Tom Ford will launch Fucking Fabulous,* a new limited edition fragrance, next week.
The notes include bitter almond, tonka bean, orris, cashmeran, leather accord and clary sage.
Tom Ford Fucking Fabulous will be $310 for 50 ml Eau de Parfum, or $495 for the "leathery" 48 ml atomizer.
(via harpersbazaar, hat tip to sayitisntso!)
Update: the description at Tom Ford...
EXPLICIT. EXCLUSIVE. FABULOUS. A DECADENT ORIENTAL LEATHER WITH AN INTOXICATING GRIP CAPTURES A RARIFIED AIR. EVOKING THE PRIVATE EXCHANGES AND INSIDER MOMENTS WHERE FANTASIES COME TRUE, THE SCENT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED IN ONE WAY.
There is also a 250 ml bottle for $804.
* Do note that the name violates our comment policy! If Tom Ford stops by to chat about it, we will have to disemvowel him. And if you want more, do see Vogue's piece today (clearly inspired by Ford) on product names that aren't for the "prudish", Scandalous Beauty.
Is this name for real???
What happened to poetic fragrance names like Vent Vert and Après L’Ondée?
I’m still waiting for JHAG Yeah Whatever.
It’s either the name for real, or it’s a really grand 9/1 joke? But I think it’s for real. It sounds so like Tom Ford.
You mean “romantic” names like Poison and Opium?
HAHA!!
I had to blink like 5 times. it sounds really good actually.
It cannot be as good as the price? And living up to the name wouldn’t be easy either.
And apart from the scandal effect, it actually seems a poor brand/price fit. This seems like a low price/young name sold for a high price/somewhat older market. At a low price point, it would sell buckets on the name alone, at TF prices surely someone has to actually like the juice unless $300 is lunch money? (was going to say pin money, but that really dates me too much).
Wait what? What would Estée Lauder herself think of that name?
Hard to say. She was a really smart businessperson. So on the one hand you could assume she’s turning in her grave right now, but on the other, you could assume she would adapt to her times. And to Tom Ford.
I wonder what other names for this fragrance were tossed around?!
I love it. I want it just for the name (though the juice sounds great!). I am SO SICK of all that faux French faux poetic naming nonsense (the worst, of course, is when they give them French names without bothering to have a French speaker check them). YES English names by English-speaking producers. YES names that don’t beat around the bush. (“What’s that lovely smell?” “It’s F*cking Fabulous!”)
Yes, we need a new Franglais-type word for it. Frenglish? Or maybe there is already a name I don’t know.
Ha, but sorry, properly disemvoweled it is Fckng Fbls
Ha! Or the Latin Fvcking Fabvlovs?
You made me choke on my tea.
Funny!!
**applause**
I agree, it’s embarrassing watching all these perfume houses from outside of France use silly French names for their perfumes.
I’m not a huge Tom Ford fan but I like that’s he’s pushing the boundaries (and people’s buttons) with a perfume name like this.
Then there’s French houses who use silly French/English/Spanish names like La Petite Robe Noire Black Perfecto…
Ha – good point. It’s a cross-cultural thing!
Sorry, I don’t think he’s pushing any boundaries. I think he sounds and acts like a typical 11 or 13 year old boy.
This. But, as a PR stunt, it is highly effective.
True, and imagine the advertising mileage he gets out of it if he has to change the name or put the bottle/box in “a plain brown wrapper” to be carried in some stores.
I don’t think it will be in any stores other than TF.
And we all bought right into it either positively or negatively. 61 comments on a new fragrance announcement! Poor Bella Freud didn’t break 10, even
Exactly. Even if all he does is make 100 bottles for his own webstore, he came out ahead.
???????? re Elisa P comment.
I completely agree. The name is really dumb. But I’m not a TF fan either.
Not a prude, but I’m also not a fan. I prefer a little creativity and/or subtlety.
Ditto.
If I’m wearing it, fVcking is the verb, not the adjective.
Cheers!
HA!
Maybe there’ll be a flanker entitled ‘Intense Fabulous F***ing’…
????????
Yessssssssssss
Too funny, Bear!
Hahaha
wow! Hilarious and awful. Will the name make it sell better or worse? Imagine the talk at the perfume counters.
