How fashion houses are fighting back with their latest fragrances

Tiffany eau de parfum
Tiffany eau de parfum

Fashion and fragrance have always gone hand in hand. Perfume does, after all, offer many of us an entry point into the alluring world of luxury fashion that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. It’s also a huge moneymaker for the brands themselves, allowing designers to reach an entirely new customer base that their clothes and handbags have bypassed. Significantly, the top 10 bestselling fragrances globally are predominantly designer-led, with Chanel’s iconic No.5, from £66.50, Dolce & Gabbana’s fresh Light Blue, from £44, and Viktor & Rolf’s sweet Flowerbomb, from £49.99, remaining firm favourites.

Yet, all three launched more than a decade ago, when it was, some might say, easier to create a blockbuster scent because the market was less saturated. In recent years, it’s become harder for new olfactory offerings to break into the arena as our tastes have changed.

‘The luxury and niche fragrance markets have emerged as significant UK growth drivers over the past few years, reflecting consumers’ desire for something unique, bespoke and personalised,’ explains Philippe Warnery, senior vice-president and general manager at the Estée Lauder Companies UK & Ireland, which has acquired several niche brands over the past couple of years, including By Kilian, Le Labo and Editions de Parfums Frédéric Malle.

While buying up niche brands has been one approach, other houses, including Chanel, Givenchy and Armani, have launched exclusive couture fragrance lines with prices starting at £100. The bottles feel weightier, and in-store fragrance events have replaced the celebrity-focused ad campaigns usually associated with perfumes. They are the equivalent of fashion’s couture shows, which only the industry’s elite are privy to.

But fashion is a cyclical business, with trends coming and going every 20 years, so it was only a matter of time before designer scents made a comeback. Some may balk at spending three-figure sums on a perfume, but this autumn, several houses are launching exceptional fragrances at more affordable prices.

Next week, Tiffany & Co eau de parfum will be unveiled at Debenhams stores across the country. The luxury jeweller’s first perfume in 15 years, it comes with all the trimmings you’d expect: encased in the trademark Tiffany Blue box, the clean-cut glass flacon has been inspired by the house’s signature diamond cuts and every detail, down to the T-stamped ribbon around the neck of the bottle, gives a nod to the jeweller’s heritage.

Tiffany's yellow diamond
Tiffany's iconic yellow diamond

The fragrance itself is no less impressive, with a fresh, crisp opening courtesy of vert de mandarine, which moves into a delicate floral with the help of iris notes. But this is no run-of-the-mill flower-based scent, as the fragrance, which is influenced by an iris brooch set with demantoid garnet blossoms and Montana sapphires, has been extracted by hydrodistillation (which uses steam to extract the note) unique to Tiffany, to ensure it has the purest, brightest scent – quite like the house’s jewels.

Tiffany’s first foray into scent more than a decade ago was a more exclusive affair, but this time around the jeweller is working with Coty, which holds the licence to the fragrance, and is determined to ensure it’s inclusive to everyone who has ever dreamed of owning a Tiffany diamond or ‘T’ bracelet.

‘For generations Tiffany has encompassed all the emotional moments in a woman’s life, from engagement and marriage to the birth of a first child,’ says Edgar Huber, the president of Coty Luxury. ‘We worked closely with Tiffany to fully understand the DNA of the brand and to translate it into a successfully marketed fragrance, from the scent to the overall consumer experience.’ You can expect to see a lot more Tiffany Blue over the coming months, as it is Coty’s aim to ensure that this eau de parfum is the one associated with the present-buying season.

Chanel Gabrielle eau de parfum
Chanel Gabrielle eau de parfum

Like Tiffany, Chanel recently launched its first new scent in 15 years. With notes of jasmine and a chic, boxy bottle, Gabrielle has all the trappings of a classic Chanel scent, but with a twist: it’s the first fragrance from the house to use tuberose, giving it a soft femininity that some might feel the iconic No 5 lacks.

Jean Paul Gaultier Scandal eau de parfum
Jean Paul Gaultier Scandal eau de parfum

Those who remember Jean Paul Gaultier’s Classique eau de parfum should take note of Scandal, the newly launched scent from the designer. In true Gaultier style, it aims to shock, and with the bottle topped by a pair of legs akimbo, it does just that. Don’t be put off by the idea of honey as the key note: it’s not remotely sickly. In fact, once it has dried down, it takes on an addictively warm, musky persona.

While these fragrances are dedicated to women, both Armani and Calvin Klein have launched his-and-her pairings. The former has unveiled two scents under its Emporio Armani line, Because It’s You, for women, and Stronger With You, for men, while Calvin Klein has revisited and renosed its 1980s hit Obsession. Using archive campaign imagery featuring Kate Moss, Calvin Klein is hoping to entice a new generation with Obsessed for Him and Obsessed for Her. If you were a fan of the originals, the male scent has been reworked into a richer, warmer scent with dark vanilla, amber and woods, while the female counterpart is fresher, with neroli and lavender.

Michael Kors Sexy Ruby eau de parfum
Michael Kors Sexy Ruby eau de parfum

For those who are partial to sweeter scents, Michael Kors’s Sexy Ruby eau de parfum is certainly one to seek out. There are bursts of raspberry, apricot and orange blossom encased in a show-stopping ruby-red jewelled bottled. No doubt the brand is keen to repeat the success of its floral Wonderlust eau de parfum.

If none of these sounds like your cup of tea, there are plenty more fashion brands planning to turn a hand to fragrance in the coming year, including Roland Mouret, Jason Wu and Proenza Schouler.

Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner in the retail practice of AT Kearney, a global-strategy and management consulting firm that has looked into what makes a fragrance a bestseller, has this word of caution to designers wanting to break into the market: ‘You need all the ingredients: product, price, promotion, marketing and placement, and visibility at point of sale. And if you can’t get the scent to appeal to a broad audience, the investment in the rest will be wasted.’

iconic fragrances and perfumes