I think it's important for a brand to have a fragrance that shakes things up. You know, the men's market is very particular. I know we went far with Egoïste, but I like it. It was good for Chanel. Brands today maybe don't have the courage that they used to.
— Perfumer Jacques Polge talks about Chanel's fragrances for men in Q&A with Legendary Chanel Perfumer Jacques Polge at Hint magazine. Many thanks to Pedro for the link!
…so his inspiration for Bleu was smelling business dudes exiting airport bathrooms….how exciting. For some reason, I now like it even less.
I thought that was pretty funny! Still, at least it’s a relatively honest take on what they’re doing…something else we see even less of than courage when it comes to perfume houses.
yay me being useful at last!
I totally agree on the honesty part.
It is a bit much of a “if you can’t beat them, join them” attitude though.
I like it as I’ve never read an interview with Polge.
Thanks again P! Hope you saw my note on FB (it wouldn’t let me comment on your post, probably because I’m not your “friend”?)
It is very tricky to manage friends on facebook.
I have turned to having 3 “Lists” with different permissions, in order to avoid unwanted “peeks” into my privacy and thoughtless comments that might be misinterpreted.
(still this has not prevented minor squabbles on my “wall” as my friends are a VERY eclectic group! LOL!)
I have 1 for close friends, 1 for coworkers and acquaintancies, and 1 for “webpages” and “Groups”
That last one has the least permissions, so I guess that is what happened.
If you have a personal profile and wish to do so, please send me an invite and I’ll gladly add you to my “Close” list.
I do have a personal account, but only because I had to make one in order to have a “page”. I am not using it, and don’t even want to figure out how…so don’t worry about it!
“So Bleu is spicy, woody, and dry. There is no fantasy.”
No, there is no fantasy. Bleu de Chanel is so, so boring. There is not one single thing in it that interested me. I was actually shocked at how dull and uninspired it was.
Nice of them to show that effing awesome Egoiste ad, though. That is a thing of genius. I had a lot of trouble wearing the rather overwhelming Egoiste (the shower gel worked better for me) but it was a hundred times the scent Bleu is.
Everyone says they were shocked, which I don’t understand at all…everyone else must rate Chanel’s modern mainstream line much higher than I do.
I think maybe Chanel has been coasting on its reputation for quite a while, at least in my mind. When you have such unquestioned masterpieces as No. 5 and Cuir de Russie in your history; such relatively recent greats as Coco (I’m old enough to remember the launch) and Antaeus to brag about; and the sheer nerve to launch a line like Les Exclusifs, many of which were good to great, people tend to assume that you are a string of successes. But you’re right that their last decade or so has not been stellar–they’re following trends rather than trying to set them–and I had no real reason to assume that Bleu would be great.
I did, though. And I was disappointed.
I’m pretty much with Kevin on this one: for what it is (which is a mainstream youth oriented fragrance with mass appeal) Bleu is fine, in fact, I’d say it’s better than some of what they’ve done along the same lines for women (Chance).
IMHO, 99% of mainstream brands are coasting on their reputation. Guerlain made Shalimar, now they make Idylle. Dior made Diorissimo, now they make Miss Dior Cherie. That Chanel is capable of producing Les Exclusifs yet makes something like Bleu simply shows how serious the commercial pressures are for a mainstream hit.
Polge sounds pretty bored with his new fragrance. It is always hard to be uninterested in one’s work. At least he lived part of his life in a time when fragrances were still daring experiments.
He does sound less than enthralled!
I get Bleu de Chanel. Initially I was also gravely dissapointed. I mean, Chanel is supposed to be awesome. But BdC is about today’s man, no matter how uninformed or mislead. The last ~7 years has produced a sea of laundry detergents, and not one stands out. CdB does, you just have to be patient for the dry down. There isn’t much of a difference between the now power house frags from the 80s. Really, is there a difference between Dior’s Jules and Tuscany from Aramis? Sure, Kouros was cleverly disguised, but the heart is the same heavy calone that Tuscany and Jules are. Yet today, those frags are adored. In 20 years, BdC will rise to the top of this acquatic and detergent era that is the 2000s.
I can’t bring myself to buy most offerings from DKNY, Ralph Lauren, Nautica, Calvin Klein and such. But CdB is a good representation of this time, well executed by a master perfumer.
Does the average ‘guy’ get the beauty of Tauer’s L’Air du Desert Marocain or the audacity of Terre d’Hermes?
chanel de Bleu is easy to get, at it will start the average Joe down the road of good scents versus mass market junk.
Chanel has not been consistently awesome for a very long time though. Chance, Allure? These are not masterpieces. I thought Bleu was fine, and pretty much in line with what they’ve been doing with the mainstream releases these days.
That Egoiste ad is great isn’t it! Still yet to smell Bleu, but if it smells like George Clooney (in Up in the Air)… well, it’ll be worth a test smell at least!
After months of over 90 degree heat and humidity, we’re having a cool (relatively), clear, dry holiday weekend, so this inspired me to pull out the Egoïste cologne concentree that I snapped up from a discounter earlier in the year – thanks, Pedro!
Poor old America. Gets blamed for everything and now it’s its fault that male perfumes are so boring. Dirty sexy smells not allowed; clean puritanical shaving smells only. What will you get blamed for next?
I admire Polge even more after the interview. He’s very honest on Bleu. How interesting it is when Polge pulled out Egoïste at the time he should be promoting Bleu.