I love almond notes in fragrances, and I like the smell of fresh sage leaves and the taste of sage in food. Sage in fragrance I do not enjoy. I imagine FF won’t smell like something I want to wear, but only the nose knows for certain.
For $310 for 50ml it better live up to the name.
With the almond, tonka and cashmeran I’m expecting a twist on the Rahat loukom genre of perfumes. A subdued creamy hue of red with maybe some leather facets to back it up. Really excited for this one.
Yawn.
Double yawn.
Bet it’s not.
????
Tom Ford is becoming less and less credible and more and more of a joke.
ITA!
I’ve always thought he was a feckin eejit.
Made me laugh!
And agree.
It’s a joke that has him laughing all the way to the bank , so I’m sure he doesn’t mind !
Shocking!
I think i’m less offended by the vulgarity than by the lack of humor in the name. “some good sh*t” would sort of be more funny, as an answer to “what are you wearing?”, but I think that’s a tacky t-shirt concept already, and too low brow for Mr. Tom Ford. poop.
Exactly. Where’s the creativity??
Same place as his underpants….no where.
Wait, is he known for going commando?
Yes! I was actually going to write something about him being too cool for underpants– but I decided to googled it, and my impression of him was totally correct – no underpants for Mr. Ford!
Oh for Pete’s sake!* How much more attention does Tom Ford need?
*now there’s a prudish expression for ya!
I still say criminy! (Although I also cuss a fair amount, unfortunately.)
Ha! Me, too.
So, let me get this straight…
Because this is the name of a product it gets a pass on the comment rules here? Oh, I get it, if he shows up we’ll slap his wrist, yes? I think we all know the odds of that.
I could go on at some length about this being the latest salvo in the agenda to debase our culture and language, which in fact is the point of these sorts of things, but I will desist and confine myself to a shorter comment.
This is this brand’s MO and always has been. In my opinion the best way to deal with this ongoing war is to shun – just like trolls are treated in forums. Outrage and controversy simply feed it – and all in an attempt to capture your money and attention while chipping away at the fundamental courtesies that are the foundation of our culture.
This is the sort of announcement you can find nearly anywhere on the web. I am very disappointed that the editorial discretion that is applied to readers and posters, something that has, in the past, made this an oasis of kindness and courtesy is thrown out the window because the offensive language is printed on a perfume bottle and is treated as “news”.
What a shame.
Well, interesting. It is my site, and I prefer that the comments stay polite, so I don’t allow cussing in the comments. I have allowed some very minor cussing, on occasion, in reviews, and there is sometimes nicely bleeped cussing in the comments.
I don’t control how TF names his fragrances, of course. But I take it you’re suggesting I should not have posted about the fragrance at all?
I’m not sure I agree, but I am sure some people would have rather not seen it.
I do not personally think that PR stunts like this really debase our culture in any serious way, or at least, not any more than TF selling citrus fragrances for $400 debases our culture. But it is certainly a reasonable matter for debate.
I was not implying that this site is anyone but yours. I do find it inconsistent to apply a set of rules to comments but not anything else you might post that’s in violation of your own rules.
I can find vulgarity very easily nearly anywhere else on the internet and one of the reasons I have come here to read is the refreshing lack of it due in large part to the aforementioned rules. Until today – it was most unpleasant to have that sitting there at the top of the articles in a very unexpected venue.
So yes, I would really rather not have seen that here. I’m sure I would have seen it somewhere else, but it would not have been so surprising and disappointing.
Oh relax.
Let’s be nice! Everyone has their own opinions.
Oh, Krizani, I did not mean “It’s my site so I can do what I want” so much as “It’s my site so I can try to keep it civil, but I can’t control what Tom Ford does” — that’s all! Anyway, despite my own potty mouth in real life, and despite all the people here who think it’s no big deal, it bothers me to see the headline too. So I know where you are coming from.
I had to reflect on this a little. One of the most depressing things, to me, is to see the comments sections of even serious papers/ magazines like The Economist, the BBC or the Irish Times. How can we hope to understand other points of view if all we experience is a sewer with competing streams of sludge?
So, even though it very occasionally frustrates me –
and I sometimes push my luck and get caught out by it – I have come to appreciate how NST regulates comments here.
My guess: I don’t think TF’s perfume name will be the tipping point to a comments free-for-all here. And my guess is that if other perfume houses try to follow suit, they’ll achieve an FCUK-effect where a year’s spike in interest due to manufactured controversy will lead to a debased brand damaged for years.
