Back in 2007, I posted a less than enthusiastic review of a Saddleback Leather briefcase I’d purchased and subsequently returned to sender: “Why Saddleback Leather Fails to Live Up to its Own Hype“. The leather was sturdy, the hardware was dependably solid and the overall design was ruggedly satisfying, but the bag itself was plagued with shoddy workmanship — excess glue oozing out of seams, stitching that wandered, and noticeable gaps at the corners where the leather should have been sewn tight.

After shipping the bag back to the company at my expense (and then getting charged a “restocking fee” for the privilege), I wrote the company off as another one of those Over-Promise and Under-Deliver brands and never looked back, only now and again reminded of their existence when some enraged Saddleback fanboi would leave a response to my review, usually punctuated with insults and/or profanity.

*NOTE: The “delete” button is a site administrator’s best friend.

But in December of 2009, a commenter informed me that the Saddleback company had gone through a seeming rebirth, that their bags were much improved and maybe I should take a second look. You know, if I wanted to be open-minded about the whole thing.

New and improved, with flattering lighting!

I was skeptical, but I cruised on over to their website anyway and yes, much to my surprise, the bags *did* look like they’d gone through some very definite refining and tweaking. Scrolling through the Saddleback company blog, I noticed that company founder Dave Munson had written a blog entry in September of 2009 that gave an indication of the how and why behind Saddleback’s revitalized look:

“Near the end of last year, we decided to make our own leather briefcases, backpacks, bags and luggage instead of having them made by someone else,” he wrote. “In doing so, we significantly increased quality and lowered the number of defective bags we received.”

*NOTE 2: A-ha! So it wasn’t just me — take that, fanbois!

Munson stated that they’d had to raise prices on all their bags as a result of the restructuring, but judging from the customer comments on their website, the price hike didn’t seem to put off any of their existing fans — who are, to put it mildly, rabid admirers of all things Saddleback.

“Okay, fine,” I thought, and noted Munson’s blog post and possible increase in bag quality on my site, as my own particularly critical review had gained some Google traction in the meantime and I felt it only fair to mention that my experience with their briefcase was B.C. (before the changes). But again, I wasn’t looking back. Once bitten, etc. etc.

Stitching that’s straight and true

That is, until a big, heavy package arrived on my doorstep about a month ago (“Compliments of the Presidente,” emailed Ryan Barr, Saddleback’s go-to guy for business development) and I opened it up to find a new version 2.0 medium-size Saddleback Leather briefcase in a deep chestnut brown.

Curious as to whether the version 2.0 hype was going to be any truer than the old hype, I pulled the briefcase out of its wrapping and examined it carefully: no oozing glue, the stitching was straight as an arrow and all the seams were sewed up tight. So far, so good.

I unbuckled the fastenings and opened the briefcase to find that the interior work was the same excellent quality as the exterior: the under-flap and compartment walls boasted a nice pebbled finish; there were several heavy-duty pouches to hold small items like cell-phones, iPods, pens, power cords and business cards; there was the (new?) inclusion of a leather strap that hooked into a branded leather keychain for keeping your keys within easy reach; and the interior stitching, binding and riveting was clean and straight, with the whole thing coming across as remarkably solid and reliable — the kind of bag that could handle wind, rain, sleet, snow and blistering sun while dutifully protecting its contents.

Interior leather pouch, big enough for power cords and devices

Yet while the manufacturing quality for the bag is pretty darn good, I do have a few quibbles with the design: 1.) none of the interior pouches fastens shut with either a zipper or snap closure, so carrying valuables becomes a risky proposition, and 2.) since the leather is so sturdy and the plentiful hardware is solid metal, the bag weighs a lot (about six and a half pounds empty, and that’s for their smallest briefcase size), which might not make it the best option for lugging around as a carry-on bag for air travel.

But all in all, if this had been the briefcase I’d received in 2007, I never would have shipped it back.

Impressed, I sent a message back to Ryan Barr and asked if I could interview someone from the company about their obvious improvement in manufacturing quality, but also just about Saddleback in general — how a small leather company that sells strictly via the Internet has been holding out for the past couple of years. He fired back an email that read, “One of the guys would love to speak with you . . . We’ve had a lot of growth in the last few years and are really proud that quality has improved along with it. Seems that in most cases quality is the sacrificial lamb of growth.”

So I emailed a bunch of questions, founder Dave Munson answered them (from a remote island northeast of Madagascar — I seem to be catching people on vacation lately) and Part 2 is where you’ll get to read what he has to say about running an independent leather-goods business in the 21st century.

*NOTE 3: There’s a false bottom to one of the bag’s interior compartments which does allow for safe storage of some (small and thin) valuables, but since I’m the type who throws his wallet, phone, watch and other necessary items into a bag’s zipper compartments for easy retrieval, having to dig underneath my laptop and books to lift a false bottom to get at items is inconvenient and time consuming while on the go; nonetheless, the addition of the false bottom is admittedly a useful idea.

1.) The Wristwatch is Dead? A Million Swiss Watchmakers Howl in Protest:
“One day soon the wristwatch will be viewed as quaint and old-fashioned, the same as a pocket watch is seen today . . . This year’s list for the class of 2014 reminds us that these college freshmen were born in 1992, that to them Fergie is a pop singer, not a princess, that Clint Eastwood is a sensitive director, not Dirty Harry, that they have never worried about a Russian missile strike on the U.S., and that Nirvana is on the classic oldies station. The list also reminds us that “they’ve never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day” and that “with cell phones to tell them the time, there is no need for a wrist watch.”

You know, about two years ago I had the same epiphany, so ditched my watch for a strict reliance on my cellphone as both timepiece and communication device — after all, why burden myself with redundant devices? But I soon realized that I checked the time a lot more than I had anticipated, and hauling my phone out of my pocket or computer bag every time I wanted to check the time was kind of a pain in comparison to simply looking at my wrist.

And once, when the juice on my cellphone ran dry as I was out running errands and skipping from appointment to appointment, I found myself not only out of communication range, but also without the means to keep track of time. After that, I started wearing a watch again.

Until someone invents a cellphone that can generate its own power, I can’t see getting rid of my wristwatch anytime soon. I doubt I’m alone on this, which might be why the Swiss are reporting much better sales numbers lately: Swiss Watch Exports Up 21% In July — “Steel and bimetallic items grew faster than average. Exports to Hong Kong rose 55%, and while demand from the U.S. remained stable, exports to Japan surged 30% . . . ‘Re-stocking is still in full swing and consumer demand seems to have come back, at least in key markets,’ analyst Luca Solca of Bernstein Research said. However, the key months of September and October, which will indicate how Christmas sales could develop, are still to come.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that the increase in watch exports to Japan was a particular surprise, as the Japanese market had been considered “dead in the water“.

2.) Nordstrom Increases Sales with Online Link to In-Store Inventory:
“Say that a shopper was looking at a blue Marc Jacobs handbag at Nordstrom.com. She could see where it was available at nearby stores, and reserve it for pickup the same day. More significant, if the Web warehouse was out of that bag, it did not matter. Inventory from Nordstrom’s 115 regular stores is also included. Maybe there was just one handbag left in the entire company, sitting forlornly in the back of the Roosevelt Field store — it would be displayed online and store employees would ship it to the Web customer . . . ‘If we don’t have it (online), you’re going to go back to Google and say, ‘Who else has it?’’ said (Mr. Nordstrom). ‘We have 115 full-line stores out there — chances are one of them has it.’”

The increase in sales was immediate for Nordstrom. By linking their entire, nationwide in-store inventory with the Nordstrom.com website, they’ve discovered that they’re selling more merchandise at higher price points. Stores that might otherwise have been forced to drastically discount slow-moving items are able, instead, to ship these same items to customers in other parts of the country where the merchandise is more desirable.

Nordstrom has also been the first major high-end retail chain to allow customers to post comments on merchandise, rating and commenting on everything from skin cream and nail polish to denim and handbags. This brings a more real-world, real-time feel to the Nordstrom online shopping experience, encouraging a friendly, social-media interaction between customers that Nordstrom execs hope will increase the appeal of their webstore. They’ve even created a new forum for customers to interact directly with one another regarding beauty tips and style recommendations.

As an example of how important the internet can be to online retailers, and why they shouldn’t be lagging behind in developing user-friendly customer formats: Internet sales soar 60% in China — “Growth is set to continue with Internet sales in China likely to rise more than 35% a year on average over the next few years as more people shop online and more convenient ways of paying for transactions, such as using mobile phones, become available.”

*NOTE 1: A Shanghai official even announced that the population-heavy city outspent the rest of the country on online shopping, which reveals the advantages of building a shopping platform that can take advantage of high-speed urban connectivity whenever and wherever it happens.

Writes Elizabeth Schofield for Fashion Collective: “The face of the internet changes so quickly, and while it’s not integral to be first to market, it is important to know how your luxury brand can be cultivated online. If a brand is truly aware of their audience, and aware of the brand identity, it’s not about the next big platform, it’s about pioneering a new extension of the brand.”

This applies to retail chain brands as well as fashion brands, and Nordstrom appears to be ahead of the curve on knowing their audience.

Saks Fifth Avenue, which does not link its in-store inventory with its online shop, and also doesn’t allow customer interaction or feedback on its website, has announced that it’s closing two more of its locations — in Plano, Texas and Mission Viejo, California. Meanwhile, Nordstrom is celebrating the opening of its new Santa Monica location today (August 27th), with four more locations in the U.S. planned through 2011. It should be noted that Nordstrom Rack locations (their discount store version) are sprouting like weeds, with 25 new Rack stores scheduled to open through 2011.

*NOTE 2: Neiman Marcus appears to be doing better than Saks: Neiman Marcus’ July store sales soar 12.3%

3.) Madonna Doesn’t Own the Trademark to ‘Material Girl’ Clothing Line:
“Late last Thursday, apparel manufacturer L.A. Triumph filed suit against Madonna, claiming that her ‘Material Girl’ line for Macy’s threatens their own ‘Material Girl’ clothing line that they have been selling since 1997 . . . ‘The bottom line is that Madonna had a song and has been known as the ‘Material Girl’ but if she hasn’t sold any products under the name ‘Material Girl,’ she has no trademark in the name,’ says attorney Anne Sterba (of leading intellectual property firm Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck). ‘Madonna has a copyright in the song, but a copyright and a trademark are completely different. L.A. triumph may have priority over her in respect to selling clothes under the ‘Material Girl’ trademark and they could win.’”

However, the attorney mentions that Madonna is often cited as the original Material Girl, and as such may have cause to countersue by claiming that L.A. Triumph has been attempting to profit off of her name and fame (instead of the other way around). L.A. Triumph is asking the court to force Madonna and Macy’s to hand over any and all profits from their ‘Material Girl’ line which was already launched earlier this month.

A (not so great quality) videoclip of Madonna from 1985, performing her “Material Girl” song — the Macy’s clothing line apparently references her lacy, fringy, bowed, gloved and glitter-flecked mid-80′s style (god help us all):

If retro trends were horses, all of us would ride

4.) Fashion’s Night Out Goes Global:
“Created to encourage spending in a sinking economy, last year’s inaugural Fashion’s Night Out delivered a star-studded night to shoppers . . . Its success — a 3.4% increase in that day’s retail traffic nationwide and nearly 50% in Manhattan — made its return a no-brainer . . . To that end, 16 countries have signed on to host a 2010 Fashion’s Night Out, creating a 10-day worldwide event. ‘If you’re a globe-trotter, you could potentially hit every country,’ says Susan Portnoy, the event’s spokesperson.”

Over 1000 locations are taking part in New York alone, with other major cities, from Los Angeles to Miami to Seattle also hosting FNO events. Other countries participating this year are: Australia, Canada, China, the UK, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey.

Numerous brands are rolling out new products on September 10th to coincide with the event and hopefully create more excitement. For example, Chanel is debuting a new nail polish trio on September 10th, Roger Vivier will unveil its first perfume collection, the Brahmin handbag company has created a limited edition tote especially for the event, etc.

Despite the fact that most people came out to windowshop and celebrity-spot rather than purchase anything in 2009, a lot of hype and buzz has gone into creating an even bigger, faster, stronger Fashion’s Night Out for 2010. Expect the buzz to only increase in volume as September 10th draws closer, with news of in-store celebrity appearances, open bars (specialty cocktails at the Armani Ristorante on 5th Avenue), concerts, block parties, autograph signings (Tom Ford will be in his 2nd floor boutique in the Bergdorf Goodman Men’s Store from 8 to 8:30 pm to sign fragrance purchases), auctions and more.

Video clip below of a behind the scenes look at a number of the industry’s biggest names pleading for your dollars:

“Please keep me in the lifestyle to which I’ve grown accustomed. Thanks!”

In related news, I can’t really fault the New York retailers, or the entire fashion industry, really, for loudly tooting on the Buy Something horn this year. Economic news is continuing to progress from bad to worse, with even the once-predictable rah-rah talking heads starting to sound a bit gloomy: “This isn’t a recovery, in any sense that matters . . . We need about 2.5 percent growth just to keep unemployment from rising, and much faster growth to bring it significantly down. Yet growth is currently running somewhere between 1 and 2 percent, with a good chance that it will slow even further in the months ahead.”

Nervous businesses are cautious about hiring, even more nervous funds are pulling out of the stock market and funneling their cash into safe bond investments, analysts are continuing to sound the alarm about China’s massive real estate bubble and how access to easy home credit has been fluffing their luxury and stock markets the same way it did here in the U.S. (there’s also the Canadian housing bubble to contend with, as well), existing home sales hit a fifteen year low in the U.S. and are expected to go lower (which has a drag effect on the entire rest of the economy), and 2nd quarter GDP numbers were revised lower with 3rd quarter numbers predicted to hit the sub-1% level.

Take all of the above into account, and it’s no wonder the fashion-retail industry is desperate to get its hands on your cash before your wallet disappears in a puff of smoke.

5.) Despite 49% Investment from LVMH, Clothing Line Edun Reports 90% Drop in Profit:
“EDUN APPAREL, the Fairtrade clothing brand founded by Ali Hewson (wife of Bono, lead singer of rock band U2), made a loss of $8.7 million in 2009, an increase of 90 per cent on the losses recorded the previous year.”

And it’s not like 2008 was a hot year for Edun (“nude” spelled backwards — yes, I know) to begin with. Which just goes to show that Good Intentions + Rock Star Cred doesn’t always = Succe$$.

Though why a clothing line, founded by the wife of the lead singer of one of the most successful rock bands of all time, needs outside investment is beyond me. I guess it’s always easier to flush OPM down the drain than it is your own?

Speaking of bad investments, LVMH is now rumored to be considering a stake in the Rodarte brand, the uber high-end, experimental women’s clothing line that’s never turned a profit and is barely known outside the giddy, rarefied world of New York Fashion Weeks and insider style blogs.

Though Rodarte might potentially gain a bit more exposure after designing a number of costumes for Natalie Portman’s character in the new Black Swan movie; however, considering that it’s a film about ballet, I don’t expect a flurry of mainstream attention. Movie preview (and Rodarte designs!) below:

Help! My designers are trying to sabotage my career!

6.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:

A.) Dolce & Gabbana are dropped from noted retailer Selfridges after an argument over store display space, while the Luxo website is reporting that the brand will dramatically scale back its D&G (diffusion line) presence in Japan: “They blamed the decision to halt the distribution of the D&G ready-to-wear lines, leather accessories and shoe collections in Japan on the scarcity of available locations for its boutiques and the widespread availability of counterfeit products. The decision to regroup in Japan comes in the wake of Versace and French Connection UK leaving the market entirely within the last year.”

Now seems like a terrible time to start quibbling with department stores over display space, don’t you think?

Speaking of bad moves from top brands: Prada engages in quite possibly the worst PR move ever as its Japan unit countersues female employee, Rina Bovrisse, who’s suing over claims of harrassment and discrimination — “‘Prada Japan’s countersuit infringes on human rights, as it threatens victims from telling the truth about what happened and scares women who want to speak out bravely,’ Bovrisse said in an e-mail.”

Is this how Prada wishes to portray its brand across the world? From Dolce & Gabbana coming across as snitty little divas, Chanel flexing its corporate muscle to stomp the life out of a small, artisan supplier, and Prada starting to look like a bullying misogynist in Miuccia’s clothing, I kind of have to wonder just what’s going on in luxury-fashion heads these days.

B.) Levi’s announced it would give away a free pair of their new CurveID jeans to the first thousand Manhattanites who showed up with a clothing donation — thousands upon thousands show up: “By the time we arrived to scope out the scene, the group had reached capacity—a line wrapped around the perimeter of (Bryant) park, and was closed to new arrivals (some of whom turned pretty nasty). Early birds started queuing up at 6am, we were told, having heard about the chance at a free pair of new blues by various channels, including the Levi’s Facebook page, Daily Candy and a promotional email from Self magazine.”

CurveID is a new range of Levis jeans for women that allegedly accommodates numerous curvy body styles. An explanatory PR video clip is below:

Because creating clothing that might fit your customer is a groundbreaking idea?

C.) Chloe gets a new CEO: no sooner did Ralph Toledano get the boot than Swiss luxury conglomerate Richemont announced that Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye was the new head man at the brand. He takes over September 1st.

Ralph Toledano ran Chloe for the last ten years: “Although Chloe remained profitable in the last fiscal year, which ended March 31, it has struggled to return to its heyday in the early- to mid-naughties. Toledano, under increasing pressure to strengthen the brand, is understood to have been pushed out by his new boss, Marty Wikstrom, who was named CEO of Richemont’s fashion and accessories businesses in May 2009.”

Hannah MacGibbon is still head designer. Video clip below of Chloe’s Fall 2010 runway show, considered one of their best in years:

Just as Phoebe Philo as Phoebe Philo

One couldn’t help but notice the references to the Spring 2010 Celine collection designed by Phoebe Philo — who used to design for Chloe:

The real Phoebe Philo

D.) Good news! You CAN take it with you: “Au Yeung Pin Chi in Hong Kong makes and sells burnable paper effigies in the shapes of Gucci purses, Wayfarers, and designer sneakers, as part of a Chinese custom of incinerating paper symbols of items in order to “deliver” them to the deceased . . . Yeung posits that perhaps Making paper effigies of trend items makes death seem less frightening.”

Nope, sorry, still frightened by death. But maybe that’s just a guy thing?

Andy Tauer has come a long way since he released his first perfumes, Le Maroc Pour Elle and L’Air du Desert Marocain, to the public in 2005. Not counting special editions and limited releases, he now has twelve fragrances to his name, with Carillon Pour un Ange seeing a recent pre-release, plus Une Rose Vermeille and L’Eau D’Epices (a scent he’s been working on for the past four years) due to hit retail by the end of 2010, so, okay . . . that makes twelve.

But it’s not like a perfumer ever stops creating, and much like the “publish or perish” mantra in the world of academia, it can be “launch or perish” in the world of the DIY perfumer. Yet continuous inspiration and creation (the hallmarks of a vibrant artist) can sometimes lead to a bloated product lineup that becomes difficult for consumers to navigate, not to mention the burden on the mom-and-pop type shops that carry these brands.

“I want my retail partners to be happy,” Tauer said, when I asked him about how shop owners deal with an ever expanding perfume range. “So I’m flexible. I don’t require minimum orders, and in situations where my entire range would be too heavy an investment, we decide together on the fragrances that might sell best for them.”

He sees this as an advantage of being his own producer and distributor — developing retail partnerships rather than just handing off his product to a bevy of anonymous resellers. Tauer mentioned that larger, commercial distribution entities work differently, imposing minimum order requirements and multiple brand packages, forcing small shops to carry brands W, X and Y if they want brand Z, thereby stacking the shelves with their own products and leaving little room (and little budget) for the competition, which is often why you don’t see DIY brands in any of your local stores.

“The price and growth calculations of these distribution companies don’t fit with artisanal brands, and this translates into retail uniformity and consumer boredom,” stated Tauer, “especially on the ‘niche’ level, where consumers are actively seeking out something new and different.”

Andy’s new blue glass bottle

But this is where the rise of the blogging phenomenon has been invaluable to a one-man, small brand, DIY outfit like Tauer Perfumes. “Andy is a pure product of the blog culture, which he’s leveraged to perfection,” said industry writer Denyse Beaulieu when I asked her what she thought of the intense loyalty of his customers. “It also doesn’t hurt that he was annointed by the emperor,” she added, referring to Luca Turin‘s favorable coverage of Andy’s work that launched the Tauer name with a thousand keystrokes.

And with more and more people turning to the Internet for straight-talk on consumer products, from shoes to cars to cosmetics and perfume, the blog culture can make or break a struggling young brand. Fortunately for Andy, his engagement with the fragrance blogging crowd came early on, before hedge-fund money started pouring in and niche-perfumery became the investment flavor of the week.

“When it comes to my marketing,” he explained, “I stick to word of mouth, providing new product for blogs to give away to their readers, visiting the shops that carry my brand, mingling with perfume lovers and organizing events.”

He also spends a good portion of each week responding directly to commenters on his own blog, doling out bits of information regarding new ideas he’s working on, or new materials he’s discovered. This has created a sense of community with his customers and readers, which Tauer finds more important (and a lot more effective) than advertising with traditional media outlets.

In the WWD article “The Rise of the Blogger“, Neil Weilheimer writes: “Industry players said blogs have gained clout and relevance because they can post information about a company or show its product much faster than traditional media . . . The blogs also serve as marketing tools that can go beyond conventional advertising, allowing brands to connect more closely with customers.”

And for a small artisan outfit without wide distribution and pretty much a non-existent marketing budget, connecting closely with customers is the lifeblood of a company. But another form of successful brand promotion can be partnering and/or collaborating with other brands, so I asked Andy if he’d ever been approached to create a scent for another company, or if he had any interest in collaborating with other perfumers on a limited edition project.

“I would never create a scent for a hotel chain or a fashion brand,” he said, possibly referring to projects like the fragrance range created by Olivia Giacobetti for the Costes Hotel or Caroline Sabas’ work for the Josie Natori lingerie line, “but I am in constant exchange with other perfumers and artists, and I’m quite confident that one day there will be some type of joint, scented project.”

A new 2010 release, Carillon Pour un Ange

He even suggested that an all-natural Tauer perfume is on the agenda for 2012, but for now, we have his ten going on twelve solo creations, the latest of which is Carillon Pour un Ange, a Lily of the Valley fragrance likely inspired by Andy’s reverence for the great master perfumer, Edmond Roudnitska.

In a short “time travel” Scent Treks piece for Basenotes.net from 2008, Andy had this to say: “I would be delighted to travel to the 1950′s. There is one reason to travel back then: It is Edmond Roudnitska . . . I would travel back in time, end of April, early May, when the lily of the valley in his garden were blooming and where I imagine meeting this genius. ‘Bonjour Monsieur,’ I would say, and would … sniff with him the lily of the valley, growing in his garden . . . after the second glass of champagne, I would be brave enough, begging him to let me know more about the base that he used to fix the lily of valley” (into one of Roudnitska’s most famous creations, the Diorissimo of 1956).

So now it’s 2010, and Andy has taken the opportunity to pay his homage to Roudnitska’s garden with Carillon Pour un Ange, which Tauer himself describes as “green, silvery, opulent and elegant.” And true to Andy’s blog-loving, small-brand customer engaging nature, he and Lucky Scent have provided mini 15ml pre-release bottles (the larger bottle will be available later this year) of Carillon Pour un Ange for two of my readers.

So anyone signed up to my mailing list by the end of Friday, August 27th, will be entered into the draw, which will also include samples of all-natural perfumer Mandy Aftel’s Fig and Trevert EDP’s.

*NOTE : I asked Andy what he thought of discontinuing fragrances that aren’t selling so well to make room for new releases in his range, but he quickly assured me that that isn’t part of the Tauer Perfumes plan. “Every fragrance in my line has a very passionate fanbase that would be disappointed if they couldn’t purchase it anymore, so if I felt my product range was getting unwieldy or that a perfume was no longer suitable for large-scale sales, I’d rather introduce a separate sub-line within the brand,” he said. “Maybe they’d become seasonal offerings, or recurring limited editions, but I’d make them somewhat rare and hard to get rather than extinct.” So all you Tauer Perfume fans can breathe a little easier now — none of your favorites are going away.

*UPDATE (09/01/10): The drawing for the Tauer/Aftel giveaway is now finished. Congrats to Brooke and Nancy!

1.) Hermes Shakes Off Its Heritage, Joins the Street-Style Bloggers:
“Hermes and its scarves are as iconic a pairing as Chanel and its twinsets, but while both are usually associated with high luxe and ladylike glamour, one look at the new fashion website Hermes has just launched will show you an urban cool side to the luxury French fashion house. Dedicated solely to its signature square scarves, the new website, called J’aime Mon Carre (I Love My Scarf), takes a street style turn as it shows hip young things working the scarves in ways Hermes would never have dreamed of – as turbans, headbands, belts, ties and, of course, as they were intended round the neck.”

Cruise over to the new website — no, really, go right now! — and you’ll probably be just as shocked as I was when I surfed on by. The rise of young, hipster style-bloggers with more time on their hands (and as much fascination with the mirror) than an Antoinette-ian outing at Versailles took the fashion world first by surprise, then by the throat, so I should have known it would be only a matter of time until a once staid house like Hermes crumbled before their mighty onslaught of cake and shoes.

But don’t get me wrong — I think the new website is pure marketing genius. While a colorful scarf has become one of the must-have accessories for any self-respecting fashion hound, the Hermes scarf, with its stiff-jointed reputation, was often overlooked by the trend-eaters in favor of glitzier, glammier affairs. And if there’s one thing a global fashion house can’t have, it’s a customer base that grows old and dies. Hence, jaime mon carre, where the models are old enough to drive but too young to buy their own beer, and $400 scarves are slung about on hips, necks and heads with insouciant cool.

After all, in a recession, when a $20,000 handbag isn’t even a glimmer of aspiration anymore in a young girl’s eye, a pricey silk scarf knotted like a belt around an impossibly thin waist can be the new social signifier that separates the girls who have from the girls who have not.

Speaking of social signifiers and girls who have: The Fashion Houses Wage a Dirty Little War via the Cast of Jersey Shore — “Remember how Snooki, drunk or sober, was never seen without that Coach bag dangling from the crook of her arm? Snooki and her Coach were as synonymous as The Situation and his six-pack. But then the winds of change started blowing on Jersey Shore . . . Allegedly, the anxious folks at these various luxury houses are all aggressively gifting our gal Snookums with free bags. No surprise, right? But here’s the shocker: They are not sending her their own bags. They are sending her each other’s bags! Competitors’ bags! . . . Call it what you will — ‘preemptive product placement’? ‘unbranding’? … The bottom line? Nobody in fashion wants to co-brand with Snooki.”

Women across the country can now plot their own fashion-toxic publicity strategies. Instead of trying to garner 10,000 subscribers to a website with savvy makeup hints and style tips, just take a Fendi logo bag on a Friday night outing, drink too much and fall over into the curb in a pool of your own sick, all while your best friend films you with his/her cameraphone. Upload the designer-prominent clip onto YouTube and voila! You’ll have a pile of Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton handbags as fast as the planes can fly them over from China Italy. Hey, it worked for a Jersey Girl, right?

Speaking of Jersey Beverly Hills girls: Jimmy Choo, the fashionistas’ favorite shoemaker, could be about to change hands for up to £500m — “The owners of the glamorous shoe business have been sounding out investment banks about ‘strategic options’ for the business. Sources said the company’s shareholders may appoint an adviser by the end of the summer to work on a strategic review. Selling the company, which has managed to expand despite the economic turmoil, is one option.”

Considering that a perfume range for Jimmy Choo was first announced back in 2007, then again in late 2009, but a bottle still has yet to hit the shelves, it sounds like the Choo might be craving a cash infusion (and short that, an outright sale) now that a cutback in consumer spending has favored established heritage labels over the flashy Jimmy come latelies.

2.) Selfridges Squabbles with Dolce & Gabbana, D&G “Flounces” Off:
“Selfridges will no longer stock Dolce & Gabbana products after allegedly having a ‘giant falling out’ with the luxury Italian designer . . . There were claims the retailer and the designer parted on bad terms after Selfridges proposed a change to the lines’ in-store positions, according to industry magazine Drapers. The co-owner of one premium brand said: ‘They have had a giant falling out and flounced off. I’m sure they will kiss and make up when they have cooled off. They’ll have to’ . . . Selfridges, bought by Canadian businessman Galen Weston in 2003, was recently named by retailers as the world’s best department store.”

So, yeah, it does seem like a rather shaky business decision to stomp out of the room and slam the door behind you when dealing with “the world’s best department store” . . . especially when #1) it’s a recession, and #2) they can do without you so much easier than you can do without them.

It reminds me of when Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus cut Versace menswear from their product lineups after Donatella shooed their buyer out of a front row seat at their January, 2008 fashion show in favor of seating Beyonce and her bodyguard. The two parties kissed and made-up, but Versace learned its lesson the hard way.

So will Dolce & Gabbana, if they don’t get over their Diva act.

What Selfridges might not be carrying come Spring

3.) New Era Wants You to Be Unique – Just Like Millions of Other People:
“Exhortations by advertisers to express individuality — by, oddly enough, consuming mass-market products — have grown louder . . . An example of how the mainstream is becoming a collection of niche streams is a campaign to be announced on Tuesday by the cap maker New Era, which carries the theme ‘Fly your own flag.’ The campaign, by a New York agency named Brooklyn Brothers, salutes ‘flag bearers,’ as it calls achievers who march to their own drummers (while, of course, wearing New Era caps) . . . Research found that ‘an underlying theme for our product is that people wear it to express themselves,’ Mr. Koch said. But it may seem paradoxical that people seek to express how unique they are by wearing a cap that multitudes of other people also wear.”

To be frank, it doesn’t seem like the smartest of ad campaigns, but the “Express Yourself!” mantra has been around for a long time in Western culture, and if there’s one thing that advertising agencies love to exploit, it’s the familiar.

But for a look at how the same kind of “be an individual” advertising approach can land you in a boiling kettle of controversy, take a look at the furor over one of Dior’s latest ad campaigns in China: “Continuing its love affair with our city, Dior has released ‘Shanghai Dreamers,’ a series of haute couture prints photographed by local talent, Quentin Shih. But the campaign has triggered accusations that its images of cloned Chinese people behind – usually – a white model dressed to the nines are pretty racist . . . How does this represent any ability to stand on a world stage except for as an accessory of a white person? And doesn’t this kind of feel like another ‘all look the same’ joke?”

In other China news, Levis launches new global brand, aimed at China: “Jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. launched a new global brand in China on Wednesday, joining a growing list of companies that hope to crack this fast-growing and youthful market by tailoring their products to Chinese tastes . . . The new brand is aimed at young consumers in emerging markets, starting with China, Singapore and South Korea . . . ‘In the last few years we seen a new group of consumers,’ said Aaron Boey, president for Levi Strauss’s Asia-Pacific division. ‘Many of them want stylish clothes but at accessible prices,’ he said . . . The Levis brand enjoys an avid following in China, among a relatively limited number well-off younger shoppers, some of whom are collectors.”

The lower priced, made for China Levis line (not to mention the upcoming lower priced, made for China Hermes line) is tapping into what analysts call the pragmatic Chinese mindset: “Despite rising disposable incomes, Chinese consumers are not trading up indiscriminately to more expensive products. A shopper who splashes out on something will typically compensate by trading down on other goods. Max Magni, who leads McKinsey’s consumer goods practice in Greater China, said this pragmatic, thrifty trait was unique to China and deeply engrained in the culture . . . ‘The Chinese consumer remains extremely anchored to what they can afford at the moment.’”

Which kind of addresses the main point of this next article, Will Luxury Price Hikes Cool Chinese Tourist Spending?: “Rough statistics from local Chinese travel agencies show the number of participants of Europe tours have increased at least 30% this summer from a year ago; however, the recent price increases of luxury goods in Europe may just cool the spending of Chinese tourists . . . In late June, Chanel hiked prices by about 30% in all the stores in France, offsetting the 12% depreciation of the euro against RMB. In July, Dior and Gucci followed suit, raising prices by around 5%. It is unclear if Louis Vuitton, which already had the prices adjusted in early 2010, will join them.”

4.) American Apparel Co. is $120 million in Debt and Struggling:
“Here’s what it comes down to: Dov Charney started with an awesome concept but expanded too rapidly. Charney also let his controversial ‘work policies’ hinder the brilliance of his brand. (When you own a public company, you’re not only answering to your customers and your employees, but also to shareholders. You have to live and work by a different set of much stricter rules.) . . . It will probably mean less American Apparel stores, but honestly, they’ve become as ubiquitous as Starbucks in New York. I admittedly like to shop at American Apparel, but do I need two of them within walking distance of my apartment? Not really.”

To add insult to injury, investors have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, claiming that the board of directors “mismanaged the company” and “irreparably damaged” its image. Controversy swirls around the company’s financial accounting, and they’re so late with the latest financial reports that they’re in danger of being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (not to mention that their accounting/auditing firm just up and quit on them — probably not wishing to be associated with whatever cash counting practices they might potentially have unearthed).

If the company does survive, they’ll still need to shed retail outlets and do some drastic cost cutting.

Meanwhile, Abercrombie & Fitch is doing its own rethinking of the grow grow grow mantra: “The company also announced plans to close 60 domestic stores this fiscal year, predominantly at year’s end, and cut its planned international growth for the Hollister chain by 20%.”

And the former Gucci CEO, who’s now being courted to run the upscale Barney’s New York chain, has laid down the law with the investment group that owns Barney’s: “sources added that (Mark) Lee has been skittish about Barneys’ prospects as it looks to compete with its bigger, better-funded rivals Saks and Neiman Marcus. As such, Lee is demanding that Dubai-based Istithmar pour fresh cash into the company, according to sources briefed on the situation . . . Lee ‘is not interested in taking on an impossible task,’ according to one source close to the situation. ‘He wants to make sure he is backed by a serious partner.’”

But there are definite reasons to be skittish about pouring good money after bad in the present state of the American economy: 1.) A record number of U.S. workers are tapping into their retirement accounts to make it through the economic downturn; 2.) The government intends to beat the dead horse of the collapsed real estate market in order to stimulate growth and spending; 3.) U.S. bankruptcies surge to five year high; and 4.) Jobless Claims in U.S. Rose to Highest Since November of 2009.

If I were Istithmar, I might be hesitant to dump a fresh bucket of cash into Barney’s, too.

5.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:

A.) It’s obvious that things are going from bad to worse when a global fashion company hypes its latest ad campaign as a noteworthy, buzz-culture event, but what about the product being advertised? Well, you know, LOOK AT OUR EXPENSIVE GLITZY AD INSTEAD!

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men . . .

And another well-known director and Hollywood star pair up for a big budget, glitzy perfume commercial:

Guy Ritchie and Jude Law in Paris for Dior Homme

Kapferer and Bastien write in “The Luxury Strategy” that the fragrance industry has ditched the primary luxury rules in favor of sales sales sales, and that this has hurt the industry in the long run: “Our anti-law number 9, ‘The role of (luxury) advertising is not to sell’, and number 16, ‘Keep stars out of your advertising’, are increasingly neglected in perfume; the systematic use of regularly changing stars in advertising, and the massive investment in television, are completely opposed to a luxury strategy . . . (these) methods are directly inspired by mass consumption marketing, image marketing, whereas in luxury it is the brand identity that (is supposed to) take precedence.”

I mean, my god, even Playboy is getting in on the act, releasing a perfume trio. Can the market possibly support any more product?

B.) I never thought I’d see the day when a brand produces its own cheap knockoffs: “So, we know you’re excited for Mulberry’s Target collection, which is debuting on Gilt tomorrow. In fact, you’re so excited that we’re betting Gilt Groupe is going to be full-on bombarded at noon EST by eager shoppers.”

Mulberry for Target. Look at the photos and weep, oh ye Mulberry fans — look at them and weep.

Speaking of knockoffs, Victoria Beckham has hired a “consultant” to “help her” design a handbag collection. The “consultant”? None other than the woman responsible for designing some of the most successful Marc by Marc Jacobs bags.

C.) I guess it’s a good thing that designers are starting to get serious about offering plus size items for consumers: A quarter of women are size UK18 (16 U.S.) or bigger – up 45% in five years.

Western fashion houses will need to continue to develope separate lines for Asian consumers just to address the growing size differences. But even if you build it, they won’t always buy.

D.) It’s the end of the world as we know it: Nikki Hilton posts first preview of £695 Jimmy Choo UGGs on Twitter.

Maybe it’s too late to sell the Jimmy Choo company, after all?

When I was interviewing luxury all-natural perfumer Mandy Aftel for the artisan series, one of the topics we discussed was her bespoke/custom fragrance service. She said that she prefers having her bespoke clients visit her personally at her studio in Berkeley, California, but since she realizes that this isn’t a possibility for the majority of her internet clients, she deveoped a long-distance custom service, as well.

“What is a long-distance custom consultation like” I asked, envisioning a three-step process of cosmic meditations, tarot cards and bleary Skype chats at 3 a.m. from customers who forget that there are such things as time zones (guilty as charged). “Why don’t we do one together,” suggested Aftel, “and you can write about the experience on your site.”

Oh, well, you know . . . that wasn’t such a bad idea.

Send in the essences!

I intimated that maybe the whole thing could begin with me sending links to photographs I liked, listing my favorite 100 pop songs in alphabetical order from the past thirty years, and snipping off a lock of my hair and mailing it to her (along with my last twelve dream journals that perhaps she’d like to browse, you know, for inspiration).

“Don’t be silly,” she said, completely bursting my bubble of crystal blue persuasions. “All I really need to know are smells from the natural world that you like — if you know the names of essences, like, say, ambergris, vetiver, rose, nutmeg, please let me know. I’ll start off by sending you some tiny vials for you to smell and rank by preference as soon as I get a better picture of the essences you think you might enjoy.”

It sounded terribly prosaic, but who am I if not a coat of many colors, so I sat down and started scribbling away: “I like rainbows, and puppies, and warm brown-sugar cinnamon toast . . . “ — needless to say, it took a while to narrow things down, but I ended up with a list that was a fairly comprehensive sprinkling of low notes. Florals? Nada. Fruits? Zip. It was all woods, resins and spices for moi. Mandy just laughed when she got my email and said that her experience with Jonathan Ive was similar when he visited her studio to begin the process for a custom fragrance — all base notes, all of the time.

“But that’s okay,” she said. “This means the end result will probably be a fragrance in an oil base rather than an alcohol based perfume, but I’m going to send you some top and middle note essences for you to explore and see if you might like anyway, despite yourself.”

And this is where it got interesting, because what arrived in the mail was a package of 48 small vials — grouped by top, middle and base notes — but numbered instead of named, which made it a kind of blindfold test. Mandy didn’t want me to know what I was smelling so that I could approach each essence without any preconceptions. I was to simply rank the essences that I enjoyed the most and let her know the result.

Separating the wheat from the chaff

I spent the next several days sniffing, smiling, sniffing again, grimacing, and writing down impressions that I would cross out and write over, then cross out and write over again. Smells I liked the first time around (“This made my toes curl with pleasure — yes!”) were abandoned on the second pass through (“I don’t know what I was thinking? Must get doctor’s referral for good neurological specialist”) with a few then brought back into the fold on the third try (“At first blush, no, but then something bittersweet, dark and cocoa-ish caught my attention, so yes”).

Once I had the essences divided, conquered and ranked, I sent off an email to Mandy and we had a telephone conversation about the materials I chose and the essences I passed over. Some of the surprises? I really liked the dry, herbal pink pepper, which I’d initally mistaken for juniper berry. And linden blossom, jasmine sambac, honeysuckle and pink lotus made it on to my “yes” list, despite my stated aversion to florals. But below is the full list of what I chose:

Saffron, Rum, Phenyl ethyl acetate, Pink Pepper, an accord of Linden blosoom, Clary Sage and Lavender, Cocoa, Jasmine Sambac, Pink Lotus, Coffee, Honeysuckle, another accord of Benzoin, Antique Sandalwood and Vanilla, Black Spruce (which I initially mistook for Birch Tar and lordy it’s lovely!), Labdanum, a third accord of Oakmoss, Amber, Patchouli and Costus, Vanilla, Ambergris, Tonka and a final accord of Frankincense, Tobacco and Fir absolute.

Things I didn’t like: the Civet essence smelled like old parmesan cheese, the Juniper Berry was like a mix of dandelions and Tang, that Costus all on its own was unpleasantly musty and sour, Bergamot was too bright, sunny and in my face, Choya resembled the odor of kerosene, and while Orange flower was interesting in a salty, musky way, it just wasn’t my thing. Oh, and pure Vetiver was an absolute no-go. I actually wrote, “Not just no, but h*ll no!”

So much for thinking I knew what I liked based on a couple of years of intensive sniffing at synthetic approximations.

And now for Round Three

Based on the ranking list and our subsequent telephone conversation, Aftel got busy in her mad-scientist lab of natural essences and absolutes, and about a week later I received a small package containing four glass mini-jars of potential fragrances, each of them tweaked in somewhat different directions for unique results.

I’m sitting here typing this as version #2 rises off my skin. It’s a fascinating mix of sharp and smooth elements, sweet and salty, and like most all-natural fragrances, it hangs tight. I even experiemented by slathering on a good, generous amount, but even then, I’m not overpowering the room (though I may have crowded the air a bit when I used the elevator this morning to go check the mail — sorry, neighbors!).

There’s enough juice in each of the vials to perform weeks of testing and evaluating, which is perfect for me, as I don’t like to make snap decisions, especially on a fragrance that I’ll be calling mine mine mine for the rest of my life. But this is just step three — if I like one of the versions enough, it can be the final deal and we’re done and wow that would be (too) easy, but this step can also be just another of many as I evaluate and select and narrow down while Mandy tweaks the formulations to eventually arrive at that all-natural perfume concoction that knocks my socks off.

But if version #2 is any indication, we’re already off to a good start.

1.) Is It Time for Karl Lagerfeld to Retire?
“As a lover of brands and someone who has worked for a decade for some of the biggest luxury houses as a consultant, I always gain inspiration from a local Church of Chanel. But in recent months, I must confess a growing sense of disappointment at the state of the brand. Its shop windows lack inspiration, the new collections are a little too derivative and the clientele looks older to me on each visit. Whisper very softly, but I think Chanel is getting dusty.”

The author notes that he’s likely to be in the minority with this opinion, but he does bring up some interesting points: A.) the two recent movie biographies of Coco Chanel have focused on her own personal history more than the development of the house of Chanel, and that personal history comes across onscreen as, well, very historical rather than very contemporary and of the now — yet a fashion house has to be “now” if it’s to compete globally; B.) there have been recurring rumors over the past year that Lagerfeld is retiring soon, and that he’ll be replaced by Alber Elbaz, currently head designer at Lanvin. Elbaz has done a bang-up job introducing Lanvin into the 21st century, and his collections are generally met with excitement from the gaggle of fashion critics, while Lagerfeld has to literally drag in gigantic chunks of iceberg from the North Pole to get anyone to talk about Chanel.

Video examples below — first, Elbaz’s Fall 2010 collection for Lanvin:

Sleek and taut

Now, Lagerfeld’s Fall 2010 collection for Chanel:

Moose and squirrel

Lanvin now looks more Chanel than Chanel, whereas Chanel now looks . . . like a circus act, and how long has it been since the circus has been popular? Right, exactly.

This seeming lack of contemporary relevance has hit Chanel where it hurts. According to the latest Millward Brown Brandz valuation, Chanel has lost 11% of its brand value over the past year, while competitors like Gucci, Hermes and Louis Vuitton have seen their brand values increase as the recession lingers and the market consolidates.

Speaking of luxury brands and global markets, in the wake of numerous articles announcing the end of bling and the rise of the new discreet luxury — Gucci even announced that cutting back on the logo-ification of their accessories has increased sales — Forbes has published a piece that wonders whether China’s newly rich luxury consumers are interested in expensive designer merchandise that doesn’t flash a lot of logos: “When Chinese consumers purchase a luxury item, they’re not just buying the product but are paying for all of the added value denoted by this object — identification of status, display of economic power and so forth . . . If a luxury buyer’s coworkers and friends can’t tell the price of the brand, even if this person spent a lot of money on a given item, their satisfaction level will still be low.”

In an interview with Jing Daily, Linda Pilkington, founder of luxury perfume brand Ormonde Jayne, talks about the unique challenge of introducing an “invisible” luxury product like perfume to the wealthy Chinese tourists who visits her boutique: “Pilkington said that introducing her products to Chinese tourists, who rarely speak English, is a far ‘purer experience,’ as they’re less swayed by marketing-speak and are simply choosing products based on personal, sensual preferences. This, Ms. Pilkington observed, is a very important development, since Chinese luxury shoppers typically seek out the items that are most ostentatious and heavily branded — Louis Vuitton bags, Chanel sunglasses, etc. — and luxury fragrances, as an ‘invisible status symbol,’ are a comparatively new concept for them.”

Pilkington also noted that there’s been a distinct shift in tourist demographics on London’s high street — where it used to be Middle Eastern and Russian shoppers, it’s now mostly Asian, with the majority of them Chinese, and that while they’re still in thrall to the logo, they’re also becoming curious about luxury brands and goods on a personal level.

This difference in cultural attitudes and consumer needs is driving speculation that a one size fits all global branding approach cannot continue if global brands are to survive in the Asian markets, as it might be too soon for Western luxury brands to ditch the logos in favor of less flashy designs.

With the above in mind, the decision of Hermes to develop its own “made for China” brand, Shang Xia — with its first boutique scheduled to open in Shanghai this September — is looking downright brilliant (I’ve questioned this decision for months, but am now just realizing how savvy it might be) . Instead of requiring Chinese consumers to change their tastes to the style of Hermes, Hermes has taken the step to develop another brand entirely to cater to the tastes of the Chinese consumer. This keeps Hermes from diluting its heritage while also giving them a foothold in the Chinese market.

But hey, as long as we’re talking about China: Why luxury brands are forced to engage on Chinese social media (even when they don’t make money) — “Lifestyle and fashion trends are driven by social media in China; people are influenced by what other netizens think, the peer is the true trend setter. For example, whenever a product is featured on (Chinese shopping and social media site) Taobao, or most voted by other users, it would become the new trend in fashion. Singers/ celebrities actually dress themselves based on what people like, or what’s hot on social networks like Kaixin, not the other way around like most other countries.”

Which helps to explain the continued power of the logo in China. Buying a logo clad designer brand is often not about expressing individual style, but about publicly flashing the approved insignia. In the U.S., designer brands have hit the over-exposure wall as their goods are featured in magazine spreads and on celebrity gossip sites, entertainment news shows, reality tv shows and movies, so while the Western consumer is moving to rid her/himself of branded status symbols (which have come, in some quarters, to symbolize the financial excesses that crashed our economy), the Chinese consumer has only just begun his/her arc of awareness.

More on social media in Asia: “One of Asia’s great rapid growth stories in Social Media over recent months has been the Twitter’s ascension in Japan . . . One reason for the possible appeal of Twitter in Japan and Sina Weibo in China is how much can be expressed in 140 characters. Each character in Chinese and Japanese is equivalent to a word, making microblogs more like blogs.”

2.) Givaudan Reports that the Fragrance Market is Improving:
“Fragrance and flavour maker Givaudan struck an upbeat note for 2010 as retailers restocked perfumes and strong demand in emerging markets helped its first-half sales and net profit beat expectations . . . The company coped well with the economic downturn as demand for its flavours and commercial scents, especially in emerging markets, offset a decline in more cyclical fine perfumes.”

Ah, but there’s the rub. The fine fragrance market is still hurting, though there’s always a silver lining: LVMH reported that its fragrance and cosmetics division saw a 12% increase in sales for the first half of the year in comparison to 2009, while Hermes reported a 17% increase in perfume sales for the 2nd quarter of 2010.

Flavor & Fragrance giant IFF is also reporting a sunny 17% increase in sales for the 2nd quarter of 2010, with a 23% growth in the fragrance unit alone. But (and there’s always a “but” lately) CEO Doug Tough cautioned that the second half of 2010 will be challenging as the benefits of restocking (companies purchasing goods/materials to replace reduced inventory levels) subside.

In other fragrance news, pop-soul singer Mary J. Blige launched her celebrity fragrance, My Life, on the Home Shopping Network (HSN), selling 60,000 bottles in 6 hours, “shattering fragrance records at HSN for units sold and placing the launch amongst the most successful in the prestige fragrance market.”

Analysts are crowing as to how this changes the future of fragrance launches: “‘Long gone are the days of traditional marketing that rely only on sampling and advertising. Consumers want to connect, believe and immerse themselves in the experience. They want to see themselves fit into the story,’ said Steve Stoute (investor).”

Though before anyone dumps the department store model and moves to HSN, it should be noted that pop-soul singer Beyonce’s Heat fragrance sold 70,000 bottles in its first hour of sales (fans snagged 500 gift sets — priced at $122.00 — of the fragrance at Macy’s on its first day), while raking in over $3 million in one month on the market. HSN may have been a good launchpad for Blige, but that’s because Blige’s popularity is several levels lesser than someone like Beyonce. Expect to see the entire Hollywood D-List rush to HSN soon.

3.) Women Try On 21,000 Items of Clothing in a Lifetime:
“On average, women hit the shops four times a month and disappear into the changing rooms with ten tops, pairs of jeans, dresses or shoes on each trip.
That’s a total of 40 different items of clothing tried on each month – or a staggering 480 a year . . . it also emerged that one in two women regularly try clothes on at stores – with absolutely no intention of buying them. Sue Beck of Lambrini, which carried out the research, said: ‘For many women, trying on different clothes is often the best part of a shopping trip. Hours are spent in changing rooms with friends trying on weird and wonderful outfits you wouldn’t ever dare wear out in public.’”

For some reason, I didn’t consider trying on 480 items of clothing a year to be particularly “staggering” . . . dear god, I have to try on ten pairs of jeans to find just one that fits my legs properly without falling off my waist. I mean, what? Do that many people really purchase clothing items without trying them on first? It must be nice, ‘cuz I am so not an Off The Rack size.

I think what was even more amusing about the article is that the author drops the castigating “staggering” amount of clothes tone to chastise women shoppers for only buying “half” of what they try on! But here are the other statistics: 84% intend only to window shop, but buy something anyway; if five items are purchased on a shopping trip, on average one will never be worn and one will be returned; 40% of women decide they don’t like an item as soon as they get home; and 85% of women regret buying something they thought they wanted, while 85% of women regret *not* buying something they thought they wanted.

It’s a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma!

More Women Shopping news: 84% of women plan to increase spending as the economy improves — “The survey found that 41% of consumers say they plan to purchase clothing and accessories and 34% plan to buy electronics. However, there were clear gender differences. For instance, 52% of women say they plan to spend on apparel, compared to 30% of men.”

Well, I hate to break it to ya, but that aint gonna be anytime soon: “Broad declines in other retail sales have economists concerned that spending will slow further in the second half of this year. Households are saving more and spending less as they struggle with high unemployment and lackluster job growth.”

Not to mention foreclosures: “Declines in new default notices, which were down on a year-over-year basis for the sixth straight month in July, have been offset by near-record levels of bank repossessions, which increased on a year-over-year basis for the eighth straight month.”

So when, exactly, is all that spending supposed to start happening again?

4.) So Now He Tells Us:
“When we ran into Calvin Klein this weekend … we complimented him on the sultry Zoe Saldana Calvin Klein ads, but he quickly informed us, ‘I have nothing to do with any of it. I sold the company. I have nothing to do with it.’ Oh, okay, then. Since he is surely still at least an observer in the fashion world, we asked what trends he’s sick of. But, no, he’s pretty much over those, too: ‘You know, since I’m no longer involved in the fashion business, I’m so happy to not pay attention to trends because they are meaningless anyway. They are over fast. As soon as you see them, as soon as you see people wearing them, they are over. That’s it. As soon as you see it on someone, forget it.’”

It’s kind of like the old saying that a new car starts depreciating in value the second you drive it off the lot. Yet one more reason to not follow trends and wear what you like, when you like.

I was recently contacted by a writer for a quote about perfume that was to be published on an Indian Internet Portal for women. She didn’t tell me exactly what the article would be about, but asked me two questions: 1.) Are there any guidelines to choosing perfumes?; and 2.) How should one use/wear perfumes?

Simple enough. I answered with gusto, talking about issues of perfume in the workplace, wearing a perfume head to toe instead of just on the neck and wrists so that the scent isn’t in everyone’s face all day, choosing a gourmand fragrance when dining out so you don’t disturb other dinner guests, etc. But my main point was that there is no guideline to choosing a perfume — a woman should simply choose and wear what she likes, trends be damned.

So guess what gets published anyway? Uh-huh, I’m cringing, too: “Since fragrances are part of a woman’s personality, one should select a perfume keeping in mind one’s age, identity and character. ‘For instance, edible or gourmand fragrances and strong, sporty perfumes suit trendy teenage girls, while women in their forties’ might prefer a fragrance that is classy and chic,’ explains (IFF perfumer) Vilobha Joshi.”

*sigh*

Just let people buy what they like, right? For a commercial perfumer to tell older women they can’t wear the happy gourmands they might enjoy, or teenagers that they can’t wear the Shalimar they love, seems wrong on so many levels.

5.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:

A.) The Wealthy Make the Retail World Go ‘Round: “What is surprising is just how much or our consumer economy is now dependent on the rich, and how that share has increased as the U.S. emerges from recession. In the third quarter of 1990, the top 5% accounted for 25% of consumer outlays. That held relatively steady until the mid-1990s, when it started inching up past 30%. It dipped in 2003 and again in 2008, but started surging in 2009 amid the greatest bull market rally in history, with the Dow Jones Industry Average rising nearly 50% in the last nine months of the year.”

That was one of those trick questions, right? Because I’m trying to figure out how anyone could have considered the above news “surprising”.

B.) A Movement Towards Zero Waste Design — and no, it’s not about skinny models: “Zero-waste design strives to create clothing patterns that leave not so much as a scrap of fabric on the cutting room floor. This is not some wacky avant-garde exercise; it’s a way to eliminate millions of tons of garbage a year. Apparel industry professionals say that about 15 to 20 percent of the fabric used to produce clothing winds up in the nation’s landfills because it’s cheaper to dump the scraps than to recycle them.”

The fashion industry was making public noises back in 2007 about “going green”, yet it’s 2010 and they’re only *just* experimenting with non-wasteful design processes? My head, it shakes.

C.) The Department Stores Are All Right: 1.) Nordstrom 2nd Quarter sales are up 13%; 2.) Neiman Marcus’ sales increase 12% for the month of July; 3.) Kohl’s 2nd Quarter sales are up over 7%; 4.) Saks Fifth Avenue reports a nice July, with sales increasing over 4%;5.) Macy’s posts a surge in profit; and 6.) JC Penney reports a slight increase in profit for the 2nd Quarter.

But the retail numbers are down for apparel overall. Hmmmm. I do notice that the department stores reporting the best numbers are the ones that sell the highest end merchandise. Or perhaps their numbers seem so high because they’re being compared to last year, when they were so bad.

It’s an interesting experience to write about Andy Tauer, as my comments section usually crackles with an extra jolt of energy in response. The deep personal loyalty that Mr. Tauer elicits from his customers is more than just breathless desire for the latest status symbols pushed by affiliate-heavy fashion sites (i.e. “The top ten Fall looks you need right now!” peppered with an abundance of e-shop links) — instead, it’s a direct result of the one-to-one relationship that only the DIY producer can offer in a world of assembly-line manufacturing, global distribution and pay-per-click marketing.

Not that this means independent artisans like Tauer are opposed to selling, but that selling his goods is only part of the overall transaction between customer and producer, an interaction that includes the exchange of ideas as well as the exchange of cash. “I could not do what I do these days if there were no market for my scents,” he replied, when I asked if he ever felt any tension between the concepts of perfumery as art and perfumery as commercial product. “So I look at commerce, in this sense, as an enabler. My online shop allows me to spread fragrant messages, and because there seems to be a market for these messages, I can continue doing what I really love to do: create perfumes.”

Christina Binkley wrote in the Wall Street Journal that indie designers were gaining a foothold in fashion because their non-mainstream offerings allow consumers to develop their own style rather than chase the latest trends — but she could just as easily be writing about indie perfumers, too.

I emailed Abigail Levin, who writes for I Smell Therefore I Am and runs the perfume shop Posh Peasant in Santa Fe, about whether she felt a greater sense of satisfaction wearing a perfume that was created, mixed and bottled by hand. She wrote back, saying that “All the top brands fall flat for me now — they feel impersonal and corporate and just plain expensive, which is not the same as luxurious . . . The former icons of luxury, such as Chanel, Prada, Guerlain and the like, no longer bestow this feeling of having purchased something individual, exceptional, unique or one of a kind.”

Tauer’s latest, ‘Carillon Pour un Ange’, featured in a pre-release mini-bottle

In a commercial marketplace saturated with sameness, analysts have recognized that a growing number of consumers feel the way Levin does, and that these consumers are willing to pay a premium to not look and smell just like everyone else around them. Marigay McKee, the fashion and beauty director at the London department store Harrods, told industry website WWD: “The whole trend we are seeing – from fashion through to beauty – is antimass, antifaux, antibling. What customers are looking for is heritage, provenance and embellishment” — which is exactly what the artisan movement supplies: the heritage of the handmade, the provenance of the individual mind and the embellishment of the uniquely personal. And all without having to run multi-million dollar ad campaigns to convince us of it.

“I envisage a world where, when someone says ‘I love your top,’ you won’t just say, ‘Thanks, it’s from Topshop’,” said Claire Hamer, a former mainstream fashion buyer who was quoted in an article for the Guardian UK about the mass-produced fast fashion industry and its often brutal exploitation of third world workers. “You’ll take pride in knowing who made it. The value is not just in the brand, it’s in the people who made it.”

But while there’s plenty of pride for indie consumers in the “knowing who made it” category, there’s one often repeated criticism of buying from small DIY brands: the unfortunately lackluster presentation. The prices are as high (if not higher) for a Tauer fragrance as you’ll pay for the average bottle of perfume from Chanel or Armani, yet up until his very recent brand overhaul, Tauer’s presentation was less than impressive, with a clunky website, drab shipping boxes and generic buy-in-bulk bottles that hadn’t changed much (if at all) since he founded his company in 2005.

But this is a common problem for many indie brand owners — they offer a quality product that’s arguably as good as, if not better than, their mainstream counterparts, yet precisely because the DIY brands don’t have the kind of corporate funding that can purchase a slick presentation, many consumers used to purchasing from market-savvy commercial brands won’t give the DIY’ers a second look.

“Some indie perfumers do need to better their packaging and branding in order to reach similar (or better) levels of luxury as mainstream brands,” wrote Levin, when I questioned if packaging ever influenced her purchasing decisions. “Liz Zorn’s (independent) Soivohle brand is presently leading the pack at this, but if a not so great package is a matter of keeping costs down, I do think most consumers will pay a little bit more for the look and feel of a quality presentation.”

Though even should their customers be happy to pay a little more at the end point, independent perfumers rightly note that the financial outlay required for the minimum orders necessary to get their hands on the good bottles is often more than their budgets can bear.

*NOTE: This is what’s commonly known as a Catch-22.

Out with the old — the former bottle for L’Air du Desert Marocain

In early 2009, I posted a a somewhat harsh criticism of Tauer’s (now former) packaging. While Andy took the criticism in stride and actually initiated a conversation about it on his own blog, there was a small rush in his comments section (and on a few other sites) to defend the brand by stating that he does all his own mixing, bottling and shipping — as if #1) I somehow didn’t know that already, and as if #2) being totally DIY is an excuse for a brand to be bringing up the rear, especially when the customer is charged a higher than mass-market price, nonetheless.

“When I showed the cheap, bent bottle (of L’Air du Desert Marocain) to (my) boyfriend,” I wrote at the time, “he said, ‘Really? That’s what they sent? . . . How much did this cost you?’ I mumbled something about it being one hundred dollars, and he burst out laughing. ‘You’re kidding me, right? Tell me you’re kidding!’ Somehow, I don’t think that’s the response a perfumer should be shooting for.”

Andy has since accomplished a thorough overhaul of his image, website and packaging, which has coincided with new distribution opportunities and increased commercial interest in his brand (he said his perfumes are now carried in fifty stores in Italy alone).

“I finally figured out I needed to get a bottle of my own,” he remarked, in a video interview with Grant Osborne of Basenotes.net during a few minutes of downtime at the Esxence fragrance expo in Milan, Italy. “Where you immediately see, oh, this is Tauer — because I think that’s important . . . I wanted to have something that was somewhat unique . . . or special, because I like to have my things special.”

And while he laughed as he said that, he was conveying a point that he knew to be prime — his products *are* special and unique, and it was long past time that the packaging reflected his level of singular creativity.

*NOTE: Andy remarks in the video interview below that the packaging designers (Designers Club out of Zurich, Switzerland) had read a newspaper article about him and thought that his story and product line sounded great, but he definitely needed help in creating a professional identity — so they generously offered their services free of charge.

Andy Tauer talks shop in Milan

“Design, by its very nature, is not democratic,” said Andy, when I pointed out his blog post where he mentioned deliberately not telling his blog readers about the new packaging design process, as he felt that since it was his name on the bottle, then the decisions were his alone to make. “To discuss matters of design is difficult, and in a triangle of design firms, suppliers and brand owner (including issues of competition, lawyers and other stakeholders), a thorough discussion would have been virtually impossible.”

Which is one of the few instances where Andy didn’t invite his blog readers into the creative process, because the Tauer blog is ordinarily an atmosphere of free-wheeling call and response between Andy and his customers, with perfume concepts sent on world treks to be analyzed and reviewed, new fragrance names debated energetically and the formulae for his fragrances discussed openly and in-depth.

“The fragrance I’m presently pre-launching with Lucky Scent was originally christened ‘Gabriel’, but for a variety of reasons it didn’t work out, and my very interactive blog community helped settle on a new name (Carillon Pour un Ange) that’s much better than anything I was dreaming up on my own,” he said. “It is exactly this collaborative intelligence aspect that I look for in my blog.”

And it’s exactly this kind of open, collaborative relationship that makes the artisan experience so refreshing for today’s consumer, a generation raised on a retail diet of malls, department stores and discount chains. Is it any wonder that the rise of sites like Etsy and Indie Scents are receiving a warm welcome?

***NEXT: Part 3 (and the conclusion) of our Artisan Series featuring Andy Tauer, plus a giveaway featuring Tauer’s Carillon Pour un Ange and samples from all-natural brand Aftelier

1.) It’s Not Just the Big Names That Feel the Knockoff Pain:
“After years of knocking off luxury products like $2,800 Louis Vuitton handbags, criminals are discovering there is money to be made in faking the more ordinary — like $295 Kooba bags and $140 Ugg boots . . . The shift in the counterfeiting industry … plays to recession-weary customers looking for downmarket deals, the authorities say. And it has been fueled in part by factories sitting idle in China . . . ‘If there is demand, there will be supply,’ said John Spink, associate director of the Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection Program at Michigan State University. In China, he said, ‘It’s all of a sudden them saying, ‘We have low capacity. What can we make?’”

The article goes on to mention several interesting points — the most notable being that counterfeiters are discovering that they can make *more* money by knocking off lower-priced items. I know, it sounds counterintuitive, but when you see a $3,000 Gucci bag on eBay for $200, then red flags are going to start waving everywhere and you’ll take a pass. But when you see a $300 Kooba bag on a discount website for $180, you’re probably just going to think you found a great deal and place your order.

Added bonus for the counterfeiters — smaller, mid-priced companies like Kooba don’t have the money, the manpower and the lawyers to crack down on counterfeiters the way a company like Gucci can (Gucci is part of the Gucci Group, which is part of French multi-national holding company PPR), so counterfeiters pretty much have the run of the place when it comes to spreading the fake news on mid-level brands like Kate Spade and Botkier.

Said Corinna Sellinger, co-founder of leather goods company Foley & Corinna: “It’s just too frustrating. You can try to do something, but it’s so big and so fast . . . Once it’s out there a lot, people won’t even want the real one because then they’re like, ‘People are going to think it’s fake.’”

But this doesn’t take the heat off the more well-known brand names. In “Knockoff: The Deadly Trade in Counterfeit Goods“, Tim Phillips writes that global luxury brand Hermes is spending increasing amounts of time and money battling counterfeiting — time and money that used to be spent on promoting the brand and developing new products.

Phillips interviewed Joseph Gioconda, an intellectual property specialist that worked on the Hermes account. Gioconda stated that “Hermes had a counterfeiting problem but it was steady and predictable. The quality of the counterfeits was poor and their quantity was manageable . . . (but) the problem has exploded . . . I track the reports from customs … It used to be two or four bags, now it’s 2,000 or 4,000 (fake Hermes bags) per shipment, and that’s just what gets caught.”

And as we mentioned in a previous posting, if China is responsible for two-thirds of these counterfeit goods (as is thought to be the case), then it’s against their own best interests for the Chinese government to put a stop to counterfeiting as their country’s very economic survival depends on the continued, if not growing, manufacture and exportation of counterfeit goods — especially when consumer demand is slumping across the globe, yet the millions of Chinese citizens who’ve left rural areas and flocked to the urban manufacturing centers still need employment.

As long as we’re talking about China: there’s talk that China’s real estate market is overvalued by as much as 60%, presaging a potential bubble-burst and subsequent economic quagmire bigger than what we’ve experienced in the U.S.: “China’s banking regulator told lenders last month to conduct a new round of stress tests to gauge the impact of residential property prices falling as much as 60% in the hardest-hit markets” with speculation that there are about 64.5 million empty apartments and houses in urban areas of the country, a number roughly five times larger than the 12 million in total US public home inventory available currently.

Add to that the reports of widespread loan shark ponzi-schemes unraveling across China, with civil unrest said to be percolating under the surface, and I’m the color of concerned.

So when companies like the Gucci Group, Polo, Prada and LVMH reported their latest fiscal numbers for the first half of 2010 — and the numbers were very positive, with luxury bloggers and industry types breathing sighs of relief (if not jumping up and down and waving their pom-poms wildly) — it’s a bittersweet affair, because buried in the reports is the troubling fact that the majority of growth and sales for these luxury-fashion brands is coming from, you guessed it, Asia (and mostly China).

2.) High Fashion Can No Longer Afford to Ignore the Curves:
“The designer-level racks at select Saks Fifth Avenue stores are expanding. Beginning this fall, the options for women looking for sizes 16 and 18 will include more high-fashion styles . . . said Sasha Iglehart, deputy fashion director at Glamour, ‘It’s a real investment for these brands to make sizes in that range. It’s not just taking a pattern and making it bigger . . . The proportions are different, and there has to be real thought into what’s flattering to women in that size range.’”

This particular topic of conversation got even hotter this past week when Robert Duffy, president of the Marc Jacobs brand, hopped onto Twitter and engaged in a public conversation with the brand’s followers over introducing plus-sizes to the Marc Jacobs range. But the decision of Saks Fifth Avenue to start stocking designer plus-sizes is a potential game-changer for the whole fashion industry.

Because these same high-end brands that will be supplying plus-size items for Saks won’t even be carrying them in their own boutiques or offering them on their own websites. This appears to be a market experiment, where the reception at Saks will dictate whether this directional move survives or dies (and you can see by the Robert Duffy Twitter conversation that there’s still a lot of debate over it).

It’s also a particularly illuminating barometer of the retail sector for high fashion at this time. The big luxury-fashion brands have always (always!) refused to create plus-sizes, insisting that designing for curves destroyed the integrity of their vision (and probably just because it’s a lot harder to design for larger women — when you’re designing for a walking coat-hanger, you don’t have many structural challenges to worry about) — but all of a sudden they’re open to the idea?

Smells like industry-wide flop-sweat to me. But sure, yeah, everything’s fine and the recession’s over, they’re just now offering plus-sizes cuz they care . . . a lot.

3. Cartier Fires a Warning Shot At Flash Sale Sites:
“With a weakened global economy eroding their profit margins, luxury brand marketers have seen their traditional upscale buyers turn away from the brands they once cherished. Instead, many of these consumers are trading down and looking for lower-priced bargains . . . (but) Cartier has brought suit in a U.S. District Court against HauteLook, accusing the e-tailer of making damaged and second-hand Cartier goods available on its site without permission . . . Cartier accused HauteLook of ‘causing immediate and irreparable harm to the Cartier brand and trademark,’ (saying) HauteLook sold used Cartier watches, damaged Cartier goods, and products with defaced authenticity certificates or warranties that do not apply.”

Now that the aspirational consumer has vanished, luxury brands are jealously defending what they consider their sole right to sell their own merchandise, but are these kinds of aggressive turf-war actions too little, too late?

I’ve shopped from Haute Look numerous time and have received only one damaged piece of merchandise (which I sent back) — but this affects my relationship with Haute Look more than it does with the brand name of the damaged item, so I’m skeptical as to the “damaged goods” part of Cartier’s claim. What’s more likely is that suing Haute Look as an unauthorized reseller is the only way Cartier can think of to prevent its name from being associated with the words “sale” and “discount”, two very dirty words in the luxury lexicon.

But really, when your main source of mainstream exposure is Paris Hilton flashing an ostentatious ring on a late night talk show, Haute Look is likely the least of your troubles.

“It’s TV, it’s supposed to be funny.”

I think my biggest surprise was in learning that Hilton has eleven perfume releases — that’s almost two perfume releases a year (her first fragrance was released in 2004). She’s her own one-woman brand dilution machine!

4.) Is It the Internet or the Economy? Fashion Magazine Sales Decline:
“With only a few exceptions, fashion titles saw yet further declines on newsstands in the first six months of the year, placing further pressure on them to hit their rate bases as publishers scurry to ferret out every ad dollar they can. ‘I think it’s fair to say media buyers will be paying more attention and wanting some answers,’ said Jack Hanrahan, publisher of industry newsletter CircMatters, of the first-half figures . . . Teen Vogue fell 30%, W declined 22%, Allure was down 19%, Lucky declined almost 17% and Vogue posted an almost 15% slide.”

It’s difficult to know exactly what to blame in this regard, but it’s most likely a combination of increased (and more candid) fashion coverage on the internet coupled with a continuing recession which doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon.

Fashion sites founded and maintained by the fans who love fashion (and not the companies that just want to advertise to them) have exploded on the net in the past couple of years, making the behind-the-curve coverage of old-school fashion magazines not so charmingly irrelevant. When practically the entire customer base for high and low fashion can see every collection, read every bit of gossip and follow links to seemingly every new trend and product as it happens, when it happens, waiting each month for some annointed magazine editor to tell you where you should shop and what you should buy seems hopelessly archaic.

I expect that advertisors will continue to see diminishing returns from traditional fashion magazines, and that Conde Nast will have to figure out a way of attracting consumer attention to fashion coverage that doesn’t involve beauty secrets and celebrity interviews that were widely published six months previously online.

Of course, it doesn’t help that the average magazine consumer was the aspirational one who’s now spending less.

Speaking of spending less, the July retail reports are in, and they’re (unsurprisingly) not good: Many Retailers Post Weak July Sales, Short of Estimates — “Although there were some standout results from a few retailers, the majority of sales reports fell short of analysts’ estimates, and the poor performance was most pronounced among teen retailers. This marks the fourth straight month of weak spending and the end of many retailers’ fiscal second quarter . . . (expect) to see the first half’s optimism fade as we head deeper into the second half of the year.”

5.) INDUSTRY QUICK HITS:

A.) New Bill Could Protect Designers From Being Knocked Off: “It’s a frustrating position for American designers to have little recourse when their designs are copied down to the most subtle details but a new bill gives designers some hope. Late last night, the New York Times broke the news that New York Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced a bill called the Innovative Design Protection and Piracy Prevention Act which would provide “very limited intellectual property protection to the most original design.” So if Marc Jacobs wanted to sue whomever knocked off his bag, he’d have to prove that that his design is a “unique, distinguishable, non-trivial and non-utilitarian variation over prior designs,” and that the knock off is “substantially identical” to the original.”

I’m wondering just how long it will take before every single designer in the United States wishes such a bill had never even been thought of? Lawsuits, lawsuits everywhere!

B.) Celebrity Culture has Changed the Way the Fashion Industry Works: “It’s simply not enough to be a designer anymore. Now you have to be a part-time magazine editor and photographer, a la Karl Lagerfeld, or a blogger-cum-designer, like the Internet stars who designed bags for Coach . . . The game has changed, and designers have to change with it to stay afloat. As the world continues to demand more and more accessible fashion, they also demand more access to the designers themselves.”

Video killed the radio star. ‘Nuff said.

“We can’t rewind we’ve gone too far”

C.) When Even Environmental Issues Become Just Another Sales Tool: “The 24 pages of Kristen McMenamy, shot by Steven Meisel, are realistic interpretations of images of injured, oiled animals that have inundated the news media since the Deepwater Horizon explosion in April. As beautiful and provocative as they are, we can’t help but feel uneasy. Creating beauty and glamour out of tragedy seems quite f***ed up to us, not to mention wasteful and hypocritical, seeing as thousands of dollars of luxury clothing was flown in, and then subsequently ruined for the shoot.”

Maybe they were thinking no one would notice?

D.) Gucci Says Goodbye to the Overly Logo’d: “‘Our groups are moving toward fewer logos, more discreet luxury,’ François-Henri Pinault noted. ‘It’s a question of adapting our ranges very rapidly to this new perception of luxury, a luxury which is more subtle, more sophisticated — which is what we are doing.’ Can you imagine? Somewhere a nouveau riche is crying his eyes out.”

It really is a brand new era.

One of the pleasures of searching out artisanal producers is discovering, among the millions of independent artists and craftsmen spread out across the globe, a unique, singular voice that grabs your attention, much like someone tapping a knife against a crystal glass in a large, crowded and very noisy room.

Reading from independent Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer’s blog, or even better yet, spraying one of his perfume creations into the air, is a lot like that — there’s a pure, unambiguous tone to seemingly everything the man does (and is), and once you experience this ringing directness, you feel compelled to stop for a closer look.

British Beauty Blogger (dot-com) wrote a witty wrap-up of a PR meeting with Andy back in June, and she cut right to the chase of why Mr. Tauer has the devoted fan base that he does, and what makes him so gosh-darn likeable amidst a sea of creative ego and commercial sameness:

“Andy Tauer is basically a regular guy . . . He’s not a bullshitter, he’s not trying to convince anyone his products were passed through the eye of a needle at midnight by scented elves, but my goodness he is coming up with some pretty amazing fragrances . . . (And) it’s not cheap, any of it (£90 a bottle), but it’s never seen a factory production line (Andy makes all the perfume himself, at home), doesn’t come with any high opinions of itself and will challenge every olfactory expectation. It really doesn’t come much better than this.”

Tauer admits that it was an addiction to Mandy Aftel’s book, Essence & Alchemy, that lured him away from his career in Information Technology and set him down the path toward becoming an independent, self-taught perfumer with a cult brand carried in select and highly specialized fragrance boutiques scattered throughout Europe, the UK and North America. But while his roots are in the natural perfume movement, he began including synthetic materials early on and his formulae are now careful blends of both the natural and the synthetic — though incorporating natural materials of higher quality and in far greater concentrations than what’s generally offered through most mass-market retail brands.

*NOTE 1: I contacted Avery Gilbert about whether he thought it was true that commercial fragrances still contain genuine natural essences and absolutes (because sometimes their marketing material says they do, yet they often smell like they don’t). His response: “Yes. But then a 0.00001% (concentration) is just as true as 0.001%.”

A box of Tauer Perfumes’ Une Rose Chyprée

When I asked Andy which of the perfumery essences he first experimented with were his true loves, he immediately pointed to orange blossom and labdanum: “I remember the siren song of labdanum and orange blossom that I heard when I placed my first order for essential oils and absolutes. I still hear the siren when it comes to orange blossom, and I’m still a big fan of labdanum extracts, such as ambrein — think “pineta”, pine wood, ambergris on a chord of wood, dry fir needles under a Mediterranean sun, woody pine incense . . . seven out of twelve of my fragrances feature ambrein as an ingredient.”

*NOTE 2: Hence, the coining of the term, “Tauerade“ — a riff on “guerlinade”, a house accord used as a base for a not insignificant number of Guerlain fragrances.

He explained that he doesn’t create with a particular demographic or client base in mind, but keeps to his own vision and feels that his distinctive and definitely left-of-mainstream style “addresses the connoisseur, the perfume lover with some experience” — kind of the way a bottle of dry French Bordeaux requires a more seasoned palate than a four pack of Bartles & Jaymes. Though he draws the line at being challenging and quirky for the sole sake of being challenging and quirky.

“When creating a perfume, and not a room spray or an artistic installation, the ultimate goal is to come up with something that people can wear,” he said. “If you push boundaries into a territory where consumers can’t follow you anymore because your scents have become completely unwearable, then you’ve pushed the boundaries too far.”

And while 2009 and 2010 have seen Andy busy with several new fragrance releases, an expansion of his brand into Italy, plus a complete overhaul of his website and a total revamp of his packaging, possibly the biggest kick-start to Tauer’s indie career so far was the five-star rave review he received in 2008 from Perfumes: The Guide co-author Tania Sanchez for his fragrance, L’Air du Desert Marocain.

*NOTE 3: Ms. Sanchez’s writing (and life) partner Luca Turin, a biophysicist and principal subject of the book, The Emperor of Scent, described another of Tauer’s highly singular perfumes, Lonestar Memories, as “Strange but nice” and gave it four stars.

Andy even includes a snippet from the Marocain review at the end of every one of his emails (“brings images of Morocco and the dry desert to mind”), so I was curious as to what his reaction was when he first found out about receiving such high praise in a widely published book.

“I saw an advance copy of the book before it was released,” he wrote in an email message from the Mediterranean, where he was taking a very rare vacation (DIY business people hardly ever take a break). “I loved the text and realized that Tania had come up with an American metaphor for my Maghreb Air du desert marocain . . . but I was not expecting the high interest by perfume lovers that followed the book’s publication. I had no idea that people would take those five stars so very, very seriously!”

*NOTE 4: I asked Donna Hathaway, guest writer for Perfume-Smellin’ Things and the Portland fragrance writer for Examiner.com, whether she thinks Andy’s work stacks up to the commercial competition. She replied: “His signature masterpiece, L’ Air du Desert Marocain, is not only one of my favorite ‘masculine’ scents (although I wear it myself), but one of my favorite perfumes overall, and I’m a big fan of ‘old school’ French perfumery . . . As an admirer of Caron, Patou, Rochas, Le Galion, etc. it really surprised me to find such original and compelling work from a self-taught perfumer.”

Andy debuted his new packaging with the release of Orange Star

But once an indie artisan achieves a sudden creative success like Andy did with L’Air du Desert Marocain, it’s tempting to keep the ball rolling down the same track in order to capitalize on consumer demand . . . or, at the very least, squeeze every last drop out of what could very well be a short-lived market trend. Wait, scratch that — I suppose it might be tempting if you’re not Andy Tauer.

“I remember a few months after Tania Sanchez praised Marocain,” he said. “I got these recommendations from ‘experts’ telling me that I needed to produce a flanker, another version of Marocain but with minor changes, because perfume lovers now expect that. From an artistic point of view, this is incredibly boring, and from a commercial point of view, it might be the first step toward the gigantic graveyard of perfumery where so many of the now abandoned commercial flankers rest peacefully.”

Tauer’s sense of independence is so fierce that he even refuses to offer a bespoke-custom service, explaining that he only enjoys creating when it comes out of his own imagination, and that the compromises necessarily involved in offering a custom service would suck all the joy right out of the experience.

“I don’t ask consumers what they want,” he said. “Of course, I hear perfume lovers expressing their wishes, but it’s not really influencing my work . . . (instead), I try to create fragrances that will stand the test of time, sitting in my little boat and rowing steadily forward rather than attempting to catch each new wave that passes by.”

***NEXT: Part 2 of The Artisan Series: Andy Tauer

Scheherazade Daneshkhu wrote in a June, 2010 Financial Times article that, due to the present recession and its effects on the consumer psyche, global luxury brands were rethinking their previous embrace of ostentatious bling — scrambling to reposition their image by hanging contemporary art in their boutiques and running advertisements that called attention to a heritage of careful, handcrafting production methods (a heritage that, for many of them, holds little connection to their 21st century factories and global distribution networks).

Yet when you’re an indie like Mandy Aftel, still employing the small batch, slow production, handcrafting methods she’s used from day one, there’s no need for rebranding, repositioning or even clever art installations in order to keep the customer intrigued.

“I’ve had opportunities myself to be bought by larger brands, but I value my independence too much and couldn’t lose it,” she responded, when asked if she’d ever been approached by investment groups or corporations. “I love what I do, working with other artists, making a quality, handmade product that takes time. No amount of money would change things – if I won the lottery today, I’d be doing the same thing tomorrow.”

Which sounds like it could be a couple of sentences of total PR-speak, yet after meeting Mandy in person, emailing back and forth, and talking on the telephone a few times, I’ve come to understand that the kinds of catch phrases that Madison Avenue marketing gurus spin out by the dollar (“Okay, here’s the thing — tell ‘em that your people love what they do, they have a passion for their work, and that their dedication to painstaking craftsmanship is a lifestyle, not a job, got it?”) are actually true in her case.

A page from the “Aroma” cookbook by Mandy Aftel and Daniel Patterson

And this kind of bright, burning enthusiasm to work with the best materials in order to create the best products tends to draw attention; in Aftel’s case, this attention has come from such unlikely corners as Egyptology and Molecular Gastronomy.

In 2005, Aftel was invited to participate in a collaborative project between the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose and the Stanford University School of Medicine, as researchers and doctors worked together to analyze, identify and virtually model a two thousand year old child mummy through the use of CT scans and a cutting-edge prism visualization platform. Samples of resins were also scraped from the mummy’s burial mask and chemically analyzed, and that’s where Mandy stepped into the picture.

“The whole thing was very exciting — kind of like Stanley Kubrick meets ‘Secrets of the Mummy‘,” she said of the final presentation at the SGI Reality Center Theater, where guests were treated to a gee-whiz, interactive 3-D display of the child mummy’s remains projected onto a curved, 25 foot screen.

Aftel was offered the task of recreating the burial perfume of the child mummy, dubbed Sharit, from the data the scientists collected from their samples. I asked her if she found the project challenging and she immediatly replied no, then laughed and added, “But that’s probably not what you wanted to hear, was it?” She said the materials were all familiar to her – frankincense, myrrh and moringa oil – and from her research of Egyptian burial rites she was able to construct what she considered a soft, lovely scent that she felt confident was an accurate reproduction of the original.

“My presence at the event was like the cherry on top,” she said. “The whole place was filled with scientists, researchers and computer modelers, so introducing the recreation of the burial perfume brought a piece of history to life for them – it was a reminder that, beyond the amazing technological display, the whole reason any of us were there in the first place was because an Egyptian family suffered the loss of their little girl over two thousand years ago.”

This ability to cut through the extraneous chatter and clear a space for the ultimate humanity of things is what arguably lends Mandy’s work its uncommon poignancy, and explains why she’s sought out by top chefs and mixologists from across the country when they’re looking for that extra spark that can elevate their creations from mere culinary art to a full-frontal embrace of sensuality and soul.

In 2004, Aftel released an innovative cookbook with noted San Francisco chef Daniel Patterson (whom she calls “a cerebral and artistic cook”) titled, “Aroma: The Magic of Essential Oils in Foods and Fragrance“, but her connection to the movers and shakers of world class cuisine doesn’t stop there — the list of her associations reads, instead, like a rolodex of some of gastro-porn’s most wanted performers: Alice Waters, Audrey Saunders, Sam Mason, Johnny Iuzzini, Dan Barber, David Chang, Wylie Dufresne, Jeremy Fox, Bill Corbett.

She even counts Harold McGee, considered a ringleader in the molecular gastronomy movement, as a colleague and is presently working on a collaborative event they’ll present next year at the American Museum of Natural History.

But how did a self-taught natural perfumer manage to insinuate herself within such rarefied culinary air? “Well, my studio is located right behind Chez Panisse,” she said, and I started to laugh. “No, really,” she continued. “Alice Water’s restaurant is literally a block away, that was kind of my in. But once the introductions were made, it was the quality and integrity of my materials that attracted their attention. Daniel, Audrey, Johnny, Alice, Wylie, Sam, all of them – they’re true artists, and like all true artists, they yearn to create with the best materials possible. This is what I provide, along with the knowledge and skill to incorporate these essences into their dishes in creative and intoxicating ways.”

Aftelier Chef’s Essences

For a tasting menu at her Silk Road lecture at the American Museum of Natural History, the menu included the likes of cauliflower with white chocolate and sandalwood, cocoa noodles with peppermint broth, a cinnamon lacquered pork belly, champagne cocktails doused with jasmine-infused gin, and gimlets scented with grapefruit and Douglas Fir essences. “These chefs are knocked out by the essential oils I carry,” explained Aftel. “One time I had to overnight a package of jasmine essence to New York because one of the chefs was working on a special menu and he had to have my jasmine – they already had a jasmine essence in the kitchen, but he wanted mine because he said it was the best.”

But Aftel is curiously humble over her go-to status among some of today’s top chefs, and she moves with casual aplomb among the type of social glitterati that light up the gossip columns at her various science museum presentations and cooking demonstrations in New York (for instance, Renaud Dutreil, chairman of LVMH North America and a regular guest at her New York culinary events, has become a good friend).

“I feel very lucky, very grateful to have this opportunity to share what I make,” she said, when I mentioned that she seems to take the high-society whirligig backdrop of her life remarkably in stride. “I love working with like-minded people, and being able to satisfy those who demand the very best out of their experiences. I love every step of the creative process.” She paused for a moment and there was depth to the silence at the other end of the telephone connection, as if the universe around her was gathering breath.

I know, that sounds cheesy, but when you’re talking with Mandy, the universe really does seem to gather its breath. The magical mystery tour performance of her life and work comes alive in the stories she tells and suddenly you’re doing a 180 and anything is possible – you really can build that treehouse on the moon, bake that Alaska in the Sahara, high dive into a scented pool of jasmine infused gin (reverse one and a half somersaults with three and a half twists, please!).

“Working with these amazingly talented people, and on these amazing projects — it’s such a joy. But I’m just as happy selling one bottle of Fig EDP to you as I am selling one hundred and twenty bottles of a custom perfume to the royal family of Oman, and if I could in any way inspire others to love what they do as much as I love what I do . . . “

And you know, I have to confess to not being exactly certain how she finished that last sentence. My writing trailed off in the notes I was taking because my startled brain was screaming, “One hundred and twenty bottles of WHAT to WHO?!!”

Welcome to Mandy Aftel’s world.