Perfumes are timeless and often shrouded with mystery, allure, confidence, but above all a generous dose of popular culture. Celebrities generally advertise perfumes and are constantly creating their own fragrances, designers up their credibility with a signature scent, perfume adverts have themselves become studied works and the world continues to fall at the perfume industry’s feet. Therefore, it is an appropriate subject for this next article.
Contrary to what you might have thought I am going to start with the traditional fragrances as they are actually coming back into fashion (I guess fashion has a habit of doing that J. I am going to leave the early history for what it is though. Nevertheless, in my eyes, when it comes to classic scents, Chanel No.5 is still the mother of all contemporary perfumes with apparently a bottle still being sold every 30 seconds. It was created in 1921 for Coco Chanel by Ernest Beaux. The perfume is said to be inspired by the midnight sun, as well as by lakes and rivers in the Arctic circle which Ernest had visited the year before he created the perfume. It has notes of Ylang-Ylang, Neroli, Grasse Jasmine, May Rose, Sandalwood and Vanilla. The fragrance has remained the same throughout the years. Marilyn Monroe, very much an icon in popular culture, initially meant the breakthrough for Chanel No 5. Not only through an advertising campaign that would come to set the tone for the Chanel No. 5 advertising campaigns but also thanks to her iconic words: “What do I wear to bed? Why Chanel No. 5 of course”. [1] Chanel No.5 was further solidified during those years by popular culture artist Andy Warhol who made one of his famous works of art using the perfume as inspiration.
Today I think we are probably all familiar with the impressive Chanel advertising campaign with Nicole Kidman and later also French actress Audrey Tautou (see pictures below). What the perfume radiates has actually given Chanel products (bags, shoes, jewellery) an overall appeal as a timelessly classy and stylish brand. Other classic scents are among others Dior, Shalimar by Guerlain and L’air du Temps by Nina Ricci. For men classic scents are Bleu or Allure by Chanel, Cool Water by Davidoff, Armani Code or something by Ralph Lauren or Tommy Hilfiger.
The new generation of women who have to become the target group for these classic perfumes are cleverly seduced at an early age. This is done by creating strong advertising campaigns around youthful, fun, happy spin-offs of the classic perfumes. Often the respective adverts are very colorful and they seem to radiate life. The girls featured in these adverts have a natural glow, an overall attractiveness but also sexiness and they nevertheless issue a strong personality. For example Miss Dior Chérie which is currently featuring the intriguing actress Natalie Portman as face of the campaign. What gives it an extra boost is that celebrated director Sofia Coppola, known from among others Lost in Translation (2003) and her dreamy, visually often stunning films, also directed the television advertisements for Miss Dior Cherie. In a similar way Keira Knightley is the fresh face of the Coco Mademoiselle perfume. Additionally, the deal is sealed with a catchy tune (maybe like perfume puts a finishing touch on an outfit). This is definitely a reason why classic perfumes are making a revival. It seems to me it can lower the threshold when it comes to buying a Chanel No.5 or a J’Adore by Dior later on.
The television advertising campaigns:
Miss Dior:
Miss Dior Chérie featuring Natalie Portman:
Coco Mademoiselle:
Miss Dior Chérie featuring Natalie Portman:
Coco Mademoiselle:
When it comes to my current personal favourite it is Incredible Me by Escada. It is not the most original design or anything but the smell is great. It is soft with just a whiff of something that spices it up which makes me feel alive and confident. I also love the slight vanilla undertone. It also helps that I sometimes get complimented that I smell nice. Surprisingly, I also have a favourite when it comes to men’s perfume. I love the Hugo Boss XY because you can wear it to work and at the same time it has an extra tanginess that almost radiates fun and makes me believe there is more than meets the eye.
What I want to emphasize is that the creators of perfumes use their inspiration to create great fragrances but it is an industry that in the end channels popular culture to make it work. They use famous actors and actresses in their campaigns, directors or famous photographers to design their adverts and keep creating new perfumes inspired by what people are watching, doing or connects them in some way J
(On a personal note: I know this was not my promised Sims article (I probably should not have said that was going to be my next one ;) It is definitely coming soon and feel free to comment!)