Just to pitch in – the first recorded use of the F**ck word was in England around 1475 , centuries before America even existed, so when it comes to debasing culture and language that boat sailed over 500 years ago ! I don’t find a 500 year old curse word particularly debasing !
PS , and that recorded use was written by a monk in the margin of his prayer book to describe his Abbot , so if it’s good enough for the mediaeval church to use , it’s good enough for me !
Nathanthomas50, I would say in response to you that it’s all about context. Lots of things were said in prayer books and by monks that I sincerely hope you would not take as an example of righteous behavior.
TBH I find the idea of ‘righteous behaviour’ with I all its connotations far more irritating and insidious than the use of the F word
According to this article we can track the use of the word fck a bit further back:
https://solongasitswords.wordpress.com/2014/02/12/on-the-origin-of-fuck/
(i hope the url gets a pass)
It’s an ancient word that had been used for many centuries. I just find it odd that words that were used by Shakespeare are now considered by some people as ‘debasing language and culture’ based on their own genteel view of the world. It’s the same argument that harks back to the ‘good old days’ when ‘gay’ meant happy and hadn’t been colonised by those ‘nasty homosexuals’. Languages, especially English, evolve and changes. In this context the word is not being used negatively or as a curse , it’s being used in a positive almost joyous way as an expression of positivity so I find it hard to get too worked up about it. My sensibilities aren’t that delicate when there is so much else going on in the world daily which is having a truly negative effect on people’s lives, in a way that the use of a word isn’t.
Agreed.
Use of words like ffing, sht, cnt, et cetera is from all times and cultures. They just change over time.
But words like these are not debasing ‘our culture’ (whatever that may be).
I grew up in a country/society where censorship is hardly applied (the netherlands, so nudity, sex and curse words everywhere! Haha), and we are not doing worse than a few decades ago, on the contrary.
Lack of tolerance and lack of humanity are degrading cultures and societies imho.
Guys, this may all be true, but I do also think that forcing readers to maintain a polite tone in addressing each other is part of what makes the conversation here considerably more civil than it is on some other websites. I have no personal conflict with the fact that I use these words in real life but not here, talking with lots of different sorts of people who I do not know.
You may appreciate Tom Ford’s boldness or whatever, but to me, it is mostly just an effective PR stunt that we have all bought into. Not for one minute do I see it as an expression of positivity — the expression might be just that for some people, but in this context I find it rather the opposite.
Please dont get me wrong, I totally agree with your policy on keeping it polite and clean here on NST. Thats what makes this a neat place.
And I do respect Krizani for sharing his/her view on it! Really we all have our reasons and ethics. But I felt the need to express my view as well.
And sorry if I came on a bit strong, but ‘subtle’ is not my middle name (also English not my first language, i tend to use blunt words i hear/learn in media ;).
And I promise, no more mentioning TF or curse words from me this week!!!
I am already tired of it all, it gets more attention than the brand deserves (even though I love some of their products).
Signing out for a walk in the woods.
“More attention than the brand deserves” — no kidding! And esp. since the vast majority of us will never lay eyes on this fragrance to begin with! Enjoy your walk in the woods.
I love the polite and civil tone, Robin. I very much appreciate your comments policy here. It keeps it friendlier to a wider swath of people, and I love how diverse the community here is.
That being said, if there’s a curse (so considered to be in the modern day) word in a perfume name, I still want to hear about the perfume and be able to discuss it with the group here, even if I wouldn’t use said word in polite company, with my manager at work, when being interviewed by a newspaper, etc.
This has been such an interesting discussion to read through! Robin, I appreciate your interests in keeping discussions civil on the blog. I also think that while you may enforce this partly through banning/disemvoweling curse words, that’s mainly symbolic. It’s trivially easy to be mean and horrible without using a single curse word. It’s trivially easy to be kind and empathetic while cursing up a storm. I’m saying that curse words and the kind of negative comments you try to avoid are orthogonal. Like nathanthomas50, it’s curious to me that people so often confound the two.
Aye, but IMHO sometimes symbols matter! And whether they are orthogonal, I think, depends on the listener as well. Different people make different associations for different reasons. Avoiding the profanity takes one more variable out of the equation.
