June 2009 Archives

We're still living in a hotel (and out of our suitcases) with a few more days until the moving truck arrives, so we're not back to our full routines yet, but below are a couple of random photos from what will be our new neighborhood:

1. The Pike Place Market sign -- a Seattle city landmark:

2. A flower vendor setting up shop in the morning in the market -- I arrived before 10 a.m., that magic hour when everything is fully up and running, so I'll have to go back and get some more photos of the flower vendors when all their goods are out on the tables, because it's quite a sight (not to mention the concentration of floral scents wafting through the air):

3. Fresh market fruits and vegetables!

4. Fresh breads!

I'm honestly looking forward to stumbling out of bed every morning and doing my grocery shopping for the day -- our new place is only about two blocks from the market itself, which is full of locally grown vegetables, fruits and fresh baked breads, plus fresh cheeses, meats and seafood.

5. And I had to introduce you all to my new favorite thing in the world -- chocolate filled figs dipped in dark chocolate (!) from Fran's Chocolates.

Fran's is a regional chocolatier with a boutique in the Four Seasons Hotel, conveniently located only a few blocks from the Market itself. They make great espresso, and their chocolate is deep, dark and slightly bitter, just the way a good chocolate should be:

I sent Marin an order of Fran's chocolates (including the figs) as a late birthday present (her birthday was this past Sunday and I missed it because we were still on the road). She'll have to fill you in on what she thinks of them when they arrive at her office.

6. Another architecture shot from the neighborhood:

There are actual people that live here (for real!) -- I just never seem to include any of them in my photographs.

OFF TOPIC (but absolutely necessary for your continued survival):

10 Looks From Men's Fashion Week You Don't Want to Try At Home -- seriously.

The road trip ended yesterday with our arrival in Seattle. It was cloudy and chilly, which is standard fare for Seattle weather, and a great relief after the intense heat we'd experienced through the Dallas to Scottsdale to Las Vegas to Boise portion of the journey.

I have a few extra photos to share, and while they have no particular theme, they trace the last legs of the trip.

1. Desert landscape between Las Vegas, Nevada and Boise, Idaho:

2. The skies grew progressively cloudier:

3. Coffee in Boise:

4. Abandoned silos between Boise and Seattle:

5. And finally, home sweet home:

The BF and I are still recovering from the trip, and our furniture has yet to show up, so next week will likely prove to be just as chaotic, but at least we're finished with the Cramming Ourselves Into a Vehicle and Driving Like H*ll part.

I'm looking forward to taking photos of perfume bottles again . . . maybe soon?

The Wynn Hotel is my favorite hotel/casino in Vegas -- much of the decorative elements and color schemes are said to have been inspired by paintings in casino mogul Steve Wynn's personal art collection (he's partial to Picasso).

And they have great restaurants, too.

Some detail shots from the mosaic tile patterns in the lobby floor of the Wynn, plus a few uber-whimsical lighting elements:

And I'd be a poor luxury blogger if I didn't include a photo of the Chanel boutique window in the retail shopping promenade -- Chanel had by far the best displays:

The luxury shops in the hotel's promenade were all struggling, with lonely sales clerks looking forlornly through the glass windows as tourists strolled past. Several boutiques where I stopped in had significantly more items on sale than what they offered at regular price.

The BF and I remarked to each other that we don't know how the luxury industry can survive such drastic markdowns on such a large quantity of merchandise. It sucks all the air of desirability out of, say, a Zac Posen, a Narciso Rodriguez or a Roland Mouret when you see racks of their dresses on sale for 60% off.

The only stores at the Wynn where I didn't see sale signs were Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton and Hermes. I didn't see any customers in their shops, either, but hey -- who am I to judge?

It was 99 degrees (fahrenheit) yesterday, but I had the brilliant idea of going outside to see if I could grab some photos. That didn't last long.

I did, however, manage to capture some photos of the ongoing construction of the troubled City Center project that's been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for the past six months:

And we're walking, we're walking:

To the quietly unassuming 7th Gate of Hell -- Cerebrus is apparently on lunch break:

This must be where all the heat is coming from.

When we drove past Hoover Dam in February, they were only this far on the new bridge:

They've made a lot of progress in almost five months:

And because my favorite things to take photos of while on a trip are odd architectural elements, here are some more random snaps from Hoover Dam:

I would have gotten out of the car and taken some photos that were a little more detailed, but it was nearly 100 degrees outside, so . . . nuts to that!

One thing I found kind of alarming -- take a look at the water level in the reservoir (Lake Mead). The white band on the mountain sides shows how high the water level was behind the dam for a very long time:

There's speculation that Lake Mead will run out of water by 2021: "The lake created by Hoover Dam provides 90% of Las Vegas' water and is less than half full, giving the edge of the lake a bath tub ring visible even far away by air."

You may as well go out with an artery clogging bang:

Their french fries are cooked in pure lard. I'm trying to imagine just how glorious that probably is.

The website is bizarrely hilarious -- the restaurant offers Jolt Cola and non-filter cigarettes as part of their menu, and if you're over 350 pounds, you eat for free: The Heart Attack Grill

Related: the Sasquatch burger (now known as the Kookamonga). Seven and a half pounds of hambuger. If you can eat it in 60 minutes, you get your picture placed in their Hall of Fame, but if you can't finish it, you're forever enshrined in the Hall of Shame.

As of April 30, 2009, one thousand nine hundred and forty six attempts have been made to conquer the Kookamonga -- only five have emerged victorious.

***Note: You see what happens when I go on a road trip? I start blogging about hamburgers and fries . . .

This is not my beautiful life:

Here's where we get to the "Do we really need this?" part of the packing extravaganza. Fortunately, we leave tomorrow morning, otherwise we'd probably just toss the entire contents of the condo down the garbage chute and feel like we accomplished something very wise and definitive.

Definitive, yes, but wise? I'm still internally debating.

We're leasing a condo again instead of buying, so this scenario is likely to be repeated too soon for comfort. In better news, the FedEx site tells me that my seven boxes of perfume bottles arrived safe and sound in Seattle (my friend Louise has promised to lovingly watch over them until we can be reunited).

"Reunited and it feeeels so goooooood . . . "

Here's hoping the bottles didn't break and/or leak everywhere and all over everything in transit . . . or that delivery truck would have cruised up the driveway towing some serious sillage!

So we're boxing up all our stuff for the big move later this week, and I'm clattering down the stairs with yet another armload of "Do we keep this or throw it out?" possessions to run past the BF for his yay or nay when I suddenly realize that I'm being stared at. Through the windows. By a great big bird.

I freeze at the landing and stare back, a little intimidated, because even though there's a wall of glass between me and it, the creature perched on our balcony railing has razor sharp claws, a hooked beak and a beady glare that undoubtedly haunts the nightmares of little fluffy mammals.

"B-b-b-Brian!" I yell. "There's a huge bird hanging out on our balcony!" Which is notable because we're 27 storeys up from the ground, making visitations from wildlife a very rare occurrence. I mean, there are the occasional drunk hotel guests that spill out of the elevator at the wrong floor, but that's not the kind of wildlife I'm talking about.

The BF saunters out of his office and walks over to where I'm standing, frozen, at the bottom of the stairs, my arms full of yay or nay. "Oh, cool, is that a golden eagle or a hawk?" he asks, and I realize that I'm so out of touch with nature (27 storeys up, remember?) that I really don't know.

