Van Cleef & Arpels plans to launch Collection Extraordinaire in September. It will be the brand's first foray into high-end niche perfume, and will debut at around the same time as Cartier's upcoming collection, Les Heures du Parfum.
The Collection Extraordinaire fragrances, meant to pay homage to nature, are Gardénia Pétale, Orchidée Vanille, Lys Carmin, Muguet Blanc, Bois d'Iris and Cologne Noire. They will run 130€ for 75 ml.
I'll update with more details when I can find them. (via aufeminin.com)
Update: a few more details via cosmeticnews [and later, in brackets, descriptions from Neiman Marcus] ~
Gardénia Pétale is a feminine floral by perfumer Nathalie Feisthauer. ["A graceful, generous, opulent fragrance that awakens the senses, Gardenia Petale captures all stages in the life of the gardenia flower. The modern composition opens with a unique accord of fresh, green and citrus notes, followed by floral touches of delicate lily-of-the-valley and exotic jasmine and finishing with the elegant, femininity of gardenia flowers in full bloom at dawn."]
Orchidée Vanille is a feminine floral by perfumer Randa Hammami. ["A floral, gourmand fragrance with asubtle blend of fruity notes (mandarin orange and litchi), combined with tasty bitter almond and dark chocolate, and accented with sensual European flourishes of Bulgarian rose and violet notes. The vanilla pod is faceted with woody cedar and balsamic tonka bean and notes of transparent white musk."]
Lys Carmin is a feminine floral by perfumer Nathalie Cetto. ["Contemporary and seductive, Lys Carmin is a sophisticated and distinguished lily of unsurpassed elegance and mystery. Enhanced by a burst of spice from pink peppercorns, the sensual lily is paired with powdery ylang-ylang to unfurl its magic. A fusion of vanilla and sandalwood completes the spell."]
Muguet Blanc is a feminine floral developed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu. ["Muguet Blanc showcases the purity, innocence and much-anticipated beauty of one of springtime's first flowers. A green, joyous and incredibly delicate arrangement, graceful lily-of-the-valley is enhanced with exotic white peony, radiant neroli and uplifting white cedar."]
Bois d'Iris is a woody feminine fragrance by perfumer Emilie Copperman. ["Bois d'Iris imagines the scent of wood from a totally different angle, without the forest, leaves and earth. Created to replicate the scent of driftwood on the seashore, Bois d'Iris is an atypical and enchanting woody blend created by a minimalist and ultra-qualitative structure. Precious essences of exotic wood are punctuated with a vibrant, salty note of ambergris, while a beautiful powdery iris lends soft elegance,reminiscent of Tuscany."]
Cologne Noire is a spicy unisex by perfumer Mark Buxton. ["A distinctive and elegantly noble fragrance for men and women, Cologne Noire creates an aura of well-being and vitality. Fresh spices like ginger, cardamom and pepper are blended with bracing citrus notes of bergamot, bitter orange and mandarin, putting a new twist on this one-of-a-kind cologne story. The base finishes with soft, comfortable woody notes."]
In the US, the Van Cleef & Arpels Collection Extraordinaire fragrances are $185 each.
Oy. is it just me or is this “high high high end brand launcing “niche” perfume” thing getting old really quick?
The market is now flooded with product at every conceivable level…and there’s something kind of comical to me about the glut of luxury perfumes. It is as though the various brands had held a meeting and tried to figure out the best way to make consumers become jaded about “luxury”, LOL…
Mass luxury isn’t really luxury, is it…? 🙁
Exactly.
Rather like all Vancouver condos being Luxury Condos nowadays…
Is it me or do those bottles look suspiciously like the Chanel Les Exclusifs?
My thoughts exactly Daisy!
Or like the Prada exclusives, or like Marc Jacobs Splash, or…
lol — the “in” bottle to use I guess.
