Van Noten chose not to try out the fragrances with test audiences to see how they reacted to the products because “quite often they are made a little bit easier, which I didn’t want to do. The more character they have the better.”
— Designer Dries Van Noten talking about his new fragrances. Read more in Dries Van Noten: fragrance is ‘another layer, another emotion’ at Financial Times.
The article is behind a paywall, which you can climb over with 12 Foot Ladder: https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcontent%2F1fd0f8e7-0969-4890-b775-8e314fe820c8
You have to respect an artist who doesn’t focus-group his work to make sure it appeals to the lowest common denominator. Another quote from the article: “Initially, the noses weren’t convinced by having two rose fragrances, to which Van Noten says he replied: ‘I don’t care. They are going to speak to two very different types of people.’” He’s saying, “I’m going to make what I love, and I know it’s not for everyone, but it will find its audience.” Even though I’m annoyed by yet another batch of ten new scents all at once and I can’t imagine paying the asking price (220-240€), I’m *very* interested in trying the two roses at the very least, so well done him.
Interesting, my immediate take was that was all pr slush, since many companies these days have more than rose…
I have to admit that I was very skeptical when the news came that Dries Van Noten would launch 10 perfumes in one go, but my interested was sparked after reading an interview with him in the Belgian magazine Weekend Knack (I’m wondering if the FT article isn’t a translation of the Belgium interview). Well, I’ll be in Antwerpen tomorrow or Saturday so I will go and check them out. The discovery sets look lovely too (unfortunately they are dab vials but the sample bottles look very nice for sure).
Let us know!!