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Browsing by category: perfume in the news

Feathers, Fur, and Fragrance: The Enduring Appeal of Animal-Shaped Perfume Bottles

Posted by Robin on 31 December 2024 1 Comment

Our own Dr. Jessica, giving a talk at the Corning Museum of Glass earlier this year: "Perfume containers shaped like animals have been made and cherished for several millennia, with important examples surviving from ancient Egypt and the ancient Near East. From bold to beautiful to slightly spooky, small-scale interpretations of the animal kingdom have hinted at the wild side of scent in various ways over time. The modern era, however, witnessed a new proliferation of zoomorphic fragrance vessels. This lecture takes a close look at a selection of twentieth-century commercial perfume bottles shaped like birds and beasts, connecting their stories and symbolism with related developments in fashion, the fine arts, and visual culture."

Note that there is a brief introduction and then some technical difficulty; if you want to skip to the beginning of the lecture, go to about 3:09. The talk is about an hour long.

Complex, bracing and singular

Posted by Robin on 31 December 2024 2 Comments

One could argue that without the phenomenal success of original niche fragrances and their cult followings in recent years, the creative directors of huge fashion houses may not have been given such free reign to create something braver and bolder than another department store counter people-pleaser. None of this season’s fashion blockbusters fall into the latter category, but this is particularly true of Olivier Rousteing’s new beauty collection for Balmain. The fragrances are complex, bracing and singular – specific moods for specific consumers.

— Read more in Fashion Fragrances Are Making A Dazzling Comeback at Vogue UK.

Fastest-growing beauty category in 2024

Posted by Robin on 27 December 2024 4 Comments

It should also be noted that fragrance is currently the only beauty category where the prestige market consistently dominates the mass market.

This year, according to Circana data through September, year-over-year sales of prestige fragrance increased 14% in dollars and 12% in units. And luxury fragrance sales increased 15%. Fragrance was the fastest-growing beauty category in 2024.

— Read more in The fragrance boom is nowhere near over at Glossy.

Demand for luxury goods will actually increase as their prices increase

Posted by Robin on 26 December 2024 Leave a Comment

Confronted by hordes, companies tried preserving their images the one way they knew how: jacking up prices. In doing so, they followed the longstanding Veblen goods principle. Derived from the economist Thorstein Veblen’s “The Theory of the Leisure Class,” written in 1899, it states that demand for luxury goods will actually increase as their prices increase, because such hikes thin the herds and make scarce goods that much more desirable.

— Read more in Obscene Prices, Declining Quality: Luxury Is in a Death Spiral at The New York Times. (Note that the article is about fashion rather than perfume.) Hat tip to AnnE!

150 different mods

Posted by Robin on 24 December 2024 7 Comments

Every year, Bath & Body Works releases 250 new fragrances, but it puts muscle behind just a few, like “Perfect in Pink,” that it expects to carry the holiday shopping season.

[...] “Perfect in Pink” went through 150 different mods before the two companies — the perfumer and the purveyor — agreed it had the right blend of cherry, pink camellia and a scent called whipped almond crème. The eau de parfum has 74 ingredients.

— Read more in Bath & Body Works Needs Holiday Shoppers. Do New Scents Draw Them In? at The New York Times.

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