And, cursing or no cursing, I also sometimes just nicely ask people to please be nice.
I had to look up orthogonal. :^)
I’m not convinced. Anyone who tries swearing amicably at their boss at work will learn something about its limitations, in pretty short order. :^D
I wonder, if ELdO had launched a scent with that name, would the reactions be different?
“oh its ELdO, their perfumes always have silly or shocking names to attract attention”
I remember one of their perfumes being named a palace whore or something like that. But its in french, so it sounds chic…erhmmm…no.
Smart move TF, you now have all the media attention in the world!!! Also, your brand is now definitely in ‘tacky territory’
I think the reaction would be the same — there’s been lots of talk here about their perfume names, and there was even more when they started out. But actually the first thing I thought when I saw this was ha, TF beat ElDO at their own game!
Ah, I did not know.
Personally, I dont think those ELdO names are that weird or shocking. Sometimes they work for me, the ones with a bit of humour (fat electrician), and sometimes they do not (rien…thats just lazy),
And when i look at their list of releases…most of them are actually quite normal.
But surely Tom Ford has always skirted the edge of tacky and that’s the point – this is the man who personally shaved the Gucci logo into a models pubic hair for an ad. Sometimes I like a bit of tack to mix things up a bit – good taste can get to be very boring
Oh yes, I totally agree with you.
(maybe i was not clear about it, but I dont feel negative towards the name/TF)
But wouldn it be kinda funny if the campaign for this scent had models with clothes on? Nah probably not… Haha.
Oh eww, what? I am so out of the loop of high fashion.
Jiji, I remember the first time I encountered ELdO. The SA brought over a scent and said (in French), “This is perhaps their most famous scent. It’s called Putain des Palaces.” Being a French speaker, I did a total double-take. All three SAs in the boutique giggled gleefully at my reaction. I expect I would’ve had a very similar reaction if I had encountered Fckng Fbls on my own in a store.
To me, it’s not scandalous, it’s just childish and silly. And not terribly surprising. I made a decision a while ago, partly (but not solely) based on price, to not buy any TF fragrances – knowing that some are very well done. This is just another one for me to ignore.
Well I’m highly amused by the name. I’d almost say I’d want it JUST for the name, except that they seem to have carefully picked the notes I hate the most, making this sound more like F*ing Awful than F*ing Fabulous: bitter almond (ick), tonka bean (ick), orris (ick), cashmeran (meh), leather accord (generally ok, but I rarely like TF’s take on leather) and clary sage (ick).
Still I’ll ask to sniff it at my local Nordie’s, just for fun
Nordies will not have it! Limited edition, limited distribution.
These days I’m not offended by that kind of language at all. I reserve my outrage for racist, antisemitic, sexist, misogynistic, etc. talk.
I remember the hoo-ha when FCUK came out. LOL!
So nice to see you! And yes, we have plenty of things to get seriously outraged about already. TF’s fragrance names, at least, are not going to keep me up at night.
I so agree with you.
I did expect a lot of talk about it when I saw the story pop up yesterday, but i did not expect people to be really offended by this (or TF in general). Whats up with that? Its 2017, not 1817, come on!
As its being released to coincide with his next fashion show (like he did with ‘ombre leather 16’ last year) I’m guessing the name ties in with the theme of the show somehow.
Is the first mainstream fragrance to have such a sweary name ? I can’t imagine going the store and asking for it !
I bet you’re right about the tie in.
It’s only going to be sold by TF — online and in his stores. So Macy’s won’t have to deal with it
Wow, trust Tom Ford to make a statement. I was in total shock upon seeing this. That being said, I would like to try this. The price…not so nice.
Am also surprised to see another Private Blend from him this year. I was hoping to see what new women’s scent he would come up with this year but so far nothing yet.
I think this is what he should have called Gucci Rush. Because that’s what I say every time I wear it:)
????
Q: Mmmm, you smell great. What are you wearing?
A. F-cking Fabulous!
I’m not a fan of using overtly profane words for publicity’s sake but heh, I am not the media police. I guess there won’t be any tv or radio ads for this lest TF suffers the wrath of the FCC. I wonder if vlogs or you tube videos will have to bleep out the name?
Exactly, that’s the bit that does it for me. I can’t be the only person who’s unlikely to buy a fragrance they wouldn’t want to name is asked, which definitely seem that the name is for publicity purposes.
