The Red-Carpet Perfume Trend: Jessica Simpson Fancy, Badgley & Mischka Couture, Michael Kors Very Hollywood, Chopard Cascade {Trend Alert}
In an age so characteristically drawn to images and by extension to celebrity dazzle, it is no surprise to see a trend of perfumes emerge that are inspired by this particular moment of modern-day glory: the red carpet. From Cannes to Hollywood, beauty parades on long avenues of plush crimson red and become haloed by the flashes of the paparazzi's light bulbs. But why this year? This past half-year and this half-year year is or was the recession. A perfume idea gets floated about two years in advance on average. Did designers dream of the red carpet a while ago or is it just appropriate to make people dream even more glamorously when reality is less than perky? Movie tickets have never sold better than in the current downturn in a recall of the Great Depression. Obviously the red carpet is the right kind of dream to have these days. The Red-Carpet Perfume Trend
Jessica Simpson said it so herself. Fancy, her debut perfume was meant to prepare her/you for all the situations in life one might encounter "With FANCY, I wanted to create a pretty fragrance, one that I could be just as comfortable wearing on the red carpet or every day with my favorite jeans," To quote the classics, the 15-mn of fame dictum by Warhol anticipated that one day we would just need that kind of fragrance: the red-carpet ready one. The bottle was über-shiny but not particularly red-carpet themed unless you see an allusion to the Oscar statuette in the bottle topper. Let's call it a transition red-carpet perfume.
Badgley and Mischka wanted to pay homage to all of their glamorous women friends who are red-carpet regulars and highlights. Couture was born. The bottle is designed after a red-carpet-worthy gold lamé dress with the shoulders of the star peaking through nude....
Michael Kors Very Hollywood is also meant to capture the essence of red-carpet glamor. The gold-lamé dress motif reappears as the indispensable accessory to the mythology of the red walk of pride and shame (there are many downsides to being a celebrity). This time the bottle is embossed with circles designed after the flashlights of the paparazzis, so Very Hollywood. Be blinded by fame. And be careful, it can be deathly as Princess Diana exemplified.
Cascade by Chopard was launched on a real red carpet, that of the Cannes Film Festival. Chopard crafts the golden palm. It is "Inspired by the grand glamour of the red carpet and the charisma of the stars who walk along it, sumptuously adorned with Chopard jewels." The bottle is inspired by the gesture of negligently throwing a piece of Chopard jewelry onto the neck of a perfume flacon. It's that moment when you return from the red carpet and the earrings are weighing you down too much. You are ready to tune out, but before, you can spritz on some Cascade.
