SCENT SPECIALISTS: Jo Malone Fêtes A New Bleecker Street Branch

Though it has been quietly welcoming customers for a few weeks, Jo Malone officially toasted its latest boutique last night with a party hosted by Marcus Wainwright and David Neville of the neighboring Rag & Bone boutiques and glamorous couple Lucy Sykes and Euan Rellie. Most recently a modest bakery, the jewel box of a shop on the corner of Bleecker and Christopher Streets is now filled with merchandise of a more fragrant sort. Decked out in the brand's signature cream and black color scheme it offers the London-based label's complete line of non-gender specific scents meant to be worn alone or mixed together to create a personally calibrated, multilayered olfactory experience.

The shop joins the Jo Malone boutiques on Madison Avenue and in Grand Central Terminal as the brand's third freestanding Manhattan boutique, and re-establishes a downtown beachhead for the brand after its original Flatiron Building boutique was shuttered a couple of years ago. It also joins sister brand M.A.C as well as Nars and a recently refurbished Diptyque on Bleecker Street for a bigger beauty and fragrance presence on the small but coveted retail stretch.

As guests shipped Champagne and nibbled on tiny canapés suited to the fashion flock, they were invited, in lieu of gift bags, to choose their own product from the store's entire inventory to be wrapped in a personally decorated box. Needless to say, someone is getting a perfume present from The Shophound in a couple of weeks, which we wouldn't normally announce in a blog post, but the SEC has gotten all prickly about such things these days.

Jo Malone 330 Bleecker Street at Christopher Street, West Village

 

LAUNCH PAD: Lacoste Kicks Off Its New Fragrance With A Multi-Media Extravaganza

First of all, we have to say that The Shophound does not often find ourselves at fragrance launches. When we were invited to the unveiling of Lacoste's "La Machine L.12.12" we weren't quite sure what it was for, but the idea of