Will CHANEL write in July 2013 that Number 5 was reformulated in 2013?
Will DIOR write in July 2013 that Miss Dior is not the 1947 formula?
What about the SECRET formula, at least to consumers, legislators, doctors?
A new secret policy to unveil the truth of perfumes announces a dramatic change in PARIS.
A new secret policy to unveil the truth of perfumes announces a dramatic change in PARIS.
French have a word for it "L'enfer est pavé de bonnes intentions", but Perfumes goes to Heaven, only sinners go there.
Who will save today the French Perfumes? Certainly not EU because other interests are of a greater importance. The flowers are gone ....
The new cosmetic change affects the "life" of perfumes, the flowers. But these flowers, once cultivated ONLY in Grasse have disappeared from the front row. Do you imagine industrials preserving what is often refereed as heritage? It's rather naive and I hardy believe than any negotiation with EU would take place.
Precious floral concrete and absolute are not produced in EU, except Narcisse des Montagnes and some Bulgarian products. The flowers from Dior and Chanel are for the press, a small field kept to entertain journalists.
If you carefully read the raw material list of any big supplier house you will notice that flowers and other "problematic" ingredients occupy a small place in the huge offer. They are delicate, expensive and hard to handle ingredients. Who wants to save them?
From an industrial point of view, for the manufacturer of perfumes or the ingredient supplier, their loss is a "blessing". Companies do not own lands, these products are not European. Without them, a symbol is lost, but not a business.
The so called anthem "let's save the french industry" its more scentimental than based on solid arguments to convince EU. First health, second transparency because Paris played too much with secrecy. Perfume is an art but how can you study the perfume in a museum who preserves it when no formula is available, not even for researches. CHANEL No5 will enter the MAD Museum. What about the original scent? What about the original formula? What about the 2013 reformulation? Will it be specifically shown on the packaging? Can you protect the perfume when you jealously keep the old formula in your desk?
Because the mainstream consumer has been "educated" with another "fragrant" quality in the last 10 years, those ingredients which were an expensive exception are slowly removed. The market is not the field and I see no reason why french companies would care about Egyptian, Moroccan or Tunisian small producers of rose/jasmine/tuberose/orange flowers? Why would the EU empire finance the Indian floral fields making them desirable in a global economy?
Because the mainstream consumer has been "educated" with another "fragrant" quality in the last 10 years, those ingredients which were an expensive exception are slowly removed. The market is not the field and I see no reason why french companies would care about Egyptian, Moroccan or Tunisian small producers of rose/jasmine/tuberose/orange flowers? Why would the EU empire finance the Indian floral fields making them desirable in a global economy?
Why would a perfumer fight for jasmine? Is his Jasmine? He would eventually fight for his formula but any experienced person knows that the value is not inside the formula, but with the men able to generate more and more desirable essences...
Brands will disappear, other will be created, fields will be deserted, but The Perfumer and his creative lab continues to generate new scents.
Who is afraid of the 2013 Change announced by EU? Maybe the small producer of flowers who was never received in Bruxelles and certainly not those able to compose from anything under their nose with a powerful marketing strategy.
With Splendione and so many other magnificent ingredients to discover (see my Hedione 50 years celebration) a new palette emerges in splendor.
The new EU COSMETIC mission comes on solid grounds and I call it the Red October Revolution because Paris is now socialist and has very clear ideas about the nature of luxury. Who saves the Marie Antoinette perfume in Paris? Certainly not Marianne...
The fight with EU is lost, but the real challenge is writing or not the reformulation on the packaging, thus showing the EU Consumer what he buys according to the new proposal of transparency and labeling.
The storm is not the inevitable change of star perfumes, but revealing the truth when the consumer buys the bottle after he read the story of Chanel No5 imagined in 1921.
"Les enjeux économiques sont lourds. L'ensemble de la filière serait touché, y compris les producteurs de matières premières. Le chiffre d'affaires de cette industrie est estimé à 24 milliards de dollars. « Il est essentiel de préserver le patrimoine olfactif culturel de l'Europe. Nous sommes certains que les décideurs européens et les experts scientifiques mettront au point des solutions dans ce sens », a indiqué le groupe LVMH (propriétaire des Echos), à la tête de Guerlain et des parfums Christian Dior."
Read Les Echos
(Les Echos echoes the position oh LVMH , its owner, and it is hard to see where PR ends and journalism begins)
What is "patrimoine" when old perfumes cannot be bought online in Paris because of LVMH? (remember my old articles)? Because LVMH forbade the acquisition of vintage Guerlain perfumes in Paris via e-Bay, I had to order them in another European country. As a EU citizen I considered that my rights were to access European Culture were severely "violated", a contradiction with the "patroimoine" echoed this week by LVMH. When old formulae are secret, cannot be studied, the perfume is not reproduced according to the original 1947 recipe, the reformulation is not shown on the packaging, and, worse, what seems to be Miss Dior is actually Miss Dior Chérie....
EU should have in mind that LVMH is still a business considering that "le patrimoine olfactif culturel de l'Europe" = FRANCE. But Europe is not FRANCE. The perfume knows no borders, the cosmetic and perfume industry is not the French monopoly.
LVMH produces exquisite modern perfumes, but hearing them about "patrimoine" is rather funny considering what they did in the past 5 years. They changed even their Miss Dior Chérie, and not because of evil legislation from Bruxelles.
Dior did something that infuriated the whole perfume industry when they began producing their own formula, traditionally belonging to the companies / perfumers who made them. They made a radical change, and that was not "patrimoine". Will the industry support LVMH when the group brought its own idea about "patrimoine"? LVMH has a war to fight, so does Chanel...
The sever change is a phrase in the legislation, this is the real fight with EU.
Paris made a choice, that's how the Trojan War began.
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Fragrance is the 8th Art - Octavian Coifan - Le Parfum est le 8ème Art
