Kimora Lee Simmons will launch the third fragrance in her Baby Phat line, Fabulosity, this coming April.
"Kimora has a real lust for life," said Steve Mormoris, senior vice president of global marketing for Coty Beauty. "She's very open about saying that being rich and glamorous is good. Goddess [launched in 2005, with a flanker in 2006], was a risk — it is kitschy and over the top — but it succeeded beyond anyone's expectations."
Fabulosity is a fruity floral oriental and features notes of plum, orange blossom, tiger lily, "mysterious forbidden fruit", damask plum skin, Chinese osmanthus, coconut milk, purple violet, Tasmanian honey, vanilla absolute, patchouli and amber.
Baby Phat Fabulosity will be available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Parfum and in matching body products. (via Women's Wear Daily)
Note that Fabulosity is also the title of Ms. Simmons' recent book, Fabulosity: What It Is And How To Get It.
Update: see a review of Baby Phat Fabulosity.
Lord, help me, but I can't get past what I perceive to be Lee's pretentiousness to bring myself to try the fragrance :-).
I never heard of her, but that can be because I am from overseas.
The name Baby Phat doesn't appeal to me.
At first impression, she seems to be quite full of herself?
She started off as a model and married (much older) music mogul Russell Simmons (he is now a top designer with his men's line – Phat Farm; that is why she adopted the name Baby Phat for her women's clothing line, and now the fragrance).
She has since divorced him, but has her own reality show on MTV or VH1 or something like that. I think it is called “Life with Kimora”. On that show, she talks to the people who work for her like they are slaves! It is horrible. Many people like her clothing line; I like her husband's clothing line myself (for my son). Her husband is so smart, and so humble. She, on the other hand, is something else :-).
DoD, at least they admit the line is “kitschy and over the top”!
I didn't know she had a reality show, but I guess everyone else does so why not KLS?
The correct title of th show is: Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane. She is a beautiful/physically attractive woman. Her little girls are on the show as well, and are so cute. But, it is her attitude that has turned me against all things Baby Phat.
Fabulosity. Oy.
The other BP frags have been really cheap smelling to me, won't bother with this one.
On a side note, my husband saw the BP cat logo on a car the other day and asked about it. I had a hard time trying to explain who KLS was and why she was famous. Famous for being famous really.
🙂 Thank you D.
Phat stands for fat right or is Phat some south east Asian name?
I mean baby fat… this is why I don't like the company name.
Maybe I just need a good night of sleep.
Woooo, that name is pretty funny! lol She's so stuck on herself, I won't even smell it.
“Phat” is a slang word that is used by rappers to mean, “cool”. Her husband became famous because he used to produce music for famous rappers and hip hop stars, including his brother who was in the famous rap group, Run DMC. So, then, her husband, Russell, started using the term first in his clothing line Phat Farm. Then she started using it. But, no, it does not mean “fat”…nor is it Asian :-).
Ah Ok it's Slang!.. well it is never wrong to ask right?
No, it's never wrong to ask. I just thought it was funny. I never made the connection about the Asian part before. That is pretty ironic. Of course, there is the play on words about Baby Fat, too.
The Bottle and AD look nice, but the name is damn ugly! Thats the name of her book
Rose, is that it, she's another Paris Hilton sort? I thought she was a rapper too.
The name is funny, at any rate, and so I like it better than “Goddess”.
I'll try most anything 😉
Nope. Overhyped model/”fashion designer”. I saw the episode of MTV cribs where she and her husband gave a tour of their home. She is a piece of work. If you combined the aesthetics, intellegence and money of Paris with the status and perfection obsession of Martha Stewart – you get an idea of her personality.
I think Vapid should be the name of her next creation. 😉
Paris + Martha, perfect!
And *somebody* ought to make a fragrance named Vapid!!!
“She's very open about saying that being rich and glamorous is good.”
Hmm, I don't feel like helping her to get any richer by buying this.
I tried Goddess on holiday, and it was so boring.
Yep, it wasn't an interesting scent. Wish she'd lend me a few bucks so I could try out the rich & glamorous part 😉
I think the whole Baby Phat/Fabulosity thing is more than just kitsch–it's exploitive in ways that make even hardened marketing departments drool. Kimora's “stuff” is pointed at working-class and low-income families–you too can be a capital-Q-Queen if you just buy this stuff and this stuff and this stuff, the louder and more self-referential the “better.” The BP cat logo has been likened to the shape of the vulva–hardly accidental in the conversion of teenage girls to disposable objects whose sense of “fabulosity” (cringe-making word) is directly tied to how much money they throw at the latest required trend.
