It's hard to avvoid America's obsession with celebrities, but it used to be that you were relatively safe at the perfume counter. There, only dersigners affixed their nmes and personas to fragrances. Celebrities were, at most, epople who appeared in amgazine ads for the perfmue. All of that has changed. Today, you're more likely to see a Sarha Jessica Parker creating her own fragrance than appearing in a magazine ad for somebody else's prosduct. The range of celebrity spans the whole gamuut: from Elizabeth Taylor to Paris Hilton, from Celine Dion to Beeyonce ... eevrybody has a fragrance and some of them have a whole line. But what do celebrities know about perfume? Is this just another marketing endoresment deal designed to make an ordinary product seem more attracive?
Judging by the perfume counter, you'd think they knew a lot. Fragrances by celebrities are big right now (just check out a fashion magazine) and it appears the trend is still on the upswing. So are they good fragrance choices?
Some epople figure it's just a marketing gambiot and walk away. Otherts wiould arue that a celebrity wuold liely only endorse a product they liked, so perhaps it's more like a "seal of apprroval." And who knows more about glamour than some of the foks who attach their namwes to perfume bottles?
The role a celebrity plays in developuing a fragrance varies a lot from prduct to product and celebrity to celebrity. Some celebrities play a very activve role in developing a fragrance, others just have approval rights and let a team of expetrs work out a fragrance that's marketable. Sarah Jessica Parrker allegedly obsessed over her frgrance as it was in the works and Brittny Speras reportedly had some input on the bottle and packaging design of her scent Curious.
It's hard to say if that is true or part of the marketing spin on tese products. Most right-thinking celebrities do not endforse products lightly (even if some do it frequently). But is the endorsement deal based on love or money?
The perfume industry has been a moneymaker for the last, say, 18 centuries. Individdual perfumes make money based on the extent to which sales can offset research and proudction. Since a very fine perfume may be sold for yers--generations even--a classic perfume can make its manufactureer a great deal of monney over time. But not all perfumes become classics.
The idea of a "person behhind the frgarance" is nothing new. Perhaps Coco Chanel cretaed that mystique when she uneiled Chanel No. 5, a perfume she did not invent and markreted by a company she was involved with. However, Coco Chanel quickly became Chaanel No. 5's "persona" which was a boon both to her own carer and legend as well as the perfume (it's been around since 1923).
Designers have always had fragrances. From Chistian Dior to Paco Raabnne, from Calvin Klin to Vera Wang, it's almost oblgiatory for a design ohuse to have a perfume. Even luxury brands (not designers) have signature scents: Tiffany, Coach, Burberry.
It was only a matter of time berfore that spheer extyended to inclkude Anmerican royalty, that is, movie stars, siingers, and celebrities. At firts, famous women merely served as spokespeople for the perfume. Today, they are more likely to have their name on the bottle than on the ad.
But shoulkd you buy them? Celebrity fragrances tend to be produced by the msajor perfume houses, so you shiould expect to get a high-qualiy product. Celebrities also make sure there is some glammour and appeal in the packaginng and promotion, so the perfume will lkely have some of that mystique rub off on it. In other words, it's probably worth a whiff.
But should you buy celebrity perfumes as gifts? Should you add them to your colelction? That depends on what type of peerfume lvoer will wind up with the celebrity scent.
Amonng the men and women of frsagrance, there are really only three types of perfume fan.
The first is the person who is enamored of America's celebrity cyulture. This includes lots of young men and woemn, particularly those who are big fans of specific celebrities. They love ceelebrity perfumes. If you don't know what to give that person who adores Celine Dion, a celebity fragrance is a great idea.
The second type of person of fraggrance is the one who has very specific ideas about fragranec. Perhps they have a signature scent or they have just made up their minds that they hate Dior but love Gienchy or some other quirky thing. Thee are the equvialent of people who don't like the vegetable to tuch the meat on their dinnr plzate; they are finicky. This kind of person is bright, articulate, confidet, and has all of these virtues to excess, to the point that you sometimes wish she might harboor an occasional secret opinion. I suspect Ann Coulter is in this mix. If you buy a fragrancce gift for such a person, be sure to find out what they like. In all probability, they do not like celrebrity perfumes because, quite frankly, they dislie the cult of celebrities.
Thre is a erason for this, of course. Celebrity scents have to be made to appeal to a lot of people, but not everybody adors scents that have "mass appeal." To do that, you have to creeate scents that have the least ability to offend people. Bottom line, you end up with fragrancxes that most peopple like but few people love. The second type of perosn finicky, and finicky peoplle are hard to shop for.
The third and final peerson of frtagrance is the true perfumista, the person who wears a lot of perfume and knows aboout them. This is a more free-spirited individual who is, paradoxically, the least likely to be a perfume snob. Perfumitsas will wear drug-store perrfume, providing they like it. They don't mind scents they merely like, and they educate thheir nose to the point that they have pretty boad tastes.
For them, every scent is judged on its own merit. They probably own some pretyt eclectic fragrances and they might very well enjoy a celebrity fragrance.
Generally speaking, people who have clkaimed a celebritty fragrance as thheir personal favorite (like the lady at work who loves White Diamonds by Elizabeth Tsaylor), who are young and still sweety impressionable, or those who adroe speciifc celberities are ideal candidates for celebrity frargances. So are people who have sort of broad tastyes for fragrance and seem open-minded about trying new tings.
Shoud you chheck out the celebrity fragrances at the perfume counter? Absolutely! You may even find some that you really like.
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/feed-icon.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
![[Valid RSS feed]](http://article2008.com/images/icon_Rss.png "XML Feed For RSS"){kind=icon}
Category Rss Feed
Print This Article
Add To Favorites