Lessee, Golden Eagle: "This powerful eagle is North America's largest bird of prey and the national bird of Mexico. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their heads and necks . . . (and) has a wingspan averaging over 2 m (7 ft) and up to 1 m (3 ft) in body length."

Hmmm, the bird so casually lounging about on our balcony is big, but not quite that big, and it has more contrast in its coloring.

So maybe it's a hawk (or, more specifically, a Red Tailed Hawk -- I got that info from an astute Twitter pal): "Though the markings and hue vary, the basic appearance of the Red-tailed Hawk is consistent. The underbelly is lighter than the back and a dark brown band across the belly, formed by vertical streaks in feather patterning, is present in most color variations. The red tail, which gives this species its name, is uniformly brick-red above and pink below. The bill is short and dark, in the hooked shape characteristic of raptors. The cere, the legs, and the feet of the Red-tailed Hawk are all yellow."

Yep, that's our bird, and it's apparently so blase about the appearance of two human beings standing actually fairly near to it and gaping, that it decides now is the best time to do a little spring cleaning:

"I hate it when I dribble soup on my bib."

Nuthin' up my sleeve!"

"And now I'm totally ready for my photo shoot -- you may proceed."

The hawk stuck around for several hours, indifferent to our comings and goings around the house, only occasionally turning to stare again through the glass if we made any particularly exaggerated movements. I think it was actually just seeking shelter from the Dallas sun -- it's already hitting around 100 degrees during the day, and it held its wings partially outstretched to catch some of the breeze that was blowing across the balcony.

It also did one curious pose that I've never seen a bird do before -- holding out one leg in front of it as it balances on the balcony railing:

And it stayed like that for quite some time:

I kept thinking that my inching up closer to it and snapping photos was going to make it fly away, but the bird couldn't have been less fazed by me and my camera. I, however, was plenty fazed by those claws . . .

***Note: the first two photos have some glare and streaking/spotting from the window glass that I was shooting through -- one disadvantage of high-rise living is that you have to wait for the building management to hire window cleaners, and that doesn't happen very often. I went around to the other side of the balcony and stood outside to take the rest of the photos, prepared to beat a hasty retreat should the hawk have decided I was a nuisance to be dealt with.

UPDATE (06/20/09):

The infamous Louise was managing our furniture move-out on Friday when she and the movers saw the hawk hanging out on the balcony railing again. I received a barrage of excited IM's about how stunning the hawk is, and that all the movers were taking photos with their cellphone cameras because they couldn't believe they were seeing such a wild, beautiful bird so up-close and personal.

In my ongoing saga of "Hmmm, perhaps I need to rethink that opinion", along comes Solange Cosmic, a luxury fragrance created by perfumer Lyn Harris (of Miller-Harris fame) for London/New York jeweler Solange Azagury-Partridge.

Cosmic is the second fragrance crafted for the Solange brand, following Stoned, a sweet, powdery perfume that smells like money in a pair of high-heeled strappy sandals and allegedly containing ground diamond dust for that extra special jolt of exclusivity. I ragged on Stoned initially, yet felt compelled to change my tune once I introduced it to a powder-loving friend who went nuts for its smooth, soft and supremely feminine wiles.

"Okay," I thought at the time, "I'm obviously not the Solange Stoned target market, so I need to keep in mind that just because I wouldn't wear it myself doesn't mean its a bad perfume." That particular experience with Stoned helped me gain a better perspective on uber-feminine fragrances as a whole.

And then there was Cosmic.

Cosmic's claim to specialized fame is ground meteorite dust in the bottle instead of the diamond dust found in Stoned (Solange is a jeweler, after all, so some kind of rock or stone ground-up and included in the mix makes sense in an abstract kind of way), and if that's your kind of thing, then woo-hoo! You've finally found your olfactory match made in heaven (literally -- or in Lyn Harris' basement, whatever the case may be), but ground meteorite dust is the least of what's interesting about Cosmic.

The box itself is a pleasant enough gleaming silver on the outside with its angular star logo and a clear stone serving as the "o" in "cosmic", but as you'll be able to see from the following photo, there was a complete lack of attention paid to the interior, with no stabilizing or support material included for the bottle during transit, with the unfortunate result of the bottle banging around inside the box during shipment.

Once you're able to wrench your eyes off the bottle itself (which is beautiful, I know!), note the dents and scrapes in the box's interior:

Another unfortunate side effect of the lack of stabilizing material -- I was standing up when I opened the box, and the heavy bottle tipped right over the shallow box-edge to plunge to the floor, banging and clattering across the stone tiles.

I think my scream was even in slow motion.

Thank god the bottle wasn't made of fragile glass, or I'd of been cleaning that up for a week, but the bottle for Cosmic is tough -- it merely dented and scratched where other lesser models would have shattered upon impact. The heavy durability of the thing makes it a bit more awkward to grasp and hold, but you certainly don't need to worry about breaking it . . . ever. I have half a suspicion it was co-designed by NASA to survive atmospheric reentry.

The "cosmic" theme is overtly represented in jutting, repeating star shapes that comprise the shell of the bottle, with the neck and cap pushing upward (or outward, depending upon the angle of the bottle) to resemble a single shooting star. The bottle is silver, reflective, gleaming and cool as deep space -- it's also severely pointy and sharp, which could make for a very effective self-defense weapon should you be caught in the middle of a home-invasion with only your perfume collection to save you. #1) Spray the burglar in the eyes with the perfume; #2) Bean him over the head with the bottle; #3) Call the police.

As for the fragrance itself, I've gone round and round in my head about how to possibly describe it. Here's a brief snatch of an SMS conversation I had with Marin just last night:

ME: I've been wearing Solange Cosmic for the last week. It's fascinating and weird and I'm not sure I can adequately describe it. I can post photos, but the accompanying text will be composed of mostly "Uhhhh" and "Uhmmmm" . . .

MARIN: I like "Uhhh".

ME: How else do I describe something I can't stop wearing yet have no ready phrases to summate?

MARIN: Ooooh . . . that's actually pretty good right there.

ME: Cosmic makes me think of Luca Turin's snooty "It's luxury, not chic!" comment because Cosmic smells like luxury, yet odd and avant-garde at the same time. Is that even possible?

MARIN: Anything is possible. Weird, but possible. Improbable, but possible.

And so on.

Listed fragrance notes for Solange Cosmic are: bergamot, galbanum, rose, jasmine absolute, iris absolute, patchouli, vetiver, labdanum, opoponax, myrrh and vanilla. The first three hours are where it's whacky and strangely wonderful -- the powdery iris absolute is distinctly present, along with a candy-ish vanilla, but the more chilly and vaguely sour elements of myrrh, opoponax and galbanum do the tango with the sweeter materials in the mix to create a sort of leather-lite scent, as if Solange Cosmic lives half its existence as a version of Serge Lutens Cuir Mauresque for the candy-floss crowd.

I know -- strange. But it's also the first time I've encountered that leathery scent in a mix and didn't want to run screaming from it. The interplay here of sweet and sour is what keeps me so interested and on the edge of my seat.

Once past the first three hours (or so), Cosmic drops registers and transforms into one of the most attractive resinous drydowns I've ever had the pleasure to experience, with the dramatic tension throughout the first half entirely worth the resolution. In fact, the drydown of Cosmic reminds me a lot of that softly sweet, woods & incense mid-phase to Andy Tauer's Une Rose Chpree that I said I wished I could bottle all on its own. Well, now that I have Solange Cosmic, I don't have to just wish anymore.

