Fragrances Boutique

If you’ve been following perfume news over the past month or so, you’ve probably noticed that Gucci Guilty is one of this fall’s major launches, complete with full-page ads and scent strips in fashion magazines, a movie-star “face,” a television commercial with a theme song, a somewhat hyperbolic press release, a tie-in to the MTV Video Music Awards, and the now-requisite Facebook page. It’s being promoted as a fragrance for a “21st Century beauty” who is “young, audacious, discerning…an iconoclast who lives life at full throttle…sexy and slightly dangerous.”

Guilty’s bottle is certainly eye-catching: it looks like an oversized, gilded (gilty?) Gucci purse clasp or belt buckle, with its unmistakable interlocking “G”s creating a window onto the juice inside. Gucci devotees will want to own Guilty for the container alone. The fragrance is classified as a floriental, with notes of mandarin, pink pepper, peach, lilac, geranium, amber, and patchouli.

Guilty seems to be more of a sheer, fruity oriental than a floral oriental…

The Gucci Guilty commercial, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans, directed by Frank Miller. I don’t know if there is a longer version coming; this one is about the same length as the trailer (a little over 30 seconds).

The music is Friendly Fire…

…a teaser for the Gucci Guilty commercial, starring Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans. Many thanks to jonr951 for the link!

Gucci will launch Guilty, their latest fragrance for women, in September. Guilty is for the ‘bold and daring glamgirl’ who ‘thinks only of pleasure’, and is fronted by actress/singer Evan Rachel Wood…

Neiman gains from luxe spending but Euro worries persist (Reuters)
“The operator of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman stores said it is monitoring Europe’s debt crisis and has yet to see vendors there pass on gains from a weak euro. Neiman also noted that a weak euro could negatively impact travel to New York.”
Inditex Beats Views [...]

Ah, sport fragrances — (almost) universally hated by PerfumeFanatics© and apparently adored by, and selling like hotcakes to, the rest of society. For perfumers, being asked to formulate a sport fragrance for the mainstream market must be like Martha Argerich being asked to play the C major scale (right hand only) — easy work! And with sport perfumes, the ease smells; these fragrances are, for the most part, interchangeable and have no interesting facets (only the bottles and designer names are unique). This spring, Burberry and Gucci are but two companies involved in major sport fragrance launches.

Burberry Sport for Men

Christopher Bailey, Burberry’s chief creative officer, said: “I wanted it (Burberry Sport for Men) to feel like there was movement in the scent. I kept saying I wanted it zingy; I wanted to feel alive; I wanted to feel like it’s jumping.” ¹ Burberry Sport for Men was developed by perfumers Sonia Constant, Nathalie Gracia-Cetto and Antoine Maisondieu and contains notes of “frosted ginger,” grapefruit, wheatgrass, marine notes, juniper berry, red ginger, white musks, cedar, woods and “dry amber.”

Burberry Sport for Men starts off soapy, sweet and gingery, with a clean grapefruit note. The gingers in Burberry Sport are more spicy-candied (think preserved ginger or strong ginger ale) than fresh and rooty. There is also a light and indistinct floral character in the soapy opening. As the scent goes into its mid-phase of development it becomes a bit “astringent” (bracing and “cool” but not strident); the dry-down returns to the sweetness of the opening notes with hints of pale wood, light musk and soft ambergris. Though Burberry Sport follows the sport scent trajectory, it’s mellower than most sport fragrances on the market…

The Future Of Fashion, Part Six: Alber Elbaz (Style.com)
“The word poetic invariably attaches itself to descriptions of the clothes Elbaz designs for Lanvin, but you get the feeling that behind the famous floppy bow tie, there is a hard-won sense of resolve. During our conversation… he spoke frankly about the problems the industry faces.”
Fashion Films [...]

Actor James Franco for the new Gucci by Gucci Sport. Anyone recognize the music? I think it’s someone or another covering Bryan Ferry’s Slave to Love.

More limited edition collector fragrance bottles, with the usual disclaimers: in most of these cases, the juice is unchanged, just the bottle is “special” (or not, as the case may be), and some of these may not be available in the US.

Due to launch in May, new limited edition items for Annick Goutal Petite Cherie will include an Eau de Toilette with a polka dot ribbon, a rollerball, and the adorable solid perfume compact shown above…

The Future Of Fashion, Part Three: Hedi Slimane (Style.com)
“[Slimane] has been both an insider (as, among other things, the highly influential designer of Dior Homme from 2000 to 2007) and an outsider… Here, he discusses today’s ‘costly and overwhelming fashion avalanche’.”
House of Fraser eyes Middle East expansion (FT)
“House of Fraser is set to announce plans [...]

Gucci has launched Gucci by Gucci Sport Pour Homme, a new aromatic citrus fragrance for men…

The inspiration for the Flora By Gucci fragrance originates from an iconic design from the Gucci archives that was rediscovered by Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini and has been the catalyst for several of Gucci’s most popular products.

From its original incarnation as a silk scarf specifically designed for Princess Grace in 1966, to the sought-after [...]

PPR to sell lower-margin retail units (FT)
“PPR, the French retail conglomerate headed by billionaire François-Henri Pinault, plans to dispose of retail businesses that generate 70 per cent of group sales to focus on clothing and accessories brands within its luxury Gucci Group and Puma, the sports wear company.”
Online Luxury Retail Remains Elusive (Business Week)
“There are [...]

LONDON, United Kingdom — In recent weeks, two major luxury fashion brands have taken the plunge and launched social networks built around their brands and products. It’s not a new idea by any means, and indeed I wrote a piece on this very idea for the Financial Times almost two years ago. But, that doesn’t [...]