I think you'd have to be really cynical to foist a Kimora on the world. She's a device designed to separate poor women from their money. Someone of limited means who would like a nice inexpensive bottle of scent could do so much better.
OMG please let someone release “Vapid”! It would be great to own, just to be able to tell people you were wearing something called “Vapid”. Or to give as a gift! Sorry, I'm a little manic today.
Nice analysis. “Disposable objects” was right on target.
Mick, I guess you could argue that all of the celeb scents are exploitative in that sense, and perhaps most fragrance marketing, in that so much of it is aspirational.
Somebody needs to write up “Vapid” for the Prix Eau Faux contest!
For me there's still a difference between the “Baby Phat System” and the ads you see for most more established (and better) brands. Much of good fragrance advertising evokes a lived/livable experience for the reader: that of a wind-swept beach, say, or a glass of wine by a crackling fire. You learn something about the possible scent-memories the fragrance will release, and you begin taking direct pleasure in the artistry of the bottle and box.
In other words, you are being invited, for X dollars, to take ownership of something of quality, which in and of itself is going to provoke artistic and sensory pleasure. And it does, in a way which despite high markups is very cost-efficient to the buyer in terms of direct pleasure delivered.
But with some celebrity sprays and with BP in particular, you are asked to throw money at some dubious juice as one small piece of a prefab “lifestyle” involving your disgorging lots more cash in order to “be like Kimora.” The things that everyone has mentioned they don't like in her are exactly the things her marketers are bent on cultivating in her fans! Here–subvert your own personality and individuality, and worship moneygrubbing and bad taste. You too, no matter how overworked and discriminated against and oppressed you might be, can bleed money into Kimora's coffers–and don't forget to convince yourself that it's an act of Goddess power to do so! The disrespect implicit in all that boggles my mind.
Ernest Daltroff didn't advertise at all. People made it their business to learn where Caron was. I like perfume ads, but there are some that scream *don't* buy this product.
Thanks!
Poverty is a national scandal in the US. We have kids living in worse poverty than most developed nations, and with the least excuse for it. I grew up in rural poverty w/out hot running water, indoor toilet, or electricity and I can understand how easy it is to be blinded by materialism if you manage to escape, after living in desperation for even your basic needs, watching your parents kill themselves for you, while still going off on you for every little thing b/c they're dying of stress and overwork and trying desperately to make their kids behave because they know there's no room for error when you're poor. Being constantly mocked by others for not being able to wash your hair and barely able to keep your body covered, (forget about warm in winter– so you're always sick) and constantly told it's YOUR fault– a personal flaw in your very being, that you're an essentially different (and lower) type of human if you're poor. For millions of children, the earliest message they get from society is that they were born a piece of garbage. You don't even have a right to food or housing in the US if you're poor, let alone basic medical care. It can lead people to be both desperate and hardhearted from an early age. In the last 15 years in the U.S. I think there's been a big rise in glorifying materialism and consumerism in popular music and culture. I don't approve, but I SURE do understand. Not everyone has the strength to be noble and benevolent after that kind of life, and WAY more people live without their basic needs being met in the US than most people realize.
In fact, I'll say it– I was both desperately poor and physically unnattractive as a child– and IT IS good to be rich and glamorous! (I'm not either- I'm a frumpy middle-class Mom now but I feel both rich and glamorous every day that I get to wash in warm water, put on clean clothes, and eat food with good taste AND nutritional quality.) Survivor's guilt is a daily problem but not as bad as having to heat water on the stove (hoping desperately the gas doesn't run out) to hand-wash clothes b/c you can't even make it to the laundromat. Not as bad as being hungry but gagging down foods your body tries to reject because they aren't good for you and are going to make your stomach hurt later, but they are all you can get. If you understand the real physical and psychological realities of poverty it shouldn't be hard to understand how people come out materialistic.
Kimora did not grow up in poverty, but many of the rap and hip-hop entrepreneurs she is friends with did. She appears to have been working-class, but was an outcast who was treated very badly at school. But she went back to her high school to establish a scholarship fund. She's actively involved in a number of other organizations advocating for children in poverty. I don't think she does all that for attention– b/c you don't ever hear about it. I think it's possible there's a little more to her than her character on TV.