They’ll run ads and bleep it out just like the Frank’s Red Hot Sauce commercials. “What’s that scent you’re wearing Ethel? It’s Tom Ford F____ing Fabulous! I spray that s__t on everything!”
Well, I won’t even sample, based strictly on the name, because I don’t want those words in my always-discoverable browser hostory.
I’m truly disgusted.
Flankers:
FF Night, FF Sport, FF Elixir, FF Blush, FF Delight, FF Man, FF Summer Fun, FF Nude…
I know a certain President who probably calls his cologne by this name already! Or perhaps that’s what he calls himself? The notes don’t sound compelling, and clary sage can be nasty (to me), so I’m curious to sample it. Should we go to the stores that sell it and ask, “where is that f—ing fragrance?”
I can afford to be fabulous, but not f****** fabulous.
My only hope would be that this does indeed smells as the name suggests!!Otherwise it would be a pointless exercise….I must confess to having smelled some things in the past,and actually saying those words out loud!!
L’Heure Bleue-In my opinion-could have been named FF….????????
I laughed out loud when I saw this. It is slightly shocking, but to me only because it was so unexpected, and I believe that’s the idea.
The English language is fluid, new words are created and unfashionable ones become obsolete. Offensive words lose their impact over time. I’m not saying that I love reading or listening to offensive language because I don’t, but that’s mainly because I find than in large doses it reflects a lack of imagination, vocabulary and/or education. In small doses it can have rather the right amount of impact that pedestrian words fail to achieve. A couple of years ago an unsavory youth was arrested on a train here for his foul language. At court the magistrate dismissed the case stating that that’s the way these kids talk. It’s normal to them. And it is. And it’s becoming more ‘normal’ in wider society. Bugger, damn, etc are rarely seen as offensive. Sh*t is fast losing its swear word impact. Zounds was once offensive and now totally obsolete. I’m sure every generation despairs of the language of the younger generations, and this to me is a case in point. It’s still borderline enough though to have impact.
I find the up-in-arms prudish debate over it more shocking than the name to be honest. It’s Tom Ford’s perfume and he can call it whatever the h*ll he likes. I hope it smells as good as the notes suggest.
Yes the surprise effect, thats what had me on edge of my seat too (for 3 seconds haha), not the use of a ‘curse’ word itself.
TF’s fragrance names were always a bit generic. Especially the Oud and Tobacco and Vert variations..yawn.
If this came from ELdO or Frederic Malle or the likes of Moschino or JPG, I would have been less surprised
We might just be at the beginning of an era where perfume houses will start using those words in their perfumes names, especially if they see an increase in sales thanks to the use of the f*, sh*, etc, words. And many of us who got shocked and disgusted now with FF might easily fall in love later on with many fragrances using those words. Be ready guys!
Lord, I hope not. But if that were to happen, my guess is that people would quickly tire of the gimmick and brands too closely associated with it would be tarnished. Think of the damage done to Burberry when they targeted the wrong demographic – ‘NEETS’ (young people ‘not in employment, education or training’) – and those people became known as ‘Burberry Apes’.
Let’s hope for the best! But nothing surprises me anymore!
THE NAME….All sizzle and no steak, like his prices and perfumes.
Ha – yes!
Trying too hard, Mr. Ford sir. Trying too hard.
I’m not shocked…..its just clever marketing. Look at the length of this thread! Remember Opium, Poison? I like the sound of the ingredients. I love bitter almond and orris……I’m looking forward to trying this….regardless of the name.
I have sniffed this twice in Harvey Nichols, somewhere I didn’t think it would be sold. the sales assistant was actually stood in front of the counter promoting it the first time.
I was excited to sniff it because the name conjured up an explosive, rich, extravagant concoction in my head. or something controversial. it is no such thing. I was taken aback by how plain it is.
although it smells well done and high quality to me, it does not live up to the name. I do like the battenburg marzipan almond note, but it doesn’t last through to the end. I like the perfume as a whole, but it is overhyped and underwhelming. and the fact the price is even higher than their usual private blend offerings, makes it even more scandalous.
so after smelling this, it has sparked my interest and I’m now on the lookout for more perfumes with marzipan almond notes. battenburg is one of my favourites cakes