Asian souvenirs translate into French perfume
Asian souvenirs translate into French perfume
PARIS (JP): Although the French perfume industry is by nature dominated by French-born creators, in professional jargon known as "noses", The Jakarta Post interviewed an Asian fashion designer and perfumer who has been a French citizen all his life.
When he was 20-year old, Tan Giudicelli was apprenticed to Christian Dior. He then worked for Jean-Louis Scherrer, Yves Saint Laurent, Nina Ricci, Jacques Heim and Chloe, before becoming the owner of his own fashion line in Paris for 20 years. Of Vietnamese origin, he has been designing the woman's wear line under Claude Brouet of the famous luxury goods House of Hermes for seven years.
Tan, as most people call him, created his first fragrance 20 years ago based on the scent of green and smoked tea found in his native Vietnam, but that fragrance is not produced any longer. A perfectionist, Tan attended the 18-month perfume course of the renowned essence company, Firminich, in Paris to compose the "tea" perfume correctly.
An excellent sense of smell is not the only requisite too composing the complex recipe for a "juice" or basic essence of a perfume. Tan talked to the Post about the creative side of discovering a new fragrance.
JP: How did your country of origin and childhood influence your future profession?
TG: I spent all my childhood and my adolescence in Vietnam and still have vivid souvenirs of the landscape, the materials, the colors, the scents, on which all my creations are based. It was at an early age that I became interested in fashion. I lived with my grandmother who had a silk shop in Hanoi, so I grew up surrounded by fabrics and colors. I do not only create fashion, but I also color fashion.
JP: Fashion and perfume are two related, yet different, processes of creation. What inspired you to create your own perfume?
TG: After practicing haute couture, perfumes came naturally. In actual fact, perfume and color are very, very close. It is a question of sensitivity, of desire, of fleeting moments, of passing feelings. All my perfumes carry names that evoke colors. They all tell stories like my latest one which is called Poupre -- or, I think, scarlet in English.
JP: Why did you name it Poupre, which does mean scarlet in English?
TG: Poupre is an evening perfume, a perfume for grand outings, for gala performances, dressing up. Rather theatrical, but at the same time, very secretive. The color evokes a very feminine, theatrical woman on stage. I like to call my latest perfume a veritable opera of the senses because it is composed of ginger, bergamote, orange flower, musk, and then vanilla, patchouli, ylang-ylang and many varieties of roses; it is a perfume which seduces and is destined for a "velvety" woman, a Goddess of love.
JP: Aren't your perfumes all rather nostalgic affairs?
TG: You might call them nostalgic affairs because it is true that they are aimed at recreating an atmosphere that I experienced in the past. For example Gardenia is a name that I adore, a magnificent flower with a velvety substance, wonderfully white. It is also the souvenir of Billy Holliday whose favorite flower it was. Yes, it is in fact a very nostalgic affair, and not only because I am a very young 60-year-old. It contains Chinese gardenia and Vietnamese jasmine mixed with green notes from the garden. It is a personal souvenir of a very young girl clothed in a white robe in the garden; a desire for purity and at the same time the desire not to trouble that purity and to protect it. I also created a series of amber perfumes, pure Ambre and then Ambre Vanille and Ambre et Mure (amber and raspberry). Again vanilla, which reminds me of childhood, and raspberry which is a wild fruit signaling my wish to return to nature.
JP: Coming back to the very important business aspect of selling the perfumes, why is it that you offer these five last perfumes, apart from the very first Green Tea one which is discontinued, through a mail-order catalog?
TG: Well, I am convinced that mail-order catalogs are the business venues of the future. This specific catalog is a joint venture between the cosmetics firm L'Oreal and Les 3 Suisses which is an established mail-order firm. L'Oreal is the producer of my five perfumes, a fact which guarantees an excellent distribution world-wide, after the French network has been established. I always believe in others marketing my products and am solely preoccupied with the creative side of things. I am very straight-forward and work extremely hard, in a disciplined manner, with no wish to step into the limelight. In fact, that you could interview me is a big exception. I should be working on the next collection for Hermes, but as the interview will be published in Asia, I went ahead.
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Before a new perfume is born, a complex process is set in motion with a basic budget and concept being part of the essential preliminary action. The Post interviewed Christian Astuguevieille, guest Art Director for the new Comme des Garcons perfume, and talked to Adrian Joffe who is the Commercial Director of the Comme des Garcons international company under designer Rei Kawabuko based opposite the Ritz Hotel at the prestigious Place Vendome in Paris.
The development budget for the perfume was relatively modest. It totaled US$1 million and the whole project took 18 months to complete before the launching of the eau de parfume which are exclusively distributed in Comme des Garcons boutiques world- wide.
The first prototype bottles, shaped like large free-form pebbles which cannot stand up, were produced in a series of 40,000. The bottles are delivered in clear-plastic bio-degradable and ecological wrapping which can only be opened once. This is meant to guarantee a genuine perfume ensuring that the buyer has not bought a fake by mistake. It is packaged in a deceptively plain white box.
Rei Kawabuko, the Japanese designer behind Comme des Garcons, had a very definite idea of what her perfume should be. The company ordered "juice" from four different perfume creator firms without mentioning their name in order to obtain the essence closest to her concept, and not what the perfume "noses" thought she might like, i.e. a starkly modern and strong fragrance. Kawabuko stipulated a perfume which is not meant to seduce but to make the wearer herself or himself feel good -- an aromatherapeutic essence composition. The perfume contains at least four essences from Indonesia, sandalwood, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
Young British "nose", Mark Buxton, composed the essence closest to that of the client's concept. Throughout, Christian Astuguvieille guided the concept, development and the presentation of the finished product.
JP: If I remember correctly, a while ago you prepared an exhibition and a room scent to perfume the show space. It was then that you used some vetiver from Java, didn't you?
CA: Yes, the scent was based on a bean from Tonga and vetiver from Java which I find very exciting, but not too dominant in a composition. In fact I have been a constant visitor to Indonesia, especially Jimbaran in Bali for years. This is before the construction of those beautiful, yet too modern hotels for my taste. I associate the odors of Indonesia with nature, and unspoilt nature at that.
JP: Beginning with your experience advising the long established perfume firm of Molinari on their presentation and packaging, you have learnt about composing perfumes, what are your personal tastes in perfume?
CA: I was certainly privileged to learn at first hand about perfumes and help create about 60 simple ones also in the form of creams, but from the start I have been attracted to simple, light and natural scents and fragrances, never complicated, over- powering and too sensual ones.
JP: What was your role in advising the birth of the new Comme des Garcons perfume that contains at least four ingredients from Indonesia?
CA: As the guest art director, my role is restricted to giving advice and not making the final decisions. I would, by the way, advise any young Indonesian who is seriously studying perfume to read the magnificent little introductory book by that extraordinary French "nose", Edmond Roudnitska, called "Perfume".
Basically the process is the following whatever the perfume being created: the client decides about the concept of the perfume, the precise description of what it should evoke and whom it destined for, which means whether it is for a man or a woman, or both and of what age group and social class, perhaps for a 20 to 25-year-old very sporty women, and so on.
JP: What about the actual product development?
CA: The portrait of the unborn perfume and its user is drawn up and images are visualized surrounding the user. Then the budget and range of products are also decided. The concept is given to several "noses" of the firms which produce the above- mentioned "juices" and they begin to work composing the scents and the client tests their results and chose one of the firms with the appropriate "juice" to continue the composition.
The whole process takes at least one year, and generally two to three years, including the research of the perfume itself, followed by the packaging which includes the form of the bottle, the color of the writing and the advertising campaign. The price of the research is not yet mentioned until the "juice" is developed and a marketing firm tests the results on the appropriate group of consumers together with possible names. The most appropriate and appealing name is supremely important. It is only then that the firm of the "nose" chosen are given the detailed instructions as to the price-range of the ingredients and so on. The budget for Commes des Garcons was relatively modest. Through working with Rei and Adrian, I myself learnt a lot; one extraordinary fact being that Japanese normally buy perfumes strictly according to the shape of bottle and packaging, and not the scent itself.
JP: Has the approach changed because the market has truly become international?
CA: Yes, the name for example should be pronounceable by the most varied nationalities possible, besides being catchy and appropriate for the group aimed at. French names, for example, are still acceptable as long as they can be pronounced correctly, shorter names are therefore better. The visuals and advertising campaigns also, together with the text accompanying the launching and the decor boxes used to contain the perfumes in the distribution points; yes, even up to the video spots for television and coordination of the launching and marketing on a global scale which entails even more widely spread market research than before.
The choice of the name Comme des Garcons simplified matters because the image was already there, it was only a matter of defining the perfume during the presentation. The advertising campaign itself was very discrete and esthetic as you can judge by the press kit prepared by Joffe with its poems and beautiful photography of the ingredients or symbols in huge dimensions of approximately one meter by half a meter.
JP: Where is the scent available in Asia?
CA: As Adrian Joffe just told us, it is only distributed in Comme des Garcons boutiques, so the nearest buying point would be Singapore for Indonesia, though Joffe did also mention a boutique in Bali that carries the range of Comme des Garcons shirts and blouses. Hong Kong and Tokyo are of course also full of boutiques like Joyce's in Hong Kong where one can buy the eau de parfum. The New York launching of the smaller bottles is taking place soon. I am satisfied that the perfume is on its way to being a huge success and that many people, men included, are going to enjoy it and not only for its bottle as often is the case in Japan.
-- Kunang Helmi-Picard