Longevity is excellent (8+ hours, with the majority of the time spent on patchouli and resins, like a meteor that flares its way through the atmosphere and then cools down for the rest of the trip), and despite its richness and potency, Cosmic wears very close to the skin. I was initially concerned, from its notes list and heady opening, that it would fill a room and choke out all the air if I wasn't careful, but even after generous application (six sprays of EDP), the scent was noticeable on me, but not overpowering in my environment (even on an elevator, which I've used several times while wearing Cosmic).

So despite my introductory mishap with the bottle (and the people at Lucky Scent very generously replaced the bottle for me, even though they had nothing to do with what I felt was a less than fully considered packaging design), I'm glad I took the opportunity to rethink my position regarding Solange, and especially Solange Cosmic.

I likely have my peers at POL to thank for helping me wrap my brain around fragrances that initially seem foreign and/or bizzare to me, and especially regular reader/commenter Tara, who can usually get me to revisit a position should I come down harshly on a fragrance and she replies with a comment that she likes it (as happened with Cosmic).

1.) The Problem with Luxury:
"If you want to hazard a guess at which luxury brand might be next to stumble, take a quick spin around the second or third floors of New York City's Bergdorf Goodman department store. There you will find racks upon racks -- sometimes, entire collections -- of designs by Marc Jacobs, Chanel, Dior, Armani, Thakoon and Alberta Ferretti marked down 40%. What's impressive is not only the steep markdowns, but also the sheer volume of merchandise that remains. In some cases, every size of a silhouette is still available, indicating that not a single shopper bought the look."

The article goes on to note that sales figures for Neiman Marcus and Saks are down 27% and 26.7% (respectively) while luxury brands are busy shaking up their creative and management teams, with CEO's and designers in and out so fast that I'm getting a severe case of whiplash just trying to keep up with the shuffle.

For example: designer Esteban Cortazar has been shown the door after less than two years at Emanuel Ungaro; only days after di Risio stepped down as CEO of Versace, former Jil Sander CEO Gian Giacomo Ferraris was named as his replacement; Kim Winser, CEO of Aquascutum, departed after her buyout bid was rejected by the Japanese company that owns Aquascutum, with the company now shopping Aquascutum around to other, deeper pockets; and just last week, it was rumored that Karl Lagerfeld was stepping down as head designer from Chanel to be replaced by Lanvin's Alber Elbaz who would be replaced by Olivier Theyskens who was just recently ousted as head designer for Nina Ricci. My, but that was a mouthful.

Chanel and Lanvin spokespeople quickly issued statements quashing that particular rumor. Thank god.

Meanwhile, Eddie Bauer may file for bankruptcy protection: "the U.S. outdoor-clothing chain may seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions . . . Eddie Bauer, which opened its first sporting goods store in Seattle in 1920, has reported annual losses for the past three years. The Bellevue, Washington-based company operates about 370 stores in the U.S. and Canada. No final decision has been made about a bankruptcy filing."

2.) Speaking of Neiman Marcus and its Dismal Sales Numbers:
"For the Neiman Marcus Group, there's no shortcut out of the recession. 'We don't believe it will end until sometime in 2010,' Neiman's president and chief executive officer Burt Tansky said . . . The Dallas-based Neiman's, once thought impervious to downturns, has been reeling as much as any retailer under the weight of the recession ... The outlook isn't rosy: 'We are expecting current trends to continue and expect to see our inventories continue to adjust down over the next several quarters," the executive said.'

The Women's Wear Daily article dishes the details on the Neiman recovery plan, including salary and staff cuts, inventory reductions (by as much as 25%), shifting focus from high-end items to more mid-price designer brands and items, postponing new store openings (though the September opening of the store in Bellevue, Washington will proceed), and consolidating departments and management teams.

Mr. Tansky gives the impression that Neiman Marcus is hunkering down for a long, drawn-out battle with the economy. He's optimistic that they'll survive as a company, but they'll have a different focus and a much leaner structure as the changes go into effect.

The below clip is probably the last of its kind you'll see produced as a Neiman ad campaign -- it's frivolous, whimsical, giggly and jarringly out of step with the present cultural/economic mood. No wonder their sales are tanking:

In related news, Neiman competitor Saks Fifth Avenue shelled out some serious cash for a sleek new look for its top tier designer brand showroom: "Construction on a renovated, bronze-trimmed, artistically detailed third level at Saks' Manhattan flagship is nearing completion ... It's also undoubtedly been among the most expensive selling floors to create. Industry sources estimated the cost of the project at north of $30 million . . . With the luxury sector among those hardest hit by the recession, Saks is shifting its designer assortment so that its top tier, designated as "best," will eventually account for 25% of the chain's total volume, from the current 33%. The "better" and "good" price zones will account for roughly 75% of the offering. It's more about getting designers to lower their prices than eliminating labels entirely, Saks officials said."

Does it really make sense to lay out $30 million to showcase merchandise that will be contributing an estimated 8% less to the company's bottom line? There was a mention that Saks will now start carrying Chanel Ready-to-Wear for the first time, and that Chanel had a good amount of say in where their storefront would be placed and how it would look, so maybe it's all about luring customers in to see the beautiful clothes (that they won't buy) where they will then be distracted by the beautiful shoes, bags and cosmetics (that they hopefully will buy). "'Will you walk into my parlor?' said the spider to the fly" . . . or, you can catch more flies with honey.

The Wall Street Journal even notes that brands are adjusting their mindset regarding product lineup and pricing: "Below the elevated sphere of Hermès International and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, nearly every apparel retailer is reducing the price of nonsale items. Coach has adapted its product mix to achieve a 10% to 15% reduction in unit prices next fiscal year. Abercrombie & Fitch in May also announced "meaningful" price reductions. . . . Morgan Stanley's Michelle Clark estimates fall merchandise orders for department stores are down 10% to 20%, with luxury retailers cutting the most."

More here: "'The luxury consumer now wants to understand why the price is what it is,' said Michael Fink, a consultant in New York and former women's fashion director for Saks. 'It's not going to return to the hype and the waiting lists" for designer goods' . . . 'It has definitely made us all reconsider what we're doing, how we're doing it, and who we are trying to reach as a customer,' designer (Vera) Wang said at a May 20 event in New York. 'In a way, it has been a reality check for all of us.'"

In related news, market research specialist and Bain & Co partner Claudia D'Arpizio spoke at a Global Luxury Summit recently and stated that brands that have their own stand-alone boutiques will fare better than brands that are dependent on chain stores and department stores to sell their goods: "In general, whoever has stronger control of their retail network is well-equipped now to react to this,' D'Arpizio said, since 'you have in your hands all the levers to really understand how the consumers are changing' . . . D'Arpizio, who studies the global luxury market from Milan, expects sales of luxury goods -- including high-end handbags, jewelry and clothing -- to fall 10 percent this year after being flat last year."

One luxury retailer that's bucking the downward trend is Harrod's of London: "Harrods has seen an influx of shoppers from the Middle East, China, India and some former Soviet states, whose currencies have strengthened against the pound, giving them more to spend . . . 'Local shoppers are reining in spending, but as long as you have wealthy tourists coming in, Harrods will benefit,' Sandra Halliday, global managing editor at fashion forecaster WGSN said in a telephone interview. 'In uncertain times you want the certainty of names people have heard of.'"

