Everybody and his mother is making a perfume these days, so there is not really a lack of new fragrances or too little launches. But still, who should bring out a perfume?
What brand, label, person or organization should make a perfume bearing their name?
Which scent is missing in Perfumeland?
My Answer:
Barbour!
I love Barbour jackets and one of my very favorite things in fall is being able to take mine out of the closet again. I actually long for those chilly, wet days that make the fabulous properties of a Barbour shine. A Barbour jacket also has a very distinctive smell. The waxed cotton smells strongest when the jacket is new or newly weatherproofed of course, but it never entirely leaves. It also smells of rain, forest, grass, the outdoors.
I’ve always wanted a perfume that complimented the smell of a Barbour jacket and something that comes close is the (obviously!) discontinued Tom Ford Private Blend Moss Breches, although it is not absolutely perfect it is the closest. Other perfumes that go well with the jacket and the mood it conveys are Chanel Sycomore and Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental. Close, but no cigar.
Do you have any recommendations for me?
Which brand/person do you want to launch an eponymous scent?
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IKEA should commission a leading nose to develop a range of fun, attractive, affordable perfumes in simple modern bottles – well built, no frills or fuss, and lots of wood notes would be great! I’m thinking ‘starter’ perfumes, with instruction leaflets, something to entice bored teenagers and husbands.
I can just imagine the names… Sniffo and Smellor or something…
But seriously, that’s a very good idea!
Seriously.. those are excellent names!
😀
on Barbour fabric and your good self: Balmy Days and Sundays by Inęke
I wish Thierry Mugher would release a scent I like as much as I like his clothes.
If Alice’s idea takes off we will see scents for all the global brands.
Thanks for the suggestion, Jordan.
Well, at least Thierry Mugler is already in the perfume business, maybe his next one is for you.
What a lovely thought.
As much as I hate all the new releases hitting the market every day there is a part of me that thinks this branding thing might not be bad. Everyone is so darn fragrance-phobic that it might help the cause for wearing perfume. If people start seeing scents everywhere they might be inspired to give themselves a spritz and stop complaining about them.
A very good point, poodle. Perfume needs to lose the stigma of something evil akin to cigarettes that it has in some areas.
Weleda and Dr. Hauschka perfumes could be very nice. There once existed a Hauschka fragrance (perhaps 20 years ago or longer) but it was not enjoyable. These were the dull Müsli-years…
An all-natural perfume would be very fitting for these brands.
I think the Queen should launch a perfume. Tories and Tourists will go mad for it and the profit can go to a good cause. She already has a nice crest so branding will be easy. No idea what it should smell of though. Buttered toast and tea?
Excellent idea!
I think the queen would go for something horse and hound-y, reminiscent of riding a Landrover over bogs and swamps at Balmoral. It could even solve my Barbour scent quest!!! 😉
“LIKE” 🙂
😀
Yes! This was my first thought, that Scotland needs a perfume, and my second thought was the queen. I would love a peaty, horsey Balmoral fragrance. Ooh, and a secondary body care line that smells of tea and shortbread…… sign me up 🙂
Me too!
hahaha! When you first mentioned your Barbour jacket, I started thinking about Wellington boots. Eau de Hunter would be a perfect fume for Her Majesty (better than the Eau de Corgi that sprang to mind …)
Eau de Hunter – love it! 🙂
I want to launch a perfume too!
Your day will come! 🙂
I hope so! 😉
I like your Barbour idea, and the one about the Queen. I wouldn’t mind a leather scent from Smythsom. Orla Kiely ventured into the fray (good choice of brand), but her first offering was a disappointing fruity number.
I would have to say though that the brand I would really like to launch perfumes is Farrow & Ball. They have just launched a bunch of new weirdly named scents – oooh, I could seriously get stuck into a perfume palette based on their paint range.
Smythson! IPhone / eye / finger malfunction.
Smythson is a great idea, I’d certainly want to smell that.
And I knew you’d come up with Farrow & Ball, you’d be hopelessly addicted to the entire 125-piece collection of perfumes in no time. 😉
I saw a Farrow and Ball sign on Saturday and immediately thought “Vanessa!”
Dries van Noten did it already (with Frederic Malle), so I say Haider Ackermann
Very nice!
Yes – I want to smell that!
Such a great question. People have already come up with such clever and witty answers I can’t possibly compete but it’s a fun read.
I’m going for Tate Modern art gallery in London, which I love. They could do something edgy and abstract in a beautiful bottle that would be a work of art in itself. It could be sold exclusively in the lovely gift shop.
Such a good idea! They could even launch new (limited edition?) ones to coincide with major exhibitions.
Limited edition bottles for major exhibitions is a great idea Alice!
Tara, I love the Tate Modern too – we have to go there togther (and let’s take Birgit with us !)
