Monday, September 15, 2008

Pretension at the Financial Times: Frederic Malle's Quest for the World's Most Obscure Adjective

Frederic Malle has an eye for good perfumes. The other, smaller one is so he doesn't bump into things.

The place where I work has a vast wealth of magazines and periodicals streaming through it daily, which is how I came across this gem of a cover. It is the cover to an insert in the Financial Times: the metrosexual (it's pink), English version of the Wall Street Journal.

The title of the insert is: "How to Spend It." One of my colleagues has pointed out that I should also subscribe to "How to Make It," the subtext being that, as a career dishwasher, I cannot afford Msr. Malle's fancy perfumes or a Rolls Royce or a diamond-encrusted mustache comb. I have only one thing to say to you, nameless colleague: touche. I am poor, and I hope that pointing this out made you feel richer.

But enough of this, for we are all here for the perfume, after all. The cover, shown above, is of Frederic Malle who, according to the words on the bottom, is "In Search of the Perfect Perfume." I would venture to guess that he is searching a lot easier with his left eye than his right, being that the left is doubly as large.

But funny cover aside, Msr. Malle really is a perfume visionary. According to the article, Msr. Malle "has no laboratories of his own, no big budgets or multinational advertising campaigns and yet, mention his name in sophisticated circles where perfume is truly understood and talked about, and a certain air of reverence enters the debate."

Wow. I really have been going to the wrong parties. Usually we all talk about whether Axe or Bod is the better bodyspray. Clearly my circle of friends neither truly understands nor truly talks about perfume. I bet if you mentioned Frederic Malle in a debate, there wouldn't be the slightest hint of reverence in the room. How pathetic.

So now I know how to spend my money. I'll drop about $250 for 100 mL of this guy's perfume, douse myself in it, and go to classy parties where perfume is truly understood and talked about. I can't believe I actually had a will to live before this epiphany.

Pretension at the Financial Times will be back next week with:



Countdown to Steel-Dog Destruction

1 comment:

Kurt said...

Please send along this issue post haste. I am currently selecting a new scent.