Showbiz perfumery has always been cyclical, with a parade of Hollywood fragrances rising and falling over the years — amid shouts that “celebrity is dead” — depending on star power and results. But the category now seems to be in a funk resembling a death spiral.
— Women's Wear Daily pronounces celebrity fragrance dead, again, sort of. Read more at The (Un)Death of Celebrity Fragrance.
What an interesting article.
As a kid of the 90’s the only celebrity fragrance i knew of was Elizabeth Taylor and Cher. Everyone else was a spokesperson (most notably for me, Isabella Rosellini for Lancome Tresor) This late Gen Xer never really got into celebrity fragrances, partially because I worked in show business, and celebrities tend to either smell very, very subtly of soap and very expensive perfume/cologne or smell incredibly bad after a day on set. I never wanted to smell like a celebrity.
Some choice quotes with snark:
On the fact that celebrity fragrances are NOT the same market as people who usually shop in high end department store:
asserting that part of the problem is that stores never got the hang of selling to a 15- to 22-year-old customer base. “You don’t merchandise prom dresses next to couture,”
But what if the prom dresses ARE couture?
On the belated, half assed reach to South America, an ethnically diverse region that only has speaking Spanish in common (and not even then- Brazil is region largest and most populous country, and they speak Portuguese!)
“He maintains that the industry has to cast a wider net. South America is fertile territory. “We have to address the Latins,” he said.”
Salve, boni cives ! Haec nova et unguenti, et Venus in Nubes !
For the love of Jove, what a provincial and stupid thing to say.
Thanks for the link, Robin!
It is true that Macy’s ought to be the “natural” home of higher end celebrity fragrances, but they either don’t do well there or Macy’s doesn’t want them there for other reasons, alluded to in the article (makes the perfume area seem less ‘luxurious’). And the other part of the problem is the fragrance execs pretend the market is 15-22, but in truth, in the US, it’s probably younger than that.
I really don’t know sales figures, obviously, but Germany also seems to be where lots of celebrity fragrances are launched first.