Sorry to be so 'heavy' lol. It's just that when you've been dirt-poor and learned from childhood that basically NO-ONE cares about you or your family, you can only depend on yourselves and other extremely poor people, getting rich looks pretty attractive. Especially when it means you could have a chance to help out your family and community– to care for your parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.
One last comment– poor people need perfume too! Lol. Even if it is cheap and smells cheap, it still improved my life as a kid when my aunt gave me the end of a babe splash cologne and bought me loves baby soft for Christmas. Smelling baby soft helped me sleep at night when I was often riddled with anxiety, even as a small child. It's one thing to say “save up for a nicer bottle” but that's just snobbery if you've never even seen inside a store better than Wal-mart and don't have transport beyond your feet to get any farther than your little town. (Or off your isolated farm!)
Sara,
I appreciate all that you have said. I did not grow up poor, but have had the opportunity to teach children who are now growing up poor. I also work with severely disabled special needs children…talk about being rejected and outcasted. I also have a son who is special needs, so I understand the plight of the less-fortunate. My point is that Kimora talks so badly to people and treats them in a way that she will not get any of my hard-earned money! She does not seem GRATEFUL for the success that she has but seems to project that is is somehow OWED to her and that others around her are BLESSED TO BE IN HER PRESENCE. While she might do things that are not known, the fact of the matter is that all we have to base our opinion of her on is what we are allowed to see. And, from what I have seen, she will not be getting any of my money.
Hi D,
I understand your feelings. I guess all I'm really trying to say is that when you grow up in terrible circumstances, some people overcompensate with an ego that is larger than life. And some people feel they are owed something– maybe not right, but understandable. Also, Kimora's public persona is something she may have only a certain amount of control over– her philanthropy suggests she sometimes does things that aren't really in keeping with her personality in order to make money, and all of us do that.
Sorry for the confessional, BTW– I didn't realize how much personal info I'd included. But I, like all poor people, was trained to be ashamed of and hide poverty– and it wears on a person after awhile.
Hi everyone,
I feel like I really need to apologize for my post. I feel strongly about the things I said, but this is not the place for my pet issues and I feel terrible realizing what I said would really disturb the tranquility of anyone trying to use this blog to escape their stress, as I do. Rereading, I feel like my post comes across as emotionally manipulative and innappropriate for this space, which would never be my intention. 🙂 Honestly, you're probably all right about her and I probably just wish people weren't like that. There, now maybe I've improved the impression that I'm unsocialized with the impression that I'm also emotionally unstable. Lol.
Are you sure about Caron? Have seen lots of vintage ads, although haven't tried to establish their dates of publication.
Thanks for your kind words. I made myself feel bad, so I was pretty sure I probably made others feel bad too– and it didn't feel like the time or place. 🙂 It's always hard when we try to separate our 'hobbies' from the 'real world' when there's no real difference. Thanks as usual for the superb blog.
At the beginning (1904-ish onward) it was *all* word-of-mouth. Caron developed such cachet so quickly that demand exceeded supply, and it was clear to Daltroff that what he had was unique. He wasn't really after saturating markets, finding widespread advertisement to be contrary to his artistic sensibilities. I think the earliest ads I've seen were for Pois de Senteur de Chez Moi from the 20s–very subtle placards, even for the time.
Though M. Daltroff passed in 1941, the company carried on its tradition of letting the products speak for themselves. Just after the second world war it was actually much easier to get some of the products in the States than in France–soldiers bringing home Bellodgia sparked a huge demand. For a while essences were even procured from France and blended in New York for Caron.
We're so spoiled with the internet these days! In the 80s Carons could have been considered to be somewhat hard to find, even in a city like L.A. Finding some obscure little pharmacy with a Forties-savvy buyer was always a reason to crow–they'd have Bellodgia for the people in my life who loved it.
Sara, you sound like a kind and considerate person who has come through some stuff with compassion intact. I don't think anyone here would stand between any poor woman and her scent of choice. I think our concern was more about how certain companies steal thunder from poor women rather than lend any, and how those companies ultimately impoverish young women further as they get them to spend and sacrifice real power in pursuit of pretend.
I don't necessarily think that poor women are being *more* duped than others, but I think that *any* amount of duping, along with *any* amount of brand-servitude in the name of social acceptance, ends up hitting poorer women disproportionately hard. Women who end up in social networks which continuously demand a “phat” (and ruthlessly brand-driven) appearance can end up diverting scarce money from their own education, health care, nourishment–even their own freedom from undesirable living situations. I'd rather see these women keep (and build) real power than surrender it in favor of the appearance of “fabulosity.”