In other words, established designer names = cash register *kaching!*

Video clip below that gives a brief overview of Harrods:

3.) Somebody at Sephora Needs a Better Proofreader:

Please explain to me again how perfume pencils can be 100% fragrance free? I'm a little confused on the concept . . . (thanks to Marin for the tip).

4.) The Sweet Smell of an Industry in Turmoil:
"While department store sales of beauty products fell 3% in dollars in 2008 ... the decline was most profound in the fragrance industry, according to NPD Group, a market research firm . . . The drop is even more notable when the rise in fragrance prices is taken into account, said Allan Mottus, an industry analyst, who estimates that unit sales dropped 10 to 12 percent last year. It's like the movie industry, where a jump in ticket prices obscures a drop in the number of tickets sold. Among the losers? Those celebrity scents, which fell around 20%."

The author of the article notes that the decline in sales is even worse when you take into account that new fragrance launches (combining mainstream and niche) were topping 1,000 a year as of the end of 2008 -- that's about 3 new fragrance releases a day -- but that 2009 has seen a slowdown in the number of fragrances launched onto the market. An analyst with NPD correlated the decline in sales with the increase in light, sheer perfumes -- if it doesn't really smell like much, then why waste your money on it? On the other hand, sales of fragrances $100 and more increased by 10% in the first quarter of 2009, so the high-end seems to be holding its own. More Chanel Les Exclusifs, please!

And since we're on the topic of more fragrance releases than the market can reasonably handle: Tom Ford's Softer Side: White Musk -- "While Ford honed in on musk as the linchpin of the collection, he also aimed to offer a varied take on the theme. 'Musk is an ingredient I've loved for a long time,' he said, adding the note was in vogue in the Seventies. 'When mixed with other ingredients, it gives another tone that's animalic; there's warmth and a sensuality that's like skin. I think it makes things smell more human.'"

Ford's White Musk will be a four fragrance series added to his already extensive Private Blend collection. Ford admitted that his existing fragrances are on the darker, deeper side, so he wanted to add products that would appeal to the consumer searching for a softer, more feminine fragrance. The bottles will be white and gold instead of his already existing black and gold palette that he presently uses for his Private Blend series -- "'I wanted [the brand] to be perceived more as a fragrance house than as designer fragrances,' said Ford of his decision to tweak Private Blend's existing flacons for the White Musk Collection. 'I was careful to choose a bottle architecture that would create a unified statement.'"

Photo of bottles for the upcoming Ford White Musk series below (from WWD):

5.) Hermes Braces Itself for the Uncertain Future:
"The world's second-largest luxury goods group in terms of market value behind LVMH said it had postponed the opening of two shops in China and two leather goods plants in France . . . (CEO Patrick) Thomas said its stores continued to perform well, except in Japan, and that the wholesale business, which made up 20% of turnover, continued to suffer, particularly in the tableware and watch units, as retailers kept inventories low . . . But the wholesale perfume business was starting to recover, he said, as stocks were starting to run out."

Mr. Thomas states that he believes the present downturn in the luxury market will last over two years before we begin to see a recovery, and that Hermes would likely experience a profit margin of 0-1% for 2009 as opposed to the 25% profit margin in 2008.

Is a brand still considered desirable when demand for its product is flat?

And about those watches: "The Swiss watch industry has cut more jobs as the global financial crisis begins to have an increasing impact . . . Zenith has slashed 70 jobs out of 250, following 24 job losses in January ... Franck Muller of Geneva, cut almost a half of its workforce last week, shedding 200 jobs out of 428 ... (and) Metalor, which specialises in precious metals, is to cut 50 out of its current 457 jobs in its division that supplies the watchmaking industry."

6.) Comme de Garcons Turns 40:
"'I really felt that I was on my own,' Ms. Kawakubo says. 'I never felt my work had anything to do with being a woman. I am not a feminist. I was never interested in any movement as such. I just decided to make a company built around creation, and with creation as my sword, I could fight the battles I wanted to fight' . . . 'It is true to say that I 'design' the company, not just clothes,' Ms. Kawakubo says. 'Creation does not end with just the clothes. New interesting business ideas, revolutionary retail strategies, unexpected collaborations, nurturing of in-house talent, all are examples of Comme des Garçon's creation.'"

The Comme de Garcons perfume brand alone brought in almost $5 million for the brand in 2008. A video clip below from the Comme des Garcons Spring/Summer 2009 collection:

7.) Luca Turin Makes For a Snooty Dictionary:
"A rich, tasteful fragrance sauntered by one evening on long legs. I was at a Fragonard party in Paris with the perfume expert Luca Turin, and he shrugged it off. 'Luxury scent,' he said. 'Not chic.' . . . 'What is chic?' I asked. He said, 'Um,' and squinted at the ceiling as if the definition were written up there. 'Chic,' he finally said, 'is when you don't have to prove you have money. Chic is not aspirational. Chic is all about humor, which means chic is about intelligence.' Then he added: 'And there has to be oddness. Luxury is comfortable, expensive and conformist. But chic, which, of course, must be polite and not incommode others, can be as weird as it wants.'

Dictionary definition of chic:

In this instance, Turin resembles Karl Lagerfeld wrinkling his nose at the thought of Heidi Klum as a model, saying she's bourgeois and too fat for the runway: "She is no runway model. Heidi Klum is simply too heavy and has too big a bust. And she always grins so stupidly. That is not avant-garde - that is commercial."

I don't have a problem with commercial fragrances if they smell good. I'll take an attractive, aspirational fragrance over cheap and harsh any day. Besides, wouldn't the fashion industry be a more consumer-friendly endeavor if it employed more Heidi Klums and less Naomi Campbells?

8.) These New Pearls Just Aint What They Used to Be:
"The cultured pearl empire created by Kokichi Mikimoto has had a run of over one hundred years but now the decrease in jewelry sales and the rise of the pearl industry in China is changing things . . . Growers who have been cultivating pearls for years are considering getting out of the industry. Pearl farms are closing down as the market shifts . . . In China, growers have had great success in cultivating pearls that can be as big and round as the prized Japanese akoya pearls. China has 50 times Japan's pearl production capacity and can flood the market with cheaper pearls. Japan is also facing competition from South Sea and Tahitian pearls."

The Japanese pearl industry produces one-fifth the revenue it did in the 1990's, but the pearl industry as a whole suffers not just from over-supply and a decrease in jewelry sales due to the present recession, but also from the reputation of pearls as a traditional (i.e. stuffy, old-fashioned) gem. A video clip below from the Japanese cultured pearl industry:

9.) The Bigger Picture for Fashion:
"Part of the problem is over-capacity--there's just too much stuff around. We have our It Bags and Manolos. Indeed, we're exhausted by the very thought of them . . . At the same time, a great many people in the fashion world would share the photographer Horst's view that "fashion is a universe full of art and excess where no one thought of the outside world," ... This may be why many designers do not know how to fully relate the Internet to fashion-imaginatively. I mean only that it took radio roughly 40 years to reach 50 million people, while it took the Internet just 4 years to reach the same number of people."

