The worst problem affecting the perfume industry, Turin says, is “a complete lack of art direction. Nobody realises that every great perfume was art-directed by somebody who had a clear vision of what he wanted, above and beyond the perfumer. There is fantastic cohesion between the smell, the bottle, the colour, the packaging — the whole thing is amazing, miraculous, not random. That doesn’t happen very often: now you’ve got some guy in marketing and a tie-in with some model. Art direction is why Serge Lutens [the famous creator of Shiseido Nombre Noire (sic)] is such a genius; he is obsessed to the point of disease”.
— Columnist India Knight talks to Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez, authors of Perfumes: The Guide, in Chemical Romance at the UK Times Online. Thanks to Bela for the link!
Fashion writer Colin McDowell will be talking to Luca Turin at a "Style Lecture" on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at 6 pm in London. The event is open to the public (tickets are £20); see the details here.
“I have a friend who works for a perfume company,” Sanchez says. “They wanted to put a sticker on the bottle, but doing so would have cost more than the entire perfume.”
Hey, maybe that explains the whole resistance to warning labels thing…
Chemical romance. I mean. Really. Gave me quite a chuckle. Lots of stuff from other articles here.
I do like all the bits about art and obsessiveness. So true of a perfumer, we eat, sleep, breathe and dream perfume.
Which is rarely chemical in nature, not about the love of chem perfume, at least.
Error in my favor in India Knight's article: I am not “taking up a chair at MIT”, merely the dickie seat of a research fellowship.
In newspapers (and magazines) the headlines are rarely if ever written by the authors, but by subeditors who may not read the entire article, but merely scan it to get the gist. Then they try to devise the best possible pun they can around the topic. Often it ends up bearing little or no resemblance to the actual content of the article. This should be familiar to regular readers of women's magazines (and to the new wave of lads' mags too), where the headlines and cover plugs promise so much, while the copy delivers so little…
It explains almost everything, actually, when you think about it 🙂
I liked the title, and the “Brangelina” thing cracked me up 🙂
Thanks for the correction!
At least this title was funny.
I liked this article a lot; thanks for posting it. The writer actually seemed to have a personal interest in the subject. I thought the following paragraph was particularly brilliant, and also reminded me of Angela's recent post about “The Meaning of Perfume”:
“It is also sublimely democratic: anybody with a few quid in their pocket can transform themselves, with a judicious squirt, from dowdy mouse to sex bomb or (more interesting) vice versa. You can smell of beach, of cake, of sun-baked herbs and sex, of flowers or of the harem; of languid odalisque or trashy dolly; of burlesque dancer or dental technician. You can smell chic, sophisticated, brainy or dim; you can smell quiet or loud, friendly or not. And, unlike make-up, which also has these quasi-magical, personality- altering properties, applying scent doesn’t require any skill.”
J, she's what I'd call a perfumista — she used to post frequently on MUA. In general she is way more knowledgeable than most writers on the subject in the mainstream media.
I agree, Serge Lutens is obsessed with Morocco, although Morocco is a tiny country and can provide only so much source material for innovativeness (hence the samey-ness in many recent lutens).
Nevertheless, welcome to Cambridge. I hope to see you around.
“obsessed to the point of disease” … perfectly put.
ZZ, he does seem to be honing in on something lately, although what that something is I couldn't say.
Yep.
I clicked to book tickets to the style lecture and the link appears to be defunct. Please let it not be sold out already? In my mind, I was already choosing what perfume to wear … one that would segue seamlessly from the dowdy shires to the edgy cool of the metropolis. Hmm, actually I might need to perform a nifty substitution at Euston… That's if there are any tickets left. I have tried googling other ticket sellers/links, but have drawn a comprehensive blank! I feel panic rising!
V, can't think of anything to suggest other than to call the Times?
I'll give it a go – would be gutted to miss this opportunity to hear LT speak in person, having read various books by and about him!
Oh woe, it is sold out, hence why none of the links work!
Many thanks ! It would be nice to have a little event at or near Colonial Drug, I'll work on this after we have settled down.
Not sure what the size of the country has got to do with anything. SL uses the same materials b/c he can express himself best with them. He chose to live in Morocco over 20 years ago: he wouldn't have done that if he hadn't had a special affinity with the country, its atmosphere, its culture, etc.
Bummer, sorry!