In 2012, the times when I first started to reveal the question of perfume reformulation, about six years ago, look like Stone Age. Welcome into the new era of reformulation, when the formula of a success perfume gradually changes with the market it changes since the moment zero of its introduction! It is the Scent 2.0, the perfume of the Matrix. With flankers, a prototype was "tested" through several variations as if the regular panel test did not stop before the launch of the product but it was continued several years. Some major perfumes had a lot of flankers. They were variations around a theme, a name, they served to reinforce the power of the brand, and to test some aspects of the market. They did a lot of things. But they served also another purpose, to generate a certain confusion which can be manipulated later. A perfume belongs to the year when it was created, it belongs to that subtle spirit of time and it ages with those who bought it.
Beauty in perfume is eternal, but it doesn't necessarily produce endless sales, the goal of a huge cosmetic company. Today, the notion of time is less precise than ever. You cannot remember if a perfume is very new or from the previous decade because there are too many of them around. Also, the market rearranges itself, constantly generating trends, like waves on the ocean. If the Original perfume can be considered Scent 1.0 with all the flankers around (S 1.1, S1.2, …) the new version is Scent 2.0 and represents the interaction of a successful perfume with its own market and the competition. It is the original formula, modified to adapt itself to the "consequences" generated after its own launch in the Ocean of Scents.
Sometimes, more interesting perfumes might appear around the same theme, with other occasions, the competition might launch something better around the same idea. Like a software, the new reformulated perfume mirrors its own evolution with a very clear purpose in mind - to dominate the "new" market. Scent 2.0 is both Cause and Consequence, a Conclusion which becomes a new Origin.
Unlike flankers, when there was a graphic distinction between the Original and the versions, the new Scent 2.0 takes the place of the original like reformulated modern perfumes took the place of the original old formulae. Do you remember the previous versions of your O.S. on your computer?
People tend to reject Objectivity and embrace their dear Subjectivity, usually in endless and useless polemics. This year, because everything is relative, everything WILL BE relative. In other words, several very big names in the industry are preparing to launch this spring and summer in Paris, their adapted modern successes. Perfumes I've already presented on this blog several years ago because they were new, are about to change for commercial reasons. It is the result of Interaction 2.0 with the market which is better known than ever. Because people are not skilled in recognizing the differences in scents like they do everyday for anything visual, they can be tricked easily. Because everybody believes he is Special, he can be fooled with elegance and grace. The perfume shops with so many scents in the air are the perfect medium for the illusion. With so many names, so many bottles, so many scents, who remembers after all what is original and how was the Original Scent they bought in the recent past?
We remember the difference (the old perfume like an alien) but it is less easy with the sameness (the perfumes we've recently acquired).
Somehow, we are back in the past, about 200 years ago, when the notion of standard (a stable scent) did not exist in the perfume industry at its beginnings. Today, this notion of relativity will be dictated by the market because a perfume has to generate the maximum amount of money. Notions like authorship or originality are as virtual as the "paper" of my daily articles on this blog.
We usually say X is an original perfume because we compare it to other perfumes and we appreciate its new approach or because it belongs to the real brand and is not a fake product. Today, the notion of originality is challenged in a very different way. The reformulation is intentional, it is not determined neither by exterior causes (an unavailable old ingredient or a new regulation). If a perfume sold under a certain name slowly changes to express the market, what is its DNA?
In this new paradigm, the much acclaimed subjectivity by those unable to put order in the scent complexity becomes reality. It is not perceived "subjectivity" as a notion but subjectivity as an industrial technique. Even Google has introduced recently a new searching tool, it is mainstream.
After all, the perfume is different on you because you believe you are the source of difference. In 2012 this becomes real and starts this spring with a perfume I actually liked very much several years ago.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