They should do a “discovery set” with 10ml bottles of each scent; it would probably sell well. But just based on the names of these, they *sound* sort of, um, simple and not the sort of complex, interesting, niche-y things we’re growing accustomed to.
I think what they want to “discover” is our credit cards…
Agree!
That’s all well and good, but I’d be just as happy if they could re-launch Gem (in its original form and not retooled in any way), which was kind of like a starter version of Mitsouko, or a charming yet sophisticated proto-fruity-floral-chypre-oriental. God, it was good.
It is sort of odd that all these multiple-launch, high-end scents come in such minimalist bottles. (Even the Tom Fords are packaged that way, although in coloured glass, and the Armani Prive scents have the fancy caps but otherwise just blocks for bottles.) Is that the new luxe, or is it that the manufacturers don’t want the bottles to have any personality so they can put anything in them without stirring up cognitive dissonance?
I think you’re right – it is partly because they tend to launch a high number at the same time and need something that will fit different scents. Perhaps also to differentiate them from the ‘ordinary’ fragrances which all have different bottles. The sameness might be a rejection of the sparkly/brightly-coloured/novelty-shaped stuff that the celebrity fragrances favour? I’m not sure, but they are very boring.
It’s a good question. I don’t know…whatever the original reason, now that there are so many of these sets, they’re starting to look very much the same. Will be interesting to see what Cartier does w/ their bottles.
AMEN!!!!!!! I think Gem is the BEST fragrance from Van Cleef! it is one of those Power Florals of the past that continues to astound me why it was discontinued! Very Floral and Very Oriental it is a STAR! and that original bottle was KILLER! ABSOLUTE KILLER! wish they would relaunch it as well!
Is it just me, or is there a note of jaded cynicism running through this thread?
I find it confusing. Maybe I’m not as experienced as the rest of you, but I still feel quite positive about the fragrance industry. I don’t understand what is wrong about a company wanting to work with extraordinary components and great care to launch a line of luxury scents. If they’re beautiful and unique, why isn’t there room for them in the market?
By the sounds of it, they’re not trying to introduce an artificial “exclusivity” by releasing an arbitrarily limited number of bottles; the idea of an homage to nature sounds pretty appealing to me, and quite innocent and unmanipulative; the fragrances themselves sound full of potential. The bottles are good-looking enough, and I myself prefer the bulk of my money to go into the juice, not the packaging.
Why are we being such harsh judges, before even smelling these things? Why do we have this automatic negativity? I love fragrances, love being open-minded and enthusiastic, and this dismissive approach to what could just as easily be seen as wonderful new collections — this isn’t the first time I’ve been dismayed by cynicism here — is really starting to bring me down. What’s up, you guys?
No cynicism here, RR.
I’ve always liked VC&A anyway, and I enjoy these designer collections. They all tend to be good quality, so they’re worth looking forward to.
Ah, I see…you’re one of those “glass half-full” people I have such a hard time dealing with. In other words, yes, I’m a pessmist – it’s in my DNA.
Now, with that on the table, there’s a question of familiarity with the industry. The art and craft of fragrance is entirely different and at odds with the promotion and marketing of it. Unfortunately it is the latter that tends to have the most influence and control over the quality of the product we’re given. Pay attention to the articles posted on this site about the continued restriction of natural resources in fragrance as well as the abundance of artificial, trade-marked notes taking their place. In regards to this article specifically, I don’t know how someone in this economy cannot be cynical about all the “luxury” lines that are being produced at laughably exorbitant price-points. If it were not for companies like The Perfumed Court and Scent-splits, I probably would have given up on the fragrance industry altogether about four years ago. I may come across as barbarically cynical but, well, it’s probably because I am. 🙂 The word “unmanipulative” rings loudly in my ears. Like altruism, there is no such thing.
Wow, I need some more coffee.
some people are just jaded cynics.
I think people have the right to be jaded cynics.
I just worry that the jaded cynics’ voices may be discouraging the budding enthusiasts from logging on to NST more often. I know I’m feelin’ it. . .