My own experience with ordering the Chanel Les Exlusifs from the Chanel website gave me a glimpse of how a luxury brand can embrace the Internet without cheapening its hard-won image or its reputation for service, so there is hope in that respect, but regarding the luxury over-capacity? That's going to be a more difficult hurdle to overcome.

For example: Commodity luxury hurts sector near-term -- "Beyond the global financial meltdown that has sapped the portfolios of many of the wealthy, the luxury sector itself is to blame for the sharp downturn in spending on pricey goods, due to the preponderance of brands selling a myriad of items that have diluted the cache of the notion of luxury . . . 'There are too many brands participating in luxury handbags, there are too many brands participating in luxury ready-to-wear, luxury watches, luxury jewelry, and the service has been less than optimal, to put it nicely,' Pedraza said at the Reuters Global Luxury Summit in New York."

When every luxury brand sells limited-edition watches, special edition bags and super exclusive jewelry pieces, then none of these terms holds any meaning. Rather than focusing on what a particular brand was good at, they each jumped on every available consumer bandwagon, resulting in a glut of perfumes, cosmetics, shoes, bags, sunglasses, jewelry, clothing and timepieces, slapped with logos and increasingly blinged-out just to attract attention in such a cluttered market.

The noise I keep reading from analysts, pundits and actual industry members is that the recession will clear the field of extraneous brands and goods (after a couple of years of serious clearance sales), with the remaining players rebooting their business models and moving back into what made their brands special in the first place -- quality materials, superior workmanship, exemplary design. In the meantime, we're drowning in bags, shoes, clothing, sunglasses and pearls.

My solution is a to pick up a bucket and start bailing. Prices for quality goods are getting lower by the month as companies struggle to liquidate excess inventory (the presence of more goods than there is demand for the goods results in a temporary deflation in the form of discount sales). I just snagged a great Chloe tote for my sister -- I'll put it aside in a closet and give it to her at Christmas. It's a beautiful red matte leather with solid hardware, streamlined detailing and not a stitch out of place. It was 65% off the original price, so instead of it being a genuinely nice but way overpriced bag, it's a genuinely nice and maybe even a little under-priced bag. Score!

Update: Prada just announced that it rebuffed investor overtures this past week, refusing to sell a stake in the company for cash the way that Roberto Cavalli just recently sold a chunk of his company for investor cash -- and then had to agree to turn over control to management outside the family.

#1) This could mean that Prada is healthy and doesn't need the investor cash to survive (they just recently opened a new boutique in Madrid; or #2) they're trumpeting their refusal of the investment as a means of ginning up interest in bigger offers from bigger fish. I mean, it is Prada itself that's making this announcement, and it's not like anybody was asking.

It's almost a shame to have to follow the Chanel Sycomore pictorial spread with Six Scents No. 4. It's not that Six Scents No. 4 is bad (au contraire!), but its visual presentation resources are limited when compared to the might of the House of Chanel.

One thing that Six Scents No. 4 does have going for it, however, is its artistic director, Gareth Pugh:

It's a bird! It's a bat! It's a . . . Pugh?

Pugh has been a highlight on the London fashion scene ever since his first solo show during London's Fashion Week in the fall of 2006. His designs are whacked-out, space-age and post-apocalyptic by turns, and you can see a lot of referencing of the dark, edgy years of Thatcher's England when New Wave and Industrial sensibilities collided head-on to result in an explosion of glamorously bleak Goth-Pop creativity.

The packaging for Six Scents No. 4, art-directed by Pugh as part of an ongoing collaboration between Seven New York, Symrise and Metaproject, is a terrific representation of Pugh's future-goth sensibilities.

This dark undercurrent that flows through Pugh's work is risky in a commercial sense (not everyone grooves to the beat of the Goth Punk drummer), but LVMH just recently took the plunge and provided funding for Pugh's future shows, with rumors swirling that Gareth will be named head designer for Dior Homme, a critically acclaimed menswear line that has yet to turn a profit. LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault must be thinking that Pugh has his finger firmly on the pulse of the 80's resurrection.

But that's not to say that Gareth Pugh is entirely derivative (that's a title reserved for Marc Jacobs, thank you very much, though Jacobs does it with such aplomb that it's almost loveable). Pugh is definitely a product of his Post-Punk generation -- there isn't a flower child, flared jeaned, corduroy blazered bone in his body (which is a relief, really, as I wasn't looking forward to a resurgence of photo print polyester on the runway).

Okay, so getting back to Six Scents No. 4. The cover image is pure pop art, and when you open the box, you get a look at the exceptionally clean, stylized Six Scents logo:

You also get an artsy fartsy booklet that blurbs about the organizations involved in the creation of the Six Scents series, plus a single page description of each of the six scents in the series -- though I'd actually label the booklet fartsy more than artsy. There's some logo and font work, plus a lot of fluffy text, but nothing in the way of overt visual presentation; rather, it reads more like the credits at the end of a movie:

And that's pretty much where the packaging fun stops. The bottle? Oh, well, it's certainly not Chanel. Sad to say, but Mr. Pugh was obviously not involved in the selection of the bottle, since it's a fairly standard issue squared glass flacon with yet another standard issue aluminum cap and nozzle.

I mean, it's okay, with some decent screen printing on the glass, but the flacon is criminally bland when you stop to consider that the Six Scents series is artistically directed by some of the freshest, hottest faces in global fashion design today: Alexander Herchcovitch, Bernhard Willhelm, Yukinori Maeda, Gareth Pugh, Jeremy Scott and Preen (Justin Thornton & Thea Bregazzi). I understand that the intent was to keep the price point for the series low enough for people to want to collect all six, but it winds up leaving the impression that modern fashion designers are pale, cheap imitations of their forebears.

But what about the scent itself? Ah yes, the scent (created by perfumer Emilie Copperman in collaboration with Mr. Pugh). I previously wrote a review of Six Scents No. 4 back in April (of 2008): "The PR copy goes into some overwrought blah blah blah about ambiguity, duality and "a struggle between lightness and darkness." Whatever. It smells like warm skin; the kind you cuddle up to at the end of the day -- unless you're too cool for sissy cuddling, and then I guess you're left with the whole ambiguity and duality thing."

Listed fragrance notes are: dill, black pepper, nutmeg, palissander (aka rosewood), black tea, amyris, white amber and musk. The intro is pure dill weed, followed by a quick rush of dusty cinnamon with a pinch of that smooth rosewood goodness (the nutmeg is responsible for the dustiness, while the white amber in the base serves to bolster the rosewood's natural sweetness). This sweet and sour, light and musty interplay carries throughout the entire life span of the scent until it wraps itself up on a pleasantly fresh, clean musk note that's underscored by the smell of dry, sugared wood dust.

I like! It's one of the few scents I know that finishes up fresher, sweeter and cleaner than how it opened. I think this flipped-around approach to perfumery is the Pugh touch in action.

Longevity is good (around 8 hours or so) providing you apply generously. I didn't get much of anything out of it until I doused myself with about 10 sprays from the nozzle. This is likely due to it being an EDT formulation (much like the Chanel Sycomore, which is also an EDT and also required generous application in order to experience it properly), but don't worry, you won't be gassing out the entire room -- No. 4 is a very light, herbal-centric fragrance, and it wears very closely to the skin.