I’m in!
Great! A group outing to Tate Modern it is 🙂
You can and do compete of course – the Tate is a fantastic idea. My husband loves Tate Modern so much, he might even buy their perfume.
Well, that would be the ultimate seal of approval!
I think a major bookseller like Barnes & Nobles should release fragrances inspired by well-known and not-so-well-known authors. I also love the musty smell of libraries and used-book stores, so something inspired by those would be divine. LOL!
i would love that too!
although a small decant of le labo’s santal 33 leaked into my bag, and when i unzipped it my first thought was ‘old books’… in the best way possible, of course.
That is interesting!
That is such a wonderful idea! A Hemingway perfume or an Arthur Miller! I’d love it! ELdO would have to make Stephen King’s! 😉
My suggestion is Zac Posen, although I think I remember reading somewhere that one is in development.
I’d also like to see more television shows/entertainment properties create fragrances, if the fragrances were actually thoughtful and unique. My suggestion would be Revenge. They already have books and jewelry tie-ins, why not perfume, really?
Zac Posen sounds good!
Must google Revenge, it’s not shown over here.
oh gosh! It’s night-time soap. I am in LOOOOVE with it. It’s not great television, but it’s my kind of television. worth checking out in my opinion.
I really, really like Tara’s suggestion and would also apply it to the Guggenheim in NYC. The uniqueness of the building; the intimacy of the way the interior is experienced (making it different from other museums in New York); and that slow spiral as you take in the art: all of those elements remind me of perfume.
As for your Barbour jacket, would FM Angeliques Sous la Pluie pair well with it?
And then a scent for the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice… (a very unique work of art, a “Gesamtkunstwerk”)
There is a niche market waiting to be mined. You are the business whizz, M, now we only need investors. 😉
Oh, I’d never heard that term before, and I love it (just looked it up). Thank you, Lady Jane Grey.
I think Tara definitely started something! I’ve never been to Venice, but I’ll give my approval to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum-inspired perfume. Although there aren’t a lot of great aquatic scents, I’m thinking a rare and beautiful aquatic might suit it. 😉
I loved the Guggenheim NYC, especially the sculpture garden.
Yes, Angelique is a great suggestion, thanks!
I love art and fragrance and love the idea of merging both . I have thought of this also but am a little busy with current ventures. Love Tate ,Guggenheim in Venice has a place in my heart forever.
Hello Tara,
It is a great idea and I hope it comes to fruition one day.
What a great focus group – I hope the brands are reading this – some gold dust ideas here!
Akris should do a perfume!
That would be a very elegant affair.
I would prefer half of those who produce perfumes nowadays would stop – so obviously I don’t want more brands to produce perfumes.
I know the feeling.
I love/really like Moss Breches (or loved since I wasn’t smart enough to get some before it was discontinued) so of course I had to google Barbour jackets..ooh..lem lem lemming..I was recently lemming some waxed cotton bags – this is the first time I’ve looked at/noticed waxed cotton jackets though of course that makes perfect sense for wet days. I love the already mentioned ideas of a museum or a bookstore coming up with a scent..A leather chypre for a bookstore maybe?
Barbours look nice, don’t they? 🙂
I only have a small decant of Moss Breches too, such a shame about discontinuations.
Books lend themselves well to inspiring a perfume, I think.
I think we all shuold take a pause for some years now with new launches…just to keep up with all new so far ;-). I’d be busy for a long, long time anyway ;-).
Oh yes!
I’m just started this year as a “perfumista”. There are so many wonderful perfumes and perfume houses to discover. And I tried to not order samples before the “old” ones have been tested. This was only a try… It is so hard to resist 😉
So yes, a little break for new scents would be great 🙂
Hello berna,
you can never keep up, nobody can, and there’s nothing we can do but relax, take our picks and enjoy. 😉
I’m completley with you, all those launches are exhausting and numbing the pleasure of discovering something new. Hence the question for things we would actually care for. 🙂
Have you seen the Penguine mugs with classic book-covers? They should make perfume bottles just like them! Imagine inspiring names like “A room with a View”, “The old man and the sea”, “Far from the maddening crowd”. The possibilities are endless 🙂
Fantastic idea! The mugs look so good, love them!
Alaïa 🙂
BTW, Crabtree & Evelyn Evelyn reminds me of my old Barbour jacket. I purchased bothe, jacket and perfume, in Edinburgh and wore them constantly, so they are both linked in my mind.
Caro
Must investigate Evelyn then.
An Alaïa perfume would be great.
I so like the idea of Museums making perfumes.There also could be ones for, say, special paintings. You could stand in front of a painting and wear a perfume relating to it.
Lovely idea!
Marimekko should launch a set of perfumes (and hire me to develop them, of course). 😀
They should indeed!
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