Column: Human Remains - a look at Etat Libre d'Orange

[Grant]

Postcard from Paris: January 2007 - Human Remains

by Michael Connor, 31 January 2007.

Niche labels are ten-a-penny. But niche labels with their own shops in one of Paris’ hippest neighbourhoods.... well, that shows naked ambition.
The trouble with being out on the much-cooler-but-less-frequented northern side of the Marais is that you have to scream and shout a little for attention. So, hello, Etat Libre d’Orange http://www.etatlibredorange.com/ - as you can see, their website isn’t exactly minimalist.


Etat Libre d’Orange works on a similar basis to Frederic Malle’s Editions de Parfums: Get a group of respected noses to indulge their skills by creating a range of unique scents, liberated from the demands of accountants and marketing teams. However, where Malle’s products are exquisitely tasteful; Etat Libre d’Orange’s revel in their questionable taste.


The perfumes names reveal something of the concept: Putain des Palaces, Sécrétions Magnifiques. The new release is called Don’t Get Me Wrong, Baby, I Don’t Swallow, for goodness sake - and it is not referring to a wine-tasting evening.


Read on:
http://www.basenotes.net/columnists/jan07paris.html

[tigrushka]

Very good column, what I loved most was the last line, brilliant advice!
(and so very true, too...)

[moondeva]

Interesting...

[stuigi]

Shocking! I am reporting this to the Basenotes Administrator.

[Taolady]

Luv it! Where can we get samples. Especially Putain...Michael makes it sound DE-LISH!!! Vive ELO!!!

[yepyep]

Those pictures look like something a teenager would draw. Not a very talented artist. I would'nt be seen with one of the men's scents, not in a million years, not with those pictures.

[cdunham]

Loved the column - Connor gets the line's mix of flippancy and seriousness just right..just a head's up to anyone in the US who is interested in Etat Libre...Henri Bendel in NYC is now carrying the line exclusively and you can order any of the fragrances by calling the store...800.hbendel.

[Manderley]

Well, that's all very interesting, BUT !

In my opinion there is really nothing great about this new brand, and I very much regard the obsession with sex and politically uncorrect names or olfactory associations as an advertising coup, much more so than a sign of genius anyway (which Michael Connor kindly evokes in his review.) I cannot say any of their fragrances has particularly caught my attention (apart from Je suis un homme maybe, because it struck me as a really nice, classic male fragrance.)

So just because somebody once had the nerve/idea/boldness to bring together a number of repulsive notes and call it something funny with a penis on the box, we should be applausing for the daring attempt ? I'm sorry, I expect SO much more from a fragrance. Did I mention the SA was as helpless as it gets ?... Nothing at Etat Libre d'Orange compares with Malle, and the fact that they are trying so hard yet is just sad.

I work in the Marais myself (a rather trendy area in Paris) and I know one thing for a fact : it is packed with a number of galleries, shops and cafés of all sorts, all trying hard to be THE latest thing. Some of them do well. A lot of them close down after two or three years because the bottom line is that they didn't invent anything, and there were already people out there before them doing the exact same thing they do, but just better. That's exactly what Etat Libre d'Orange looks like to me. Let the rave happen, and let's decide we'll meet in a few months: I bet the shop will have been replaced, and only some curious Basenoters will still be inquiring about what happened to the funny little fragrance shop at the corner of Vieille du Temple and Pastourelle...