But she also worries that the sector has lost its way. ‘I feel the true meaning of niche has disappeared,’ she says. ‘That, for me, is authenticity, creativity, showing craft, doing something unique and breaking away from trends. Today, I see none of that. I see groups of people – some from the commercial world – seeing an opportunity to make money and doing a me-too brand of something that already exists in this arena. Niche should be about being different, about standing out from the crowd – and that seems to have gone.’
— Wallpaper (again) on the explosion of niche; the quote is from Lynn Harris (the founder of Miller Harris and Perfumer H). Read more at Eau zone: the makers of niche perfumes explain why uncommon scents are in the ascendant.
I read the article and it seems almost like they have witnessed our recent discussion Robin : )
Exactly!
It’s a pity they do not verify who their subjects are though.I have no idea who Kilan is,I have heard and purchased products from Kilian though….
Sorry,but sloppy editorial irks me.
The mistake is only in the image description though — at least they have his name right in the main text.
And it irks me too, but I am perhaps more forgiving since I can’t afford an editor either
I think this is more a problem of a text that was published without being revised than an editorial problem. But this happens frequently if you are in a rush to publish something and cannot wait until you are not vicious on your text anymore and can then start to see the typos.
Robin!NST has always been meticulous in my view regarding high quality edit,even the people who comment!That’s why I love your blog and the kindred spirits here.X
You are kind, and we do our best, but there are typos here, trust me!
I agree with everything you said, johanob. Best blog out there!
I can’t help but feel sorry for Vilhelm Parfumerie that was tagged as “Vilhen Perfume” in the photo, though. Unless that’s a different brand I haven’t heard about.
Haha!I “was” going to mention that as well,but I did not want to come accross as a total bitch….????
Glad to help you out, lol!
I agree, which is why I am concentrating more on indie/artisan rather than niche when I look for something outside the big commercial brands.
I see B Y R E D O in flourescent lighting reading that. A businessman seeing an opportunity, pretending to be a perfumer. The same most probably goes for a lot of brands, but I’ve heard Ben Gorham talk perfume and he doesn’t have a clue.
I would add to the pretending to be a perfumer the using recycled formulas with bullshit about pseudo personal histories.
Excactly! I heard Gorham go on at length about Byredo’s fragrance ‘Green’ being inspirated by the fragrance his father allways wore. He didn’t name the fragrance, but Green is nothing more than a lesser Grey Flannel.
Good to know, since green was one of the few fragrances i found interesting on his line.
Brand figurehead pretending to be the perfumer is all too common in niche, but I think Byredo has always properly credited its perfumers (Jerome Epinette and my beloved Giacobetti).
Actually I like some of Byredo’s fragrances. (Haven’t tried “Green”. Grey Flannel is a great fragrance, although given the choice, I’d rather pay Target than Barney’s prices).
What a silly quote. Someone should inform her of all the young brands who are doing innovative things with fragrance. There’s no shortage of creativity and brilliance, but you have to dig deeper than the usual glut of Byredo, Tom Ford, Malle, Le Labo and the like.