Made to Measure Pour Homme will hit the the stores in autumn. It’s the male counterpart to Gucci Premiere (2012) for women. The press release is full of verbal embellishments and focuses on the luxury details, dominant names and so on... But no perfumer’s name is mentioned. How can that be? And why? It seems that our attention is meant to be deflected. The brand’s DNA is described extensively and the focus is on the house's history (dating back to the 1920s), the concept for the design of the bottle and its stopper, the packaging, the advertising campaign, the target audience and the importance of the gentlemen's designer clothes collection. Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini seems to have a hard time expressing it in simple words. Listen, here we go again!
Are we talking about a new scent or about a society column? Why not think about the perfume itself? Why is a pretty standard fragrance being promoted under such a pretentious name—Made to Measure? Is it measured, or custom-made, for each and every customer, and will it be changed to everyone's preference? Or is it necessary to relieve yourself into the bottle in order to infuse the fragrance with your own pheromones? (It isn’t a joke—this madness is offered by one ultra-creative Italian perfumer and these limited edition bottles sell for top dollar.)
Turns out Made to Measure is a tailoring service offered by the house of Gucci. This service is now being promoted with the help of a fragrance with the same name. By the way, this campaign is rather cheap. The popular automobile collaboration between Fiat and Gucci, Fiat 500 by Gucci 2007, was far more expensive.
I wonder ... if a person can afford to have a suit tailor-made by Gucci, would they really be so dull as to complete their look with a scent with the pathetic name Made to Measure instead of ordering a personal fragrance from Florence-based professor Lorenzo Villoresi? Thank God it only takes a half an hour walk from Via Tornabuoni to Villoresi's laboratory. Every perfumer would be happy to create a personal fragrance for a respectable man if he pays in cash!
Therein lies the problem. That “rich” name and the pompous concept created by Procter & Gamble’s marketing managers have neither material nor aromatic value.
Well, the "value" we are talking about is a pretty standard one: The more expensive it is, the better it will sell. People who actually buy these fragrances have no deeper insight into perfumery; they make their decisions based on price and advertising. There are only a few people who understand perfumes. And this situation is actually good for sales (and for the whole industry) if it continues for as long as possible. The majority pays well!
Why do people buy it? I can answer this question as it concerns Russia: Because of the beautiful advertising. Because people are fed up with poverty and grime behind closed doors. And the most important reason: For 90% of the people perfume is the only authentic Gucci product they can afford. And those seeking originality and wealth are living it through these products. Does it affect Gucci’s image in a negative way? The complete opposite is the case. The perfume advertising campaign will help promote the entire brand on an international level—thanks to the creative strategy of Procter & Gamble (that company holds the licence to produce Gucci fragrances for the next ten years—maybe some poor men will be rich by then?). And it's just like they say: Hardly anybody cares about quality.
Estée Lauder said: “With perfumes, like with love, it's impossible to skimp. You have to give yourself up to it fully and completely.” Today only a few customers remember these words. For successful businesses it is better to create mediocre fragrances and sell them to millions of incompetent people for a reasonable sum (with sales boosted by luxury advertising campaigns) than to create a good fragrance and have its value proven by thousands of real perfume lovers.
Made to Measure fragrance was launched as an addition to the same-name capsule clothes collection created by Frida Giannini and Lapo Elkann: Since June 2013 Lapo's designs are available in six Gucci Men boutiques all over the world. If you—just like me—don’t follow society columns and don’t know Lapo, let me tell you that he is on the list of the most luxuriously dressed people, just as his grandfather Gianni Agnelli (founder of Fiat) was once. And he is also on the list of the most scandalous playboys and is one of the richest bachelors.
Still Elkmann is not the face of the fragrance, this job is done by James Franco.
The fresh opening of Made to Measure is characteristic for many fougère scents: citruses, lavender and grey-green metallic notes reminiscent of Davidoff Cool Water. For almost a quarter of the century most men prefer fresh scents (or are they manipulated by them?) Then there this a metallic clink of dihydromicernol which is warmed up by undefined spicy accords. And the drydown is long and calm, à la Hommage a l'Homme by Lalique, with warm and resinous cistus, patchouli and dry black tea. In support of the fragrance I need to say that everyone has their own skin chemistry, everyone has certain fragrances at home and at the office which fit their clothes and hairstyles. And every city has its own atmosphere. And perfume will match each figure because they have no size. And any scent will be perceived differently, may it be worn by Lapo Elkann or by some hoodlum because image plays a huge role. Yes, all that is correct but still … I’d like something interesting, something unusual, and maybe something impossible. Maybe I want too much from perfume? It’s just an image of a dream. It's something that resembles modern politicians … it’s strange to expect a fragrance to be more honest than people.
