Smart Londoners don't want to smell like everyone else. We're busy hunting down tiny artisan perfumers and niche brands. From colognes at Santa Maria Novella on Walton Street to contemporary artisan perfumers at Les Senteurs in Belgravia, we're looking for a new hit. And we're very territorial.
— From Perfumistas are the new cool-hunters at the London Evening Standard, with many thanks to Pigoletto for the link!
Perfumers owe their increasingly high profile to Frédéric Malle, whose nine-year-old luxury company, Editions de Parfum, was the first to celebrate perfumers by name. The black label on each bottle identifies the perfumer, like an author’s name on a book jacket.
— From Now Smell This, and See Its Maker at the New York Times.
...the most notable trend in the industry right now comes from the growth in niche products. Fragrance is a sociological phenomenon. On the one hand, perfume is a commodity, dominated by global brands and fashion houses, but on the other hand we're in a new golden age of perfume, driven by artisans who seek to create experiences rather than brands.
— Michael Edwards, quoted in Fragrances of the World 2010 at Cosmetic World.
What do you think — do perfumers owe their increasingly high profile to Frédéric Malle? And is this "golden age of perfume" driven by artisans? Because in both cases I would have said it's all driven by consumers, and more specifically, by perfume-related consumer activity on the internets: the blogs, the fragrance forums, what have you.
Today's poll topic was suggested by Robin (not me, the other Robin, the one who comments under the name Robin). Robin wants to know where in niche she can still find a reasonable amount of bang for her buck, so to speak.
Here are the poll questions:
1. Name one or more niche perfume lines that you think still provide a reasonable value for the money.
To my mind, there are so many wonderful niche perfumes that can still be found for $100 or less (for 50 ml) that it's hard for me to bring myself to pay more. At that price, you could buy almost anything from L'Artisan, Diptyque, Ormonde Jayne or Parfums de Nicolaï, four of my favorite lines…
It has been a long week, and whatever brain (and nose) power I have left, I am holding in reserve for a big day of perfume shopping tomorrow. So no review today — just a question: are you a niche snob?
I have been thinking about my own prejudices since reading Luca Turin's wonderful new blog, Perfume Notes, and especially his commentary on niche scents (link no longer working, sorry!), which he generally finds lacking in comparison to releases from the big houses. My own leanings are in the opposite direction. When I look at my own perfume collection, a huge proportion of the bottles are from the smaller niche houses, some of which, granted, he mentions as exceptions: Serge Lutens, Frederic Malle, and Parfums de Nicolaï.
Others I see well-represented in my perfume cabinet…