Don’t feel discouraged Robin R. – you can speak your mind here any everyone will respect that. New voices are just as important as older ones – sometimes it makes people rethink their opinions. Most of us have some fragrances that aren’t perfect perfumista five stars, etc, (hey I love a few Crabtree and Evelyn and Caswell Masseys that are NEVER on any blog, etc) and you just never know where something good will come from. I think for my part, a lot of the apparent cynicism for these types of exclusive lines is just the copycat aspect of it – luxurious! expensive! same plain square bottle! 20 bottles at the same time to overwhelm the senses…..!
It is the whole more is more approach that is so annoying but you just never know. I would be happier to see one really amazing fragrance with a really beautiful bottle released, but it is what it is. These companies are throwing a lot of fragrances at the wall to see what sticks – Something for everyone! I imagine they hope one or two of them may end up being a bestseller and then they’ll ditch the others, etc. I like a few of the VC & A line already, so who knows? First is a classic, but probably not that popular anymore. We’ll all be eating some fragrance crow when/if our testers arrive and some of them turn out to be as OK as is usually the case with exclusive lines… But whether or not they’ll sell is another issue, regard what happened to poor old “B” from Boucheron – it’s not that bad really, but just way too much money – and now it’s at a “normal” price on the on-line discounters. So it goes.
Thanks for the wise words and the encouragement, Ann! 🙂
My answer would be: go read The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr, then go read the chapter on perfume in Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster. The simple fact is that these days perfumers are given less time, not more, on development, and less money, not more, to work with. So when you say “wanting to work with extraordinary components and great care to launch a line of luxury scents” — yeah, that would be great, but that isn’t what’s happening in perfume these days, regardless of what they charge for the final product or how exclusive they try to be.
So yes, I’m jaded, but I don’t think I have a closed mind: if these are wonderful, I’ll be thrilled. But so far, many of these high end collections strike me as just overpriced “more of the same”, and in some cases, they really do smell like they took a whole bunch of unfinished mods from other scents, threw them in bottles & now they’re charging an arm & a leg for them. The Hermessences and the Chanel Les Exclusifs are both wonderful, and I think live up to the idea of “extraordinary components and great care”, but I think that’s rare.
I totally agree on “many of these high end collections strike me as just overpriced “more of the same”.
I like some of them, but not ALL of them. I think the chanels and the hermes are above average, but hey, besides one of the hermes’ and a couple of chanel’s they feel overpriced to me.
I rather go “real” niche and get me some frederic malle or something with more limited distribution.
I must say that even though I have traveled quite a bit in the last couple of years I have NEVER come across the Armanis.
Wierd! and now I am curious! 😀
The Armani Prive collection is at Saks & Barneys, or online at Armani, or at Armani boutiques. They’re nice, but other than Bois d’Encens I don’t find them brilliant, and I think way they’re way overpriced for what they are — although I’m sure many people will disagree with me. They do not strike me as being at all of the caliber as the Chanels or the Hermessences.
I find Armani Prive’s right next to Britney Spear’s Curious, Paris Hiltons, Amariges, et al, all the time at our local TJ Maxx, which I think is telling….so much for fabulous, exclusive, and $$$$
It is important to be hard-headed and realistic, and to know how the world – in this case the world of perfume – works. At the same time I’m glad to see Robin R. advocating open-mindedness and enthusiasm. (And I think there is such a thing as altruism; society depends on it.)
If a fragrance lifts your spirits and takes you to a different place, that’s great. The question then is how much you are willing to pay for that. I have a bottle of Chanel’s Bel Respiro but I don’t quite love it enough to feel comfortable about what it cost. I don’t think I’ll be paying that sort of money again. I love my bottle of Youth Dew bath oil and get more pleasure out of that, for (Australian) $50, than the $330 I paid for Bel Respiro. Is Bel Respiro more than six times better than Youth Dew? No, I don’t think so.
