Parlez-Moi d'Amour is the new "parfum alimentaire" from Paris. How sad can it be that, after more than 10 years of glorious couture, your name lands on a bottle with a food flavor and you call it love. Parlez-Moi d'Amour smells like an obvious dish with wild strawberries, strawberries and some raspberries. It is hyper realistic and many will love this note because we all love fruits and generations of kids in France have been "educated" with a juice called "grenadine". It smells like a typical fruity base used in flavoring but the most depreciating thing about this "oeuvre" is its musky drydown. Because fruity notes have usually more impact on the top of the perfume, in Parlez-Moi d'Amour this is followed by a fresh floral musky accord. But the surprise is huge. Have you ever put your nose inside the pleasant fabric softeners found in super markets? That's exactly how the middle-drydown of Parlez-Moi d'Amour smells. It is not the suggestion of Lenor, but the pure Procter & Gamble concentrate (the one inspired by J'adore), now branded under the name of John Galliano as a love letter. I have never been so shocked in my entire life and what IFF (the creator) and the owner of John Galliano license did is scandalous.
Under the charm of the natural impression of fresh strawberries, this perfume is extremely vulgar and an offense to this art. John Galliano, the legendary fashion designer is certainly just a shadow today. How is it possible that a type of scent, popular since several years in airports (see the defunct Escada) and almost the same amount of time in supermarkets via celebrity fragrances, could land under his name? The perfume was launched with a great "triumph" in Paris and of course, when gifts arrive to the French press they forget where they used to buy they "lenor" and the "fruity cologne" for the young girl. This perfume is the essence of Monoprix and Carrefour.
Many French ladies working in marketing have not the time to cultivate their soul with art and beauty because they are too busy with 3 things: the bio diet à la mode, the Pierre Hermé hyper caloric masterpieces in the shop window and the new Hermès bag, the only reason they entered the fragrance industry. These tormented souls found their answer in what they call "parfums gourmands", a trend they imposed over the years. Now, there is only one type of seduction in Paris - that one between a fashionable girl with skinny jeans and the new patisserie they dream to eat without consequences (amour sans prise de tête). Love is not in the air and the recent launches (Nina Ricci, Cacharel, Lanvin, etc) show this pathological obsession with food. They are not perfumes for the soul but for the pain caused by the cardinal sin of gluttony. In the case of Parlez-Moi d'Amour by John Galliano, this is a double sin - food & money - the illusion of a pastry you will not eat and the cheap fabric softener sold as a couture perfume.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
