcoming limited-edition Fat Electrician is at the core of Etat Libre d'Orange's philosophy I now realize: somehow you may feel like you have outgrown your wilder years but fortunately for you they were captured by perfumers and bottled in flacons that you can uncork at will.

Fat Electrician is an olfactory meditation on this very topic, adding meaning to the rest of the collection. It was partly and freely inspired by the archetype and character of the male prostitute John Buck played by John Voigt in Midnight Cowboy (1969), but found in other pop-culture venues as well, and is a reflection on the theme of beauty lost. Another source of inspiration is Bobby Kendall in the über kitsch gay cult movie Pink Narcissus by James Bidgood. In fact, the perfume was meant to be a central reference to that movie but for copyrights reasons, the project had to be redesigned into a more cryptic reference to a "fat electrician", i.e., the aging Bobby Kendall...

"...A Midnight Cowboy lost on city asphalt. A fisherman without a line, he was made to be hooked by others, to believe in his fate without knowing it, to wreak havoc and forget it over time. Youth for women-of-a-certain-age, stock for late-night parties, a partner to accompany the wealthy of Palm Beach on nature walks, his splendor is consumed in the service of others. Now, a Fat Electrician in New Jersey, his talent depleted in his sexual decline. To celebrate this beauty which cannot be recaptured, a splendid vetiver is required - an ode to bygone eroticism..."

The "semi-modern vetiver" fragrance was composed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu. According to Etat Libre d'Orange, the perfumer wanted the perfume to be white, metallic, "silvery like the ancestral green of olive leaves." Its other main characteristics are to be regressive, gourmand, and "addictive like a crème de marron" with notes of vanilla bean, opoponax and myrrhe etc. The composition is described as being extremely concentrated, resinous, and uncompromisingly rough.

The name "Fat Electrician" is illustrated in part by a reference to a top note that develops as "an electric whiff" before seguing into an accord of "fat eroticism" where the flesh is said to be aplenty illustrated by a "fat, silvery vetiver". "Fat Electrician" is also simply inspired by the visual of the "plumber's crack" or "plumber's butt" in American English.

Parisians can expect to see Fat Electrician by the beginning of March 2009. International distribution is not expected to take place at this point.