Youth Dew is gloriously NOT an exclusive fragrance. It pleases me to think that millions of other women, including my mother, have been able to find a place for it within their tight family budgets. For my mother it was wonderful assertion of independence and femininity in an otherwise rather difficult life.
I loved the review of Youth Dew on this site some time back. Really fascinating.
And as a side note, Estee Lauder is reportedly one of the few mainstream companies that still invests a reasonable amount of $ in the juice.
I think the Armani Onde range was an example of what the French call the “banalisation” of luxury. They had fancy be-tasselled bottles, but didn’t smell all that upmarket at all to me. Admittedly the Onde trio were a notch down in prestige terms from the Prive Collection, but they were still trying to convey an air of class.
Sorry – I don’t mean that the French actually agree with my view – they just have the best word to express what I want to say.
I still haven’t smelled them, but from what I’ve heard you’re right on target.
Thanks, Robin. I’m think I’m reasonably well-read, actually, and if i read another ten books on the subject from CB and the like, I’d still feel the same. I don’t think that it is ignorance that makes me ask, “what’s up with the negativity?” and I’m sorry you misconstrue the source of my concern.
I simply don’t want to dismiss these without sniffing them first. Contempt prior to investigation is not simply cynicism, it IS ignorance.
Even more importantly, because there is a real imbalance in the thread above, with the cynics outweighing the enthusiasts by a considerable margin, there is a certain danger here: there may well be a silent, gentle majority out there who aren’t about to go head-to-head with the grumpy cynics , but who just quietly feel the same way I do and wish things were a little different.
Heck, maybe I need a second cup of coffee!!! 🙂
R, I’m sorry if my reply implied that you were ignorant — that certainly wasn’t my intention at all!
I do know well that there are people who do not like the sometimes negative tone here, and all I can say is that for those people, there are plenty of other places, online & in print, where they can read about fragrance and never have to hear a negative word. Our mission (to the extent that we have anything so highfalutin as a “mission”) is not to please everybody (which I don’t see as a possibility anyway), but to provide a place where the authors & the commenters can say what they think, be it negative or positive. I’m perfectly comfortable with the fact that some people don’t like NST, and that some potential readers might be turned off by the tone of the comments or the reviews.
But personally, I have not dismissed these at all…if they’re ever in a place where I can smell them, I’ll certainly do so, and if I think they’re great, I’ll say so. But I reserve my right to be *cynical* about these sorts of projects — yes, even before I’ve smelled them 🙂
I feel bad if Robin thinks cynicism rules the day here at NST. There was definitely a lot of it in this thread, but I think of all the other reviews and annoucements where the comments are full of “Squeeeeee— I can’t WAIT to sniff this!” reactions.
I could understand the cynicism in part only because we’ve see so many instances of luxury product being launched by jewelry companies or whatever, where 8 or 10 scents are released all at once, at a price point that’s pretty high (>$2.50/ml). Trust me, I’m excited about perfume, but these big “collections” just seem like overload. So maybe it’s more a reaction to being overwhelmed.
I certainly would hope the commentary equivalent of eyerolling doesn’t chase you away. I don’t know. Maybe this is a tough crowd to please via press releases.
Thanks to Joe, Robin, AnnS, Annemarie and everyone else here who has been so respectful of my Pollyanna-esque views. That’s the beauty of NST; we can speak our minds and disagree with each other’s points of view without ever descending to personal criticism. (And hey, just so you know, I can get pretty fired-up and downright cynical about the glut of “luxury” releases at discouragingly high prices, too!) 🙂
I Agree… but as a lifelong Perfume Hound… i am finding it more and more difficult to be truly OVERWEHLMED by fragrance…. not to be cynical enough to say that there aren’t some really AMAZING Scents out there, there truly are (Smell the new Valentino Fragrance, It is AWESOME!) but there is also SO MUCH DRECK out there and people trying to cash in on the massive amounts of Filthy Lucre that exists out there in the Fragrance Market (Sean John Anyone???? Avril Lavigne????) and are just producing pardon my french, But producing Merde for scents! just in the hopes of cashing in! I am not adverse to a SIMPLE fragrance, something innocuous and pleasant! that is perfectly understandable and if the company producing that innocent fragrance stands behind that scent, then more power! Go On with yo bad selves! but when there is just this keening interest in making cash instead of producing something beautiful… that’s where my cynicism hackels get all raised up!
I mean what happened to making scents like Chanel No. 22, L’Huere Bleue, L’Air Du Temps, Jean Patou 1000, Oscar De La Renta, perfumes that are not only Gorgeous But Magcial, Transportive, Ethereal… there are many others and there are those that are being produced now that fit that bill (Tom Ford Black Orchid, B de Boucheron, and many others that escape me currently LOL) but even Guerlain seems to have sold out in a sense. I’d berate Chanel for Chance if again they didn’t TRULY believe in that fragrance, (simply beacause i don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s bad) but it seems sad that all of the artistry of perfumery is being slowly bled out of the industry. there will always be Genius, even in times of darkness, but that light seems to be getting dimmer. I am not Cynical enough to believe it will ever be extinguished, but am realistic enough to know it will be harder and harder to find in the encroaching darkness!
But has there not always been dreck? In the 1920s … 30s … 40s etc … ? Or maybe just fragrances that were perfectly good but have not survived changes in taste and fashion. There must be thousands of discontinued fragrances that we can only know thanks to the efforts of collectors. Or, more ephemerally, through newspaper and magazine adverts etc. (I’m a historian so this is getting into my territory somewhat.)
That said, there are a bewildering number of fragrances launched each year and only a tiny number could be masterpieces. Let’s hope that they are recognised and they survive.
It is no doubt true that there was always at least some dreck, but I think that a) everybody in the industry seems to agree that by & large, far more time was spent on fragrance development in the past, and b) far more $ (adjusting for inflation, of course) was spent on the juice. And of course, there weren’t anywhere near the # of releases that there are now.
And I think we all forget how rapid and recent the growth has been: when I started writing this blog in 2005, the “official” Michael Edwards count was 454 new fragrances. In 2008, there were more than double that. That’s astonishing — and we all know that the number of perfumers has not doubled since 2005. So I think it’s quite fair to say that they’re churning them out…
Knowing numbers like that just make me sad. For it portents that the future of the industry is going to be much more Crap than Jewels! yes, there has always been Dreck, but now it seems the Dreck is the Standard, The rule not the exception. AND THAT is what is A Sin and A Shame!
Niche bleeding already.. if everyone will get their niche.. than what’s niche? Just keep designer, celebrity and niche seperated, thanks.
The use of the term niche was mine, not VCA’s — it is how I see these sets, but might not be how they see them.
I’m not refering directly to you, but that’s just how I think.
Another niche launch. Isn’t the world in recession? It looks that the fragrance industry wasn’t affected. Didn’t they realize that we haven’t so much time to test all these things? It looks like the fragrance industry has lost its focus. Beautiful they can be, but i don’t think that it will be something extraordinary.
Someone MUST stop this crazy industry. Bring us back what really matters, GOOD fragrances, not just a bunch of launches, massive or niche.
So far, it does not look like the recession is having any noticeable effect on the # of launches…more like companies are simply gearing their efforts towards new & emerging markets.