I'm also not sure that the appearance of “fabulosity” as dictated by Kimora et al. really carries any weight with the women and men who do wield power in the world. Attractiveness does, but brand-slavery carries an unfortunate whiff.
I guess I'd say to anyone, buy what you like, it's your choice; but make sure it serves you, not the other way around. And even if any of Kimora's kollection smelled fantastic, I'd have my doubts about subsidizing her empire.
Anyhow, thanks for your thoughtful posts–and back to the wonderful world of scent for me 🙂
I have to say that I enjoyed your post Sara, and I think you hit on quite a few key points about how materialistic and generally vapid our society is, and those on the lowest rungs are generally looked down upon and left to fend for themselves in a society that could care less. Nickle and diming people to death doesn't help anybody, and I think our society should at least be a little more sympathetic to those who are falling in on hard times and at least exercise a little bit of the generosity that it claims to provide to those in need.
As for Kimora…
As for what I've read and seen of Kimora, it's pretty much left a bad taste in my mouth. Personally I think she's tacky through and through, and cringe at the thought of her being a role model for some people – and to most it's pretty obvious that she's one of the worst ones out there. Everything she represents (and obviously promotes) repulses me, and there's nothing on God's green earth that would convince me to line that woman's pockets with any of my cash to support her lifestyle (it's not like she needs any, she probably got quite a few pretty pennies from her ex-husband).
It's not worth support the Kult of Kimora, and as far as I'm concerned she can keep worshiping herself, but there's no way she's going to force me to join in, because I won't. And I doubt many have done the same given what they've seen and heard as well.
Okay, I'm getting off of my soapbox now, lol!
“For me there's still a difference between the “Baby Phat System” and the ads you see for most more established (and better) brands. Much of good fragrance advertising evokes a lived/livable experience for the reader: that of a wind-swept beach, say, or a glass of wine by a crackling fire. You learn something about the possible scent-memories the fragrance will release, and you begin taking direct pleasure in the artistry of the bottle and box.
In other words, you are being invited, for X dollars, to take ownership of something of quality, which in and of itself is going to provoke artistic and sensory pleasure. And it does, in a way which despite high markups is very cost-efficient to the buyer in terms of direct pleasure delivered.
But with some celebrity sprays and with BP in particular, you are asked to throw money at some dubious juice as one small piece of a prefab “lifestyle” involving your disgorging lots more cash in order to “be like Kimora.””
The question is, what qualifies as “Quality” when it comes to perfume?? Is it de-valued when a celebrity stamps their name on it?? Isn't it supposed to be the about the Juice inside the bottle??? No matter what the marketing scheme is, its all about the Juice and how it makes you feel. People unfairly turn their noses up at Perfumes because a celeb's name is on it, but WHAT difference does it make? Was Vera Wang in that white lab coat mixing different things together??? Was Givenchy writing down the notes on paper and mixing them together??? No. They all go *SNIFF* “Nope” *Sniff* “Nope” *Sniff* “Mmm! This is jusssssst right. Slap my name on it, we have a winner!”
Setting my rant aside, I smeled this today and I really liked it. The bottle was kinda cheap though
Ok, I changed my mind. I don't like the dry down.
I am kind of late joining this discussion. I had no idea who this person was, until I asked my 17 year old niece who had nothing nice to say about her personality and the way she treats her workers. There is a lot to say about personality, from what I have read and heard, she can benefit from a personality adjustment. The woman passes herself as been half African American, one quarter Korean, and one quarter Japanese. C'mon!
This is her worst fragrance yet. At first it smells ok, but then it smells too fruity/flowery and annoying.
Still haven't smelled it — meant to get to the mall but it didn't happen.
I actually liked this when I FIRST sprayed it on the card. Like 20 seconds later it smells NASTY! I dunno whats happened. IT smells soooo good at first spray. This is WAYY too fruity for your taste, Robin 🙂
I finally have a sample! Have only tried it once so far, but guessing you're right. Might manage to review it by the end of the week.
Kimoras life is her own.But she is asian and black believe that her brand manager for Phat Farm is my first cousin so I have met Kimora a few times she is down to earth believe it or not..And furthermore her perfume smells good I like it.