Describing the inspiration for her latest fragrance, independent perfumer Diane St. Clair writes,
I had been watching the snow fall outside of my window for three months, at times blowing horizontally on winds wailing down from the Polar Vortex. I tried to conjure a way to transport myself to a place far away, a place with warm air and perfumed flowers and fruit—a garden in paradise…
The result of this reverie was Casablanca, a floral chypre fragrance with a lengthy list of notes…
Giorgio Armani has launched Bleu Turquoise and Bleu Lazuli, new unisex woody fragrances inspired by India. Bleu Turquoise and Bleu Lazuli join Rouge Malachite and Vert Malachite in La Collection Des Terres Precieuses, in the Armani Privé fragrance range…
French niche line By Kilian has launched From Dusk Till Dawn, a new duo of fragrances celebrating the brand’s 10th anniversary. Woman in Gold and Gold Knight were inspired by artist Gustav Klimt and fin de siècle Vienna…
Last week at work, a friend and I were discussing an acquaintance of mine in Russia: a “seer.” I had been introduced to the seer last summer by someone who swore by her talents and “influence,” even from far away. I was feeling some unwanted (and uncomfortable) sway, so my friend and I took a walk in Little Saigon. As I was vividly imagining the seer forgetting all about my existence, a woman approached me on the street and screamed in my ear: “YOU BELONG TO ME!” Her hateful shriek made my head go momentarily numb on the side that faced her. Back at work, my friend and I, feeling a bit incredulous and shaken, discussed witches, amulets, tarot cards and runes, and I Googled a famous psychic from Seattle who I had met ages ago…to find that she had died in 2013. When I got home that same day, on my porch was a package from Louisiana sent by a perfume company called MojoMagique; it was filled with fragrances called Magique, VooDooChild, PixieRose and…SEER.1 Guess which one I opened and tried first…
So we all know Calvin Klein’s CK One, yes? It launched in 1994, and I am sure I am not the only woman who smelled it, thought it smelled sort of like men’s cologne, and found to my surprise that I liked wearing something that smelled sort of like men’s cologne.1 (Men especially, do comment and tell us what it smelled like to you!) When I reviewed it back in 2006, I duly thanked Calvin Klein for helping me to figure out, eventually, that I could not only wear unisex fragrances, but I could wear whatever I wanted — hello, Eau Sauvage.
CK One took the youth market by storm. Not to downplay the achievement, but of course that was infinitely easier in 1994 — it was not so hard to capture consumer attention when there were only around 100 new fragrances a year, and when most media consumption was from a limited number of traditional platforms.2 Calvin Klein followed up with CK Be in 1996, and then a bazillionty flankers…