Thoughtful take! I was a bit frustrated reading that article when it came out since I think it focused more on the woes of capitalism versus actually critically looking at perfumery and fragrance as a hobby beyond surface level. Granted, it did give a look at the hobby from someone outside of it with passing interest. If this is the first impression and takeaway, then there are probably some opportunities for better educational outreach, etc. I saw luckyscent just started a video series looking at trends, which I think is a good step forward. There are some fragrance podcasts out there too.
All art is commercialized to an extent, (artists need to survive too), and our societal framework is based around capitalism for the most part for better or for worse, so it feels a bit insincere to pin that on fragrances as a whole. However, with the segment being the fastest growing beauty segment, there most definitely are brands taking advantage and dumping huge amounts of releases on the market. It can be difficult to filter through all the *noise.* My response to this is to shift my personal focus to smaller indie brands with often a single perfumer/owner, and even with a preliminary pass for a list I've got well over 50 brands to try.
There are some concerning 'trends and attitudes' in the fragrance-sphere in recent years, yes. For me, the biggest problem is the huge push that any fragrance that doesn't have nuclear performance is not worthwhile, and this is often coming from the younger crowd. I understand the concern that fragrance is expensive and they want to feel like they are getting their money's worth, but I think what is being lost in the plot is that fragrance is both a luxury item and an art form. At its core, especially with independent and some niche houses, it's often about creating olfactory experiences, recreating memories, feelings, places, etc. Just like these fleeting feelings and memories, these fragrance moments are ephemeral. What makes them precious is precisely that they don't last forever...
Encouraging people (especially young people) to explore and drop any demands or constraints around fragrance is a great first step. I do hope at some point the hobby will be large enough to coordinate local sample swap clubs or even groups hosting smell parties and the like, much like listening parties for music.
I think I made it about two paragraphs into The Cut article before I said to myself, 'oh, this ISN'T going to be a fun read, then....'
You've highlighted something important - fragrance communities are heavily internet based and I'd love to see us developing a bigger in person community. That can be hard, especially for people who don't live in big cities, but it is what makes the difference between flash-and-fade interests vs ones that last and grow.
« I do hope at some point the hobby will be large enough to coordinate local sample swap clubs or even groups hosting smell parties and the like, much like listening parties for music. »
I do hope too! That’s exactly what I’m looking for.
Agreed! I think that with these young entry-level fragrance enthusiasts, as they mature and are exposed to the greater depth of the art of fragrance; as well as *ahem* get a better idea of who they truly are (we’re talking impressionable kids here that just want to be cool and fit in) and what they truly like beyond what is “trending,” they’ll settle in with us veterans just fine. It’s up to us to be open and welcoming to show them the way. There’s so much more to fragrance beyond trends and as they grow, they’ll figure that out.
One can hope! On the male creator side of things I do wish more focused on encouraging sampling and exploration, but it often devolves into ‘competition.’ I notice this a lot in male content creation regardless of topic. It’s odd (and this is coming from a guy).
On TikTok this difference is especially stark. I mostly follow female fragrance content creators since many of them tend to value the art and are able to discuss fragrance in a more nuanced way. There are a handful of male creators that focus on the art but their following is mostly women (go figure) and they tend to get less attention.
I suppose like all social media these days, rage bait with things like ‘best fragrance for X’ and getting people to argue in comments is going to do better algorithmically, unfortunately, but that’s a greater critique on our media landscape anyway. 😆
My children were both into wearing fragrance from being very young. The elder like a drop of Shalimar on his bedding . He said it smelt like me but better.
The younger found ‘his’ signature in his late teens. Prada Infusion d’Homme. When it d/ced I scoured dept stores, discounters, preloved sites & anywhere else I could think of.
That brings me on to part of why perfume as an art form fails itself. Its own history has been deleted.
Music, painting, sculpture, writing etc all have history that is largely present. It can be seen, read, heard & be appreciated. We can critique it for ourselves. Consume it to develop a sense of what came next, why today’s medium is how it is & where it developed from.
This isn’t the case with perfumery. The fragrances of the past have been discontinued. The Osmoteque keeps reconstructions & vintages but is open to only those who can travel there & then get access. I understand LA has a less austere version but again limited access.
The perfumers palette is being decimated by regulations. Consumers are being denied the opportunity to decide to take a risk & smelling fragrance with real oak moss etc. Yet far more risky substances are sold to the public & tacitly approved of by governments. Yeh fags & booze kill huge numbers each year but raise taxes. Stick a warning on them & let people choose to become addicted.
Death by perfume is a minuscule risk, largely by drinking it. I’ve searched & cannot find a single report anywhere if death by wearing perfume. Yet the public cannot choose for themselves.
Without a history fragrance is a consumer product, & at the whim of the perfume houses & government can be changed or killed altogether.
Also there is no medium where scent can be appreciated away from the bottle. There is no smellovision or virtual headset where historic scents can be accessed.
Collecting vintage fragrances is incredibly expensive & risky.
My boys are no longer of the smellmaxxers age group but still have a passing interest in scent.
Maybe these current schoolboys will actually forge careers in perfume & be the ones to create what fragrance needs to be recognised as an art
Love this! The Cut article was such a disappointment. The fragrance community has been so welcoming and generous to me. It’s sad if that truly was the author’s takeaway and it’s frustrating if the intent was only ever to use fragrance as a vehicle to talk about overconsumption.
I think it’s really sweet that boys are getting into fragrance. It’s creating a third space for them and I’m sure it keeps them out of trouble too.
I really do wish The Cut had made two great articles - one analysing overconsumption with fragrance as a lens and one exploring modern fragrance culture - instead of mashing the topics together into a single bad one.
Agreed! It’s fantastic that these young guys are coming into the space. So much toxicity that can take ahold of adolescents, especially young men. They’re finding their way to a fantastic community where they can learn a lot and enjoy. Even if they are driven by consumerism or trends at this point, it’s just planting the seeds and a right proper hobby and spot in a community of deep thinking and deep feeling people is what could grow.
There is so much to love about the interest in scent, and you got into it all so beautifully. It’s really primal to the way we connect to each other and how we identify ourselves. And as the mom of a Santal-loving 13 year old, there are way worse interests to have!
Thank you for rewiring my brain regarding the smellmaxxers at the perfume section!! I started noticing them a year ago or so, at my local department store they happen to also all wear the same clothes, black puffers in winter, so they‘re extra-conspicuous… I have to admit I was skeptical and felt they were causing unnecessary ruckus, just indulging in some manosphere obsession, but I like your optimistic and generous interpretation much, much better. As always, amazing writing!!
Thanks for this!! I read The Cut article when it hit and it bothered me quite a bit at first. Frankly, it was short-sighted and shallow. But then I decided that’s the author’s problem, not mine! Fragrance is deeper and more varied than many understand. If all someone can see are the (yes, obviously) capitalist tones and notes, well that tells me more about their lack of depth or imagination than anything.
Fragrance is more than just smelling good or trends or hoarding a bunch of bottles. So many are writing or creating content from angles beyond consumerism and gaining likes, blah, blah. Yes there will always be that aspect of the fragrance community - but there’s far more to it square in front of you. For someone - like the author of The Cut article - that can’t see it … well what a sad shallow story. I pity for their nose, their heart, and especially their mind.
Love this article - to me, it’s a meditation on the whys of perfume. Really resonates and puts words to what I felt but hadn’t named before. And giving something words helps make it concrete. So, I’m looking forward to working in these new frameworks. Thanks!
Plus, I’ve seen the crowds and welcome it, too! Variety is great, and I love seeing how it can challenge the little fiefdoms of the department store clerks. Where i live, mostly these sales counters are run by the old and snooty, just hanging on until break to gossip with their coworkers; and I much prefer a young sales associate who is actually interested in the thing. Saw this first hand throughout Paris when traveling recently, and recently in Chicago where a new Bond 9 associate (19 - 21 yr old boy, at max) at a fancy dept store just got back from training and was so pumped about it. It was infectious.
A perfect description - the little fiefdoms indeed! Though ungenerous department store salespeople can be unwelcoming to younger customers, a lot of them seem to understand that this is the future of their industry surviving.
Brilliant, thank you! I have been thinking about the situation in France. I'm not sure I've ever seen gangs of young people storming perfume shops like they do for boutiques that sell sneakers (where they can queue for hours in the cold...). But I gave up going to the big stores like Séphora and the like a long time ago, and that may be the reason. I'll pay more attention to this aspect (as a kind of observation mission 😄).
I really love this, and I wish that someone had told me when I was younger that my family giving me body mists and perfume as birthday and Christmas presents didn't mean that they thought I smelt. I had always pushed the thought of fragrance away because of this (naive) assumption, until this year; I've let my curiosity go absolutely wild and now I'm annoying my whole family about fragrances and asking them questions about what does it smell like for them, and even dragging my mother into MECCA to test out fragrance and pick up a Discovery Set.
Thoughtful take! I was a bit frustrated reading that article when it came out since I think it focused more on the woes of capitalism versus actually critically looking at perfumery and fragrance as a hobby beyond surface level. Granted, it did give a look at the hobby from someone outside of it with passing interest. If this is the first impression and takeaway, then there are probably some opportunities for better educational outreach, etc. I saw luckyscent just started a video series looking at trends, which I think is a good step forward. There are some fragrance podcasts out there too.
All art is commercialized to an extent, (artists need to survive too), and our societal framework is based around capitalism for the most part for better or for worse, so it feels a bit insincere to pin that on fragrances as a whole. However, with the segment being the fastest growing beauty segment, there most definitely are brands taking advantage and dumping huge amounts of releases on the market. It can be difficult to filter through all the *noise.* My response to this is to shift my personal focus to smaller indie brands with often a single perfumer/owner, and even with a preliminary pass for a list I've got well over 50 brands to try.
There are some concerning 'trends and attitudes' in the fragrance-sphere in recent years, yes. For me, the biggest problem is the huge push that any fragrance that doesn't have nuclear performance is not worthwhile, and this is often coming from the younger crowd. I understand the concern that fragrance is expensive and they want to feel like they are getting their money's worth, but I think what is being lost in the plot is that fragrance is both a luxury item and an art form. At its core, especially with independent and some niche houses, it's often about creating olfactory experiences, recreating memories, feelings, places, etc. Just like these fleeting feelings and memories, these fragrance moments are ephemeral. What makes them precious is precisely that they don't last forever...
Encouraging people (especially young people) to explore and drop any demands or constraints around fragrance is a great first step. I do hope at some point the hobby will be large enough to coordinate local sample swap clubs or even groups hosting smell parties and the like, much like listening parties for music.
I think I made it about two paragraphs into The Cut article before I said to myself, 'oh, this ISN'T going to be a fun read, then....'
You've highlighted something important - fragrance communities are heavily internet based and I'd love to see us developing a bigger in person community. That can be hard, especially for people who don't live in big cities, but it is what makes the difference between flash-and-fade interests vs ones that last and grow.
« I do hope at some point the hobby will be large enough to coordinate local sample swap clubs or even groups hosting smell parties and the like, much like listening parties for music. »
I do hope too! That’s exactly what I’m looking for.
Agreed! I think that with these young entry-level fragrance enthusiasts, as they mature and are exposed to the greater depth of the art of fragrance; as well as *ahem* get a better idea of who they truly are (we’re talking impressionable kids here that just want to be cool and fit in) and what they truly like beyond what is “trending,” they’ll settle in with us veterans just fine. It’s up to us to be open and welcoming to show them the way. There’s so much more to fragrance beyond trends and as they grow, they’ll figure that out.
One can hope! On the male creator side of things I do wish more focused on encouraging sampling and exploration, but it often devolves into ‘competition.’ I notice this a lot in male content creation regardless of topic. It’s odd (and this is coming from a guy).
On TikTok this difference is especially stark. I mostly follow female fragrance content creators since many of them tend to value the art and are able to discuss fragrance in a more nuanced way. There are a handful of male creators that focus on the art but their following is mostly women (go figure) and they tend to get less attention.
I suppose like all social media these days, rage bait with things like ‘best fragrance for X’ and getting people to argue in comments is going to do better algorithmically, unfortunately, but that’s a greater critique on our media landscape anyway. 😆
My children were both into wearing fragrance from being very young. The elder like a drop of Shalimar on his bedding . He said it smelt like me but better.
The younger found ‘his’ signature in his late teens. Prada Infusion d’Homme. When it d/ced I scoured dept stores, discounters, preloved sites & anywhere else I could think of.
That brings me on to part of why perfume as an art form fails itself. Its own history has been deleted.
Music, painting, sculpture, writing etc all have history that is largely present. It can be seen, read, heard & be appreciated. We can critique it for ourselves. Consume it to develop a sense of what came next, why today’s medium is how it is & where it developed from.
This isn’t the case with perfumery. The fragrances of the past have been discontinued. The Osmoteque keeps reconstructions & vintages but is open to only those who can travel there & then get access. I understand LA has a less austere version but again limited access.
The perfumers palette is being decimated by regulations. Consumers are being denied the opportunity to decide to take a risk & smelling fragrance with real oak moss etc. Yet far more risky substances are sold to the public & tacitly approved of by governments. Yeh fags & booze kill huge numbers each year but raise taxes. Stick a warning on them & let people choose to become addicted.
Death by perfume is a minuscule risk, largely by drinking it. I’ve searched & cannot find a single report anywhere if death by wearing perfume. Yet the public cannot choose for themselves.
Without a history fragrance is a consumer product, & at the whim of the perfume houses & government can be changed or killed altogether.
Also there is no medium where scent can be appreciated away from the bottle. There is no smellovision or virtual headset where historic scents can be accessed.
Collecting vintage fragrances is incredibly expensive & risky.
My boys are no longer of the smellmaxxers age group but still have a passing interest in scent.
Maybe these current schoolboys will actually forge careers in perfume & be the ones to create what fragrance needs to be recognised as an art
Love this! The Cut article was such a disappointment. The fragrance community has been so welcoming and generous to me. It’s sad if that truly was the author’s takeaway and it’s frustrating if the intent was only ever to use fragrance as a vehicle to talk about overconsumption.
I think it’s really sweet that boys are getting into fragrance. It’s creating a third space for them and I’m sure it keeps them out of trouble too.
I really do wish The Cut had made two great articles - one analysing overconsumption with fragrance as a lens and one exploring modern fragrance culture - instead of mashing the topics together into a single bad one.
Agreed! It’s fantastic that these young guys are coming into the space. So much toxicity that can take ahold of adolescents, especially young men. They’re finding their way to a fantastic community where they can learn a lot and enjoy. Even if they are driven by consumerism or trends at this point, it’s just planting the seeds and a right proper hobby and spot in a community of deep thinking and deep feeling people is what could grow.
I really want smaller perfume companies to start putting the year of the run on the bottles—like wine companies do.
There is so much crossover between wine culture and fragrance culture, and I agree I'd love to see more of that bespoke, batch-lens in perfume!
There is so much to love about the interest in scent, and you got into it all so beautifully. It’s really primal to the way we connect to each other and how we identify ourselves. And as the mom of a Santal-loving 13 year old, there are way worse interests to have!
Thank you for rewiring my brain regarding the smellmaxxers at the perfume section!! I started noticing them a year ago or so, at my local department store they happen to also all wear the same clothes, black puffers in winter, so they‘re extra-conspicuous… I have to admit I was skeptical and felt they were causing unnecessary ruckus, just indulging in some manosphere obsession, but I like your optimistic and generous interpretation much, much better. As always, amazing writing!!
Thanks for this!! I read The Cut article when it hit and it bothered me quite a bit at first. Frankly, it was short-sighted and shallow. But then I decided that’s the author’s problem, not mine! Fragrance is deeper and more varied than many understand. If all someone can see are the (yes, obviously) capitalist tones and notes, well that tells me more about their lack of depth or imagination than anything.
Fragrance is more than just smelling good or trends or hoarding a bunch of bottles. So many are writing or creating content from angles beyond consumerism and gaining likes, blah, blah. Yes there will always be that aspect of the fragrance community - but there’s far more to it square in front of you. For someone - like the author of The Cut article - that can’t see it … well what a sad shallow story. I pity for their nose, their heart, and especially their mind.
Love this article - to me, it’s a meditation on the whys of perfume. Really resonates and puts words to what I felt but hadn’t named before. And giving something words helps make it concrete. So, I’m looking forward to working in these new frameworks. Thanks!
Plus, I’ve seen the crowds and welcome it, too! Variety is great, and I love seeing how it can challenge the little fiefdoms of the department store clerks. Where i live, mostly these sales counters are run by the old and snooty, just hanging on until break to gossip with their coworkers; and I much prefer a young sales associate who is actually interested in the thing. Saw this first hand throughout Paris when traveling recently, and recently in Chicago where a new Bond 9 associate (19 - 21 yr old boy, at max) at a fancy dept store just got back from training and was so pumped about it. It was infectious.
A perfect description - the little fiefdoms indeed! Though ungenerous department store salespeople can be unwelcoming to younger customers, a lot of them seem to understand that this is the future of their industry surviving.
Interesting!
Brilliant, thank you! I have been thinking about the situation in France. I'm not sure I've ever seen gangs of young people storming perfume shops like they do for boutiques that sell sneakers (where they can queue for hours in the cold...). But I gave up going to the big stores like Séphora and the like a long time ago, and that may be the reason. I'll pay more attention to this aspect (as a kind of observation mission 😄).
I really love this, and I wish that someone had told me when I was younger that my family giving me body mists and perfume as birthday and Christmas presents didn't mean that they thought I smelt. I had always pushed the thought of fragrance away because of this (naive) assumption, until this year; I've let my curiosity go absolutely wild and now I'm annoying my whole family about fragrances and asking them questions about what does it smell like for them, and even dragging my mother into MECCA to test out fragrance and pick up a Discovery Set.