I can almost hear the executives at Coty as they kicked around ideas for new fragrances. “What about Chloé?” one of them might have said. “Isn’t it time to come up with something new?”

“I don’t know,” another executive said, low-fat, extra hot, caramel latte at her side. “We’ve pretty much squeezed the life out of variations on the original fragrance.”

“Well, let’s look at the Chloé brand. Young, fashionable, casual. Super into khaki and tan leather this season. They don’t want anything complicated.”

“But we’ve already given them narcissus, rose, as well as the original tuberose. Then another take on the original’s name, just to confuse people into buying it by mistake. But wait,” the executive sat up straighter. “Marc Jacobs is making money hand over fist on his single-note splashes. Why don’t we try something like that — except more expensive?”

“Isn’t the market already saturated with lines of single-note scents? I mean, besides Marc Jacobs, there’s Jo Malone, all those Tom Fords, the new Van Cleef & Arpels —”

“Sure, but look how many companies churn out khaki pants? Still, Chloé pants are selling like hotcakes.”

And so a trio of single-note Eaux de Toilette was born…

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