Can Only Hope this fulfills the promise that The Les Exclusifs De Chanel and Tom Ford Private Blends did, I love all the Chanel Les Exclusifs (why they put No.22 and Gardenia in that collection though is a crying shame! they should be much more widely available!) The Armani Prive and Other “LUXURY” Fragrance Lines seem to be trying to cash in on the trend, however if they are good fragrances, they are good fragrances, but really, outside of the Les Exclusifs… none of them actually SCREAM Luxury to me. they just seem to say… we’re more expensive because the company wants to make us so! nothing really SPECIAL About them as a whole, some of the TF Privates are certainly PHENOMENAL (Champaca Absolute, Tobacco Vanille, VELVET GARDENIA) but it just seems a way to make the consumer feel they are buying into something LUXURIANT!
as for real Niche LUXE Fragrances…. Serge Lutens Fragrances may truly be the only ones that fit that description, for they truly are DIFFERENT!
We’ll have to agree to disagree on the Tom Ford collection, which I think is another massively overpriced line. But we’ll agree on Serge, and I would add Frederic Malle.
Absolutely Agree! Forgot about Monsieur Malle! very Unique, totally different from anything around and totally overwhelming in their imagination and at times, singular brilliance!
I realize that this thread is dead and WISH I could somehow respond directly to Robin R, and separately, put some comments ACTUALLY ABOUT THE JUICE above all of this, since I had the chance to smell them yesterday, have a complete sample set, and think that a few of them are quite good.
Since I just received the sample set yesterday, I’ll have to report back after giving each individual frag it’s own due. I wore a touch of the Orchide Vanille in the car ride home last night, and I can still smell that small touch on my wrist now, 12 hours later. These frags are very high concentration eau de parfum. And as to the smell– it was actually one of the nicer things I sniffed yesterday, and liked it much more than the two new Narciso Rodriguez (Essence and Eau de Parfum Intense) and much more than Natori. In fact, almost everything I sniffed somehow smelled more “commercial” than these frags. the Muguet was quite interesting (sharp!), and a take on it that I haven’t smelled elsewhere. And the Cologne Noire might be the most interesting in the bunch and really, really intrigued me. The only other frag that I thought was smart was Escale Portofino, which I had not yet had a chance to sniff before yesterday. Everything else seemed rather… done already.
Like Robin R, I’m somewhat a newbie to this industry and yet, I don’t get angry at a high end launch– I get excited to go out and try it (and yes, I’ve read ALL of the perfume books already a few times and read about the time involved vs the time given). I still like a few “cheap” frags like Bronze Goddess, but I love the “riskier” things like Tea for Two that I imagine wouldn’t sell well in a dept store, too. But I do give the new ones a chance. People don’t balk at a new L’Artisan or a new SL, so I think it’s unfair to not be as optimistic about Van Cleef’s new launch. There are a few great perfumers listed there (Hammani developed Chanel’s Gardenia and Maisondieu has created some risky stuff for Etat Libre) and these frags could have been developed in the past for someone great like L’Artisan, who passed because it didn’t fit their particular marketing image at the moment.
I too think it’s sad, especially since there are more than 40 comments here that are (basically) against the new VC&A frags, and they haven’t even smelled them. And this isn’t crap like Michael Kors Very Hollywood, which is truly ALL marketing and sweet pink generic juice in a pretty bottle. Now THOSE sort of launches are something to get angry about: those seem to be all about the ad campaign and not about frag development.
Count me on the optimist team.
Gosh, blowing off steam about an upcoming launch doesn’t strike me as sad at all — people will give them a chance if they get to smell them, and I, for one, am always happy to eat my words (and I didn’t think MK VH was bad at all, although it isn’t genius either). People don’t balk about L’Artisan & SL because they consistently turn out good product: that strikes me as a perfectly reasonable response.
At any rate, really glad to hear they’re good, and sounds like I need to get some of the Muguet!
Well, I am a newbie. So maybe I just haven’t been disappointed enough yet! 🙂 I could see that if you smell launch after launch that continually disappoint, people might want to blow off steam.
I haven’t smelled 1/100th the number of frags as most of the commenters here, and I totally bow down to their knowledge of what is quality vs what isn’t.
Oh, I really don’t think it’s just a matter of experience…also temperament: you might just be more optimistic than I am!