History of the Perfume Industry

Fragrance is a way of communicating without words, it can make us think, feel or react without ever knowing why, a major fact in the development of a new product or environment. Fragrance evokes a memory which evokes an emotional response leading to a reaction. In honour of my latest fragrance brief I have taken it upon my self to take you through a few points on the history of british fragrance, taken from a recent lecture held by guest lecturer Karen Gilbert (http://www.karengilbert.co.uk).

1920'S

. Emancipation

. Coco Chanel- Chanel No5 (use of alder hides)

. Paul Poiret- first to create fragrance

. Both still available today

1930's/40's

. Hollywood Glamour

. Wartime Europe

. Perfume a luxury

. 'Femme' figure of Mae West

1950's-1970's

. Mass marketing

. Estee Lauder- Youth Dew- made perfume accessible 

. Revlon Charlie-  Affordable

. Charlie magazine ads from the 70's featured the first woman wearing trousers in a perfume ad

. 60's a 70's mens fragrances 'Old Spice' 

1980's

. Money & Power

. Dior- Poison

1990's

. Zen & Spirituality

. New era for fashion fragrance

. Thierry Mugler- Angel- if made today it wouldn't sell

2000's

. The Cult of celebrity

. less about fragrance more about merchandising and branding

. Other streams- Fashion/ Perfume

. Lady Gaga- Fame- 13 million bottles first year

. Niche & High end luxe

. Kilian

Karen ended the lecture by stating 'Are you Vanilla or Pistachio?' Vanilla being a fragrance that no-one is either going to love nor hate, being neutral and appealing to everyone or Pistachio (the marmite effect) you're either going to love it or hate it, only appealing to certain consumers. 

'Unravelled'

I recently had the opportunity to walk in the Nottingham Trent University first year Fashion Knitwear Catwalk displaying my friend Shauna Mills first year body of work. Her first outfit was a draped orange knitted dress, accessorised with hand printed tights, hand painted Dr Martens style boots and black shorts, styled with wild hair and a simple net bow.

Inspired by a 'Tsunami' her second outfit embodied the chaos of the ocean with a hand knitted  skirt and top in deep blue accessorised with a bin bag cape, hand printed tights and wellington boots with various pieces of rubbish stuck on by hand. Styled with a netted head piece and huge hair, I had a great time and would definitely do it again. 

NYC Trend Report

From research undertaken in New York I created a trend report using most of my own images with brief commentary. When making this booklet I considered the design to be that of a fashion magazine and by visually tapping into emerging markets I have showcased common trends using stereotypical types of people found in each area I visited.

The feedback I received after informally presenting to a group was that the magazine inspiration idea was great as it showed I'd looked at resources for inspiration into my layout. The production and creative execution was good and I had observed links from location to product and style. Criticism is that I should maybe have used in store photographs to display visual merchandising of shops in each area of the city, I also need to proof read my work and learn to Harvard reference. 

  

Supreme Brandzine

Prior to our trip to New York we were briefed that the next project was to be a 2 part brand-zine on a chosen brand. After choosing Supreme, I conducted in-depth secondary and primary research into the brands history and lifestyle.

The second part of the zine project was to then expand the brand with either a new product line or collaboration then to re-launch your new idea going into detail about the brands previous marketing strategies.

From the research I conducted Supreme do a wide range of products and are well known for their ground breaking unexpected collaborations but they are yet to produce a range of watches adapted for the skate culture. Instead of going for the obvious and undertaking a collaboration with an already known watch brand I chose Lego as they attract a new young consumer and create nostalgia for current customers.