We here at Now Smell This have our seasonal lists of “Top 10” fragrances and each December we release a list of best scents of the year. We are a positive bunch for the most part. But if we were to release a “Worst of 2011” list, I have a nominee: Yves Saint Laurent Saharienne.
Saharienne illustrates what happens when a jacket* is the inspiration for a perfume (talk about a dearth of ideas). After smelling Saharienne, I can only imagine the “creative”-team sessions in Paris before the fragrance went into development:
“What about the scent of a freshly dry cleaned Saharienne jacket?”
“Or a Saharienne jacket hand washed with baby shampoo?”
“I’m smelling a ‘stuffed’ Saharienne jacket — ALL its pockets crammed with scented bathroom tissue.”
“I like the idea of a Saharienne jacket after an encounter with hairspray.”
“…the scent of a woman wearing her Saharienne as she gets a permanent wave in a Fez beauty parlor…?”
Any of those ideas could have produced the current Saharienne…