Six Scents No. 4 is promoted as part of a "limited edition" series with part of the proceeds to go to a charitable organization -- there's even a signed card that comes with the package letting you know what number in the series you purchased (mine is 638 out of 2,000). Now, 2,000 bottles of anything isn't particularly "limited edition" in any genuine sense of the term, but it's not Wal-Mart quantity either, so I'll let them have it on a technicality; however, when you go on to realize that the entire series is "limited" to 12,000 bottles, well . . . the card makes me giggle a little, until I look at this:

"Agh! Okay, no more laughing, I swear, don't hurt me!"

You can find the Six Scents series online at Lucky Scent.

*(photos of Six Scents No. 4 by Nathan Branch ©2009)

The Chanel Les Exclusifs series, released in 2007, was originally only available in Chanel boutiques and at Chanel counters in department stores like Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus (hence the "Les Exclusifs" monkier), but with market forces the way they now are (i.e. horrible), Chanel has made its entire Les Exclusifs series available online.

I took a brief test spin of the Chanel Sycomore almost a year ago, and this is what I said about it then: "The name Sycomore can be ascribed to three different types of tree -- the Middle Eastern/Northern African fig tree, the European maple and the North American plane tree, but as far as references are concerned, I would say that Chanel Sycomore leans in the direction of the Middle East fig, with its incense-smoke undertone, layers of dry grasses and the faint, pulpy fruit notes peering from around the edges."

But now that the Les Exclusifs series is available for internet order, I decided to take the plunge and order one of the honkin' 200ml bottles for a closer examination of the packaging and the scent itself.

First, the packaging:

Karl Lagerfeld is famous for his disapproval of luxury goods for sale on the internet, believing that it cheapens the brand by removing the products from the carefully calculated luxury experience of the boutique environment. Well, there was definitely a lot of thought put into the packaging for the Les Exclusifs. When my box showed up at my doorstep, I felt like I was getting something special:

I've made much more significant luxury brand purchases that weren't packaged nearly as nice:

And now we take the ribbon off . . . slowly, slowly:

The black box itself is beautiful, especially for being, well, a mere box. I've had limited edition, exclusive fragrances show up in the mail in banged-up boxes that looked like they'd been through hell and back. This Chanel box? Not a scratch, dent, scrape or mark. I don't know how they did it, but it's obvious that the Chanel brand has a lot of experience in getting goods from point A to point B in pristine condition.

So let's open it up:

A box within a box, but this one is the reverse in design, predominantly white with black accents. Again, solidly constructed and well thought out. Let's open it, shall we?

The bottle itself is what you would call honkin' -- 200ml is a serious amount of juice, and when I showed it to the BF, he said, "Holy Cow! That's a big bottle!" He was also very impressed by the clean lines and the heft of the glass. He said it reminded him a bit of the old chemist bottles, but modernized:

The cap is magnetized so that it easily snaps on and stays put, and the magnets appear to be polarized so that the cap automatically adjusts to where the CC logo is aligned properly to the angle of the bottle itself, then clicks into place. Again, terrific attention to detail, and a clear example of how Chanel uses its design history and financial resources to separate itself from other luxury brands.

Wait, I lost my train of thought. That's easy to do when there's bottles to fondle and white tissue paper and silk ribbons to roll around in. Oh oh oh! The fragrance! But can we just look at the bottle once more? Just once? Puh-leeeeze?

Okay, great. Thanks. Now we can move on -- the fragrance itself is a light interpretation of vetiver -- smoky and kind of musky/musty, but sheer. I ordinarily use a light hand when applying fragrance, but it takes a solid 10 to 12 pumps on the nozzle to get an appropriate amount of Sycomore into the air and onto the skin. It's not a huge vapor-trail monster, either, staying very close to the skin, sending up intermittent wafts of toasted sweetness followed quickly by wafts of salt and woody smoke.

The Non-Blonde offered initial praise, but then stated that it goes swampy on her skin (though she loves it on her husband), so Sycomore might strike a good number of people as masculine or maybe just a bit too deep and earthen for their taste.

But that's not to say that it doesn't have its female fans -- Marie-Helene at The Scented Salamander writes: "Sycomore is a beautiful, even stunning wood and incense composition that manages to awaken the combined evocative powers of vetiver and whirling incense, their decidedly exotic association in this case, while offering itself at the same time as an oh!-so-French study in ideals of understated refinement and elegance."

Main fragrance notes for Sycomore are listed as: vetiver, sandalwood, cypress, juniper and pink pepper. If you've always been curious about vetiver as a perfume material, but have found most other vetivers to be too strong or too dirty for your taste, Sycomore is likely the delicate, smoky vetiver you've been waiting for.

But make sure you spray plenty of it on. I initially thought Sycomore might go swampy (i.e. salty and wet grass) on me, as well, but its swirling sweet smoke and wooded nature revealed itself once I applied with a generous hand.

A link to the full set of my Chanel Sycomore photos can be found here: Chanel Sycomore at Nathan's Flickr page.

1.) Shoplifter Returns Stolen Handbag, Says "I'm Sorry":
"A pregnant shoplifter who snatched a $1,500 purse from an upscale clothing boutique on Saturday returned the item to the store Thursday morning along with a note to the owner apologizing for the theft . . . The Marc Jacobs handbag was wrapped inside a brown paper bag along with the note from the thief. The note said,'I'm so sorry to hurt you. I regret what I did.'"

Mon dieu! You know the economy is bad when shoplifters have to return unsold hot merchandise for morality refunds. Or maybe it's just a comment on Marc Jacobs as a designer?

Here's how the note might have read: "Dear Mr. Jacobs -- I wanted a new bag, but the guilt I felt for stealing it far outweighed any satisfaction I derived from your designs. When I got home, I excitedly rang up all my friends to tell them of my new stolen Marc Jacobs quilted tote, but they were not impressed. I guess I should have snicked that adorable blue leather Tod's, instead. Love, your disappointed fan."

2.) Are the Japanese Falling Out of Love With Luxury?:
"The downturn is forcing customers in Japan to scale back purchases of luxury goods, accelerating a long-term shift in consumer attitudes . . . 'This is not a blip. This is a long-term shift in the market, said Brian Salsberg, the author of a McKinsey report on the Japanese luxury goods market . . . While luxury sales throughout the world are being hit by the recession, Mr Salsberg said that the implications of the latest slump for Japan were likely to be more serious and long-lasting."

Only as little ago as early 2008, luxury brands were ga-ga over the Japanese market. A blog post at Clast.com, while debunking the "94% of Japanese women in their 20's own a Louis Vuitton product" does go on to note the incredible market saturation that a brand like Louis Vuitton once enjoyed: "Our guess would be 30-40% of women in their 20s own some manner of Louis Vuitton item, with 15-20% owning a LV bag. This is still very, very impressive when viewed in the larger scheme of things."

I believe I've said this before, but I'll repeat myself -- when the BF and I visited Tokyo in 2007, I was stunned by the sheer number of Louis Vuitton logo bags I saw swinging from women's arms on any given day. It was strange to see what's often hyped as an "exclusive" luxury brand literally everywhere I turned.

In semi-related news, Safilo, considered one of the world's biggest eyewear makers (producing for brands like Dior and Gucci), is suffering from plummeting global sales and is looking for investors so it can keep operations in gear: "In addition to its financial problems, Safilo has seen its sales fall amid the global economic crisis. It has shut down a plant in Italy, laid off workers and transferred some of its production to China."

3.) Survey Shows the Brands Most Likely to Succeed in the Recession:
"Respondents were asked to name retail and fashion brands that were best-positioned to thrive and were given the option of selecting as many as three brands. Topshop ranked first, with 34.1% of those surveyed, naming it as a brand that will flourish. It was followed by Chanel at 28%; Louis Vuitton at 21.9% while Forever 21, H&M and Marc Jacobs all tied at 13.4%."

Video clip below of the recently opened TopShop store in New York City:

So cheap, trendy fashion and high-end luxury classics will be the survivors. I can't say that comes as much of a surprise. I do feel kind of sorry for all the other brands that positioned themselves in-between, though -- like the Koobas and the Anya Hindmarches. They're good brands with excellent products, but they're too expensive for the fast-fashion twenty-somethings and yet don't have the social cache or oomph necessary to attract the Chanel/Louis Vuitton crowd.

Speaking of surviving, the Wall Street Journal looks at stocks in the luxury industry and sees that while some major design houses are presently holding steady, bad news is coming: "Sales are falling across the sector as even big spenders have cut back, influenced as much by the idea it's no longer fashionable to flaunt wealth as by waning incomes . . . As the top-end department stores struggle, they are likely to cut back still further on orders which will hit the whole sector. In that context, the trading multiples (e.g. a valuation ratio that reflects the current stock-share price compared to the company's earnings) of the luxury-goods sector are starting to look as highly priced as the haute couture they represent."

Several brands are currently scrambling to avoid dire fates, such as Lacroix: "the house of Christian Lacroix, which filed last week for bankruptcy protection, has avoided immediate liquidation. A French commercial court on Wednesday gave it six months to try a restructuring and to find a buyer"; Roberto Cavalli (who finally caved in and sold an ownership stake in his brand to an investment company): "Clessidra SGR, an investment fund, bought 30% this week of the designer Roberto Cavalli's company, which bears his name. The company is also expected to get new leadership"; and Versace: "Giancarlo di Risio, chief executive of Gianni Versace since 2004, is expected to resign at a board meeting on Friday in Milan . . . The company said last month that first-quarter revenue had fallen 13% from a year earlier, though it still had managed 'a positive net result.'"

Crisp hi-def clip of Versace's Spring/Summer 2009 collection below:

Update: And di Risio just resigned -- "Gianni Versace SpA's Giancarlo Di Risio has resigned as chief executive of the Italian fashion house, according to a statement on Friday, confirming newspaper reports he was set to depart. The company did not give a reason for Di Risio's resignation, nor did it name a successor."

4.) Gucci Copes by Cutting Back on Production:
"Gucci's new chief executive officer, Patrizio di Marco, said he's fighting the recession by cutting production, making fewer styles to reduce costs, and bulking up the luxury label's mid-priced range . . . In this market, buyers 'want products with substance and good prices. We don't need 75 variations on the same handbag. Two or three are enough' (he said) . . . The company is scheduled to open a flagship shop in Shanghai next week, the 28th Gucci store in the country since entering China in 1997."

And just as I ran across the above article about Gucci cutting back, I stumble across this next one about small manufacturers who are going under as big luxury firms cut back on orders: "the risks are far higher for the small and midsize European companies that supply the luxury houses with everything from hand-tooled leather to perfume bottles . . . A wave of bankruptcies has begun hitting these businesses, many of which were already struggling to hold their own against lower-cost competitors in China and elsewhere."

The article goes on to note that the only ones making a profit in the luxury business these days are the "Internet-based merchants that sell luxury manufacturers' excess inventory at discount prices. One such company, Paris-based EspaceMax, says its business is up 50% this year."

5.) Lagerfeld Goes to Moscow for the First Time, Sees No Cute Men:
"The designer was in the city -- amazingly, his first time ever -- for a presentation of the Paris-Moscow collection, which made its debut in Paris in December and pays tribute to Chanel's Russian links . . . 'I think the women are better than the men. I think if I were a woman here, I would be a lesbian,' he said."

Below is a short film Lagerfeld produced to promote the Chanel Paris-Moscow collection that he just sent down the runways in Moscow. The collection was first shown in Paris in December of last year:

6.) It's the Prices, Stupid:
"While top industry players aren't sure how the issue will play out long-term, every corner of the luxury market has taken a hit, and many execs said that pricing is the root of the problem . . . 'Prices have been driven through the roof, and consumers are pushing back,' said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a luxury research firm . . . Jeffrey Kalinsky, owner of the Jeffrey boutiques in New York and Atlanta, added that he hasn't changed his buying strategy for spring '10, but has noticed that footwear has been the hardest hit category in his shops over the last year -- even before the economy took a severe turn. He blames swelling prices for the slump. 'Women want to come in and shop and have fun,' he said. 'It's not fun when every shoe they pick up is around the $1,000 price point.'"

Luxury brands were happy, even eager, to raise prices on all their goods while the consumer was in the mood to spend, but now the same brands appear baffled as to how to respond to a buying public that's dug in its heels and said, No More!

As I mentioned back in December, many of the luxury brands are acting like they're engaged in a game of chicken with the consumer -- don't lower prices and see who caves in first! Well, the consumer will always win that game. Merchandise is produced that needs to be sold, and if no one buys it at the original listed price, then it will just go on sale later. Wouldn't it be easier on everyone involved if the prices were just 30%-40% lower in the first place?

Total case in point: the Marc Jacobs boutique in SoHo is holding a 70% off sale of its Spring/Summer merchandise, and we're just barely into summer -- "All spring ready-to-wear, shoes and jewelry are discounted by two-thirds. Bags are not discounted at all so if you're looking for a good MJ bag discount you might want to head over to Barneys or Saks." Snark!

Here's another article about designers finally seeing the need to bring the price point down: Designers Tout Luxury for Less With $300 Coach Bags -- "Between 2005 and 2007, the average wholesale price of luxury goods increased 10 percent to 15 percent each year . . . A shrinking global economy is reversing that trend. While some shoppers still will buy at the highest end of the luxury range, more consumers will balk at cocktail dresses that cost more than $2,000 and shoes above $1,000."

7.) Fools Rush In:
"Paris's Chambre Syndicale released a temporary version of the schedule for the upcoming men's fashion week, which runs June 25-29 - and it features more newcomers than dropouts . . . New faces on the men's runway include Alexis Mabille, who is to show men's wear separately from women's couture for the first time, New York-based designer Tim Hamilton, who is to make his Paris debut, Vienna's House of the Island and France's Bill Tornade."

Because I've always found the best time to launch a new menswear brand is right when half the population has snapped their wallets shut. Honestly, is there no one in these people's lives who could have pulled them aside and said, "You know, maybe it's not the best timing . . . "

A package arrives in the mail. From the U.K. For me.

"Huh," I think to myself. "I didn't order anything from the U.K., and I don't know anyone in the U.K. who would be sending me packages . . . I think?"

So I open the box . . . and gasp . . . you know, just a little. Because I'm surprised, not because I'm a drama queen or anything (Marin, shut up!).

The box is from Ormonde Jayne.

(insert sound of heavenly choir singing here)

Wait! Did I have one too many glasses of wine and hop on the internet (again)? I quick check my online bank account statement. Nope. No Ormonde Jayne charges. And yet, there the box sits in front of me, daring me to open it. Who am I to say no?

Puny human -- you are powerless before my glory!

I almost can't bring myself to touch it. What if it's a dream? Or a mirage? What if I reach my hand towards the box and molecules shatter, atoms collide, the universe collapses in upon itself? What if . . . ooooooh, a handwritten card!

But it's not an email or a text message. What do I *do* with it?!

"Dear Nathan," it reads. Or, rather, I read. The card actually just sits there. Mute. Thanks for the help, pal. "Congratulations for your FiFi nomination --" and that's all the encouragement I need. Attack! Attack! The wrappings will not hold! Resistance is futile!

Oh lord, did I just quote Star Trek?

Is there anything more beautiful than a surprise gift?

Jaw + Gravity = Serious Drop.

I recover after a moment of stunned disbelief, though not silence -- there's a faint whimpering sound, and since I'm the only one in the room, it's likely coming from me. I carefully wipe the drool from my chin and pry the box open. It has a very insistent magnetic closure that's determined to deny me entrance, but I have my pride. Somewhere. In a storage locker. Haaaelp!

The box springs open to reveal . . .

Yes, when the surprise gift is one of your favorite perfumes!

The next five minutes are a little hazy -- something about falling over in a faint, the BF running into the room, smelling salts, some are you okays, yada yada yada unhand me peasant I have a bottle of gorgeousness to attend to!

I usually only say that about Johnny Walker Blue, but such is the power of Ormonde Jayne.

Move over, Picasso -- the Jayne's in town.

Chandler Burr wrote a review of Ormonde Man for his NYTimes blog. It was one of the few five star reviews he's given, and Ormonde Man deserves the praise: "Ormonde Man ... is spectacular. It disposes of the sharp glass edges and hard bathroom tile of the hygienic school to offer something unusual: masculine gentleness. I can't imagine a scent more right for this rough time."

Aw, shucks. Is he talking about little ol' ME?

No really, it's just too much. I couldn't possibly -- okay I have an acceptance speech all written. (pulls out crumpled piece of paper from pocket) *ahem* "Into every man's life, there come trials (Marin) and tribulations (Marin again), but there are also the unexpected joys, like 'Stranger Than Fiction', martinis with blue cheese stuffed olives, hardwood floors, crisp October mornings and Ormonde Jayne. So while I'd like to thank all the little people (you know who you are) who made me the gracious and humble genius I am today -- you, in the back row, I heard that! -- I'd like to especially thank the larger than life Ms. Pilkington for restoring my faith in the beauty of modern perfumery." (stuffs crumpled piece of paper back in pocket)

Nice, right? You think? It's not too over the top, or kiss a**? Cuz I could just, like, totally ditch thanking the little people at all . . .

It's obviously more than ready for its close-up.

A huge crush of gratitude goes out to Ormonde Jayne (and especially Ms. Linda Pilkington). You totally made my day (week? fortnight? bi-annual charity drive?). And as for the rest of you -- I now smell *so* much better than all y'all. You're just going to have to deal with it.

***Note: the card from Linda Pilkington also reads, "I also love the photography on your page. Who does it?" *screams in horror* I just assumed that everyone would know that I take all the bottle/packaging/travel photos myself! Perhaps I need to be more direct and upfront about that . . .

UPDATE:

I just wanted to say that Ormonde Man, which was released in 2004, is notable for its early adoption of oud as a scent material. Yeah, sure, it's 2009 and now you can't swing Schrodinger's cat without knocking a passel of oud releases off the shelves, but in 2004, Pilkington was ahead of the curve. And it smells like she uses a really nice oud, too -- soft, smooth, even a bit sweeet. Not a whiff of that Le Labo "barnyard" oud or harsh Montale fumigation oud to be found.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a custom scent that I'd ordered from Italian perfumer Abdes Salaam, Aalacho No. 2. Salaam shared samples of the fragrance with members of the Basenotes community, and here's what a reviewer wrote about it:

"Very resinous, smoky, dark, incense and coniferous wood with a deep underlying sweetness. The green is much more buried under spikier folliage ... The leaves and vegetation are there but smell more bitter brown than green, a little charred like the remenants of a forest fire a few years past. This is more macho, almost fierce, but the honeyed wood underneath it all speaks of the softer side of the bears in the trees. It eases a little as it develops with well blended tobacco linking the animalic with the leafy and herbal aspects."

The exact list of materials used to create Aalacho No. 2: frankincense, opoponax, tobacco, costus, oakmoss, patchouli, cardamom, Mysore sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, angelica, labdanum, styrax, tonka, castoreum and honey bee.

I already went through my first bottle of the stuff (it's easy to appreciate a scent that's been crafted to my own specifications), so I ordered another. It arrived yesterday, and to my surprised delight, the bottles that Salaam uses have seen a definite upgrade. The first bottle I received last year was a kind of thick, translucent plastic with deco stylings. Okay, but not great. The one I pulled out from its box yesterday is a marked improvement -- clear cut glass with a brass collar and shaped cap. The labeling looks like it's gone through a rethinking and redesign, as well.

Photos below:

Glass bottles catch the light so beautifully.

***Note: in case you're wondering why I chose the name "aalacho" -- it's a mystical name for the 11th hour of the night. I figured that since I always seem to be riding the ragged edge of the very last minute, "the 11th hour" was an appropriate term to embrace.

Abdes Salaam is a professional perfumer with a mostly corporate clientele, but his personal line of perfumes, Scents of the Soul, is a labor of love. Scents of the Soul are crafted from all-natural materials and are only available from the website www.profumo.it. You can find the page for ordering your own custom perfume here: Your Perfume of the Soul.

If you have an itch to see how a custom perfume might turn out for you, Salaam's process is easy, his skills are superlative and he's a pleasure to work with. The all-natural approach might not be what every person is looking for, but if you're a fan of all-natural perfumery, his work is certainly worth checking out.

Sniffapalooza Magazine has an interview with perfumer Abdes Salaam at the following link, Interview with Perfumer Abdes Salam Attar of La Via del Profumo: "Not all my perfume contain animal scents. Perfumes being made for the people, they should have the opportunity to choose, but a fragrance that contains both botanical and animal elements has a different dimension for our olfactory system. This is what I call "three-dimensional perfumery" . . . animal and botanical dimensions blend into olfactory three dimensionality."

I just handed off the majority of the sample packages to the carrier services, so most of you should receive your packages before the week is out (fingers crossed).

There are three people who haven't yet contacted me with their mailing addresses: Musette, Robbie Dillon and Chayaruchama. I'll be able to complete the mailings once those addresses are in hand. (*update: just need an address from Musette now -- calling Musette! update 2: A-Ha! Musette has answered the call, and all the samples are spoken for and out the door!)

Again, everybody, thanks for participating in the Lucky Scent sponsored Une Rose Chyprée giveaway. It was great fun to be able to introduce Tauer's new fragrance, and tossing in extra handfuls of the samples I have should result in packages that provide each winner with a few weeks of happy testing on his/her own.

Dawn Spencer Hurwitz, an excellent independent perfumer out of Boulder, Colorado (NY Times fragrance critic Chandler Burr tagged some of her work with a glowing review), has supplied me with a more than generous amount of samples lately, and I passed a number of them on so that most of you could experience at least one piece of her work for yourselves. I think you'll be pleased to make her acquaintance.

I'm presently loving the everlasting h*ll out of Hurwitz's Tamarind Paprika fragrance -- a spicy incense with subtle florals and a smoky finish that hits me right in the bullseye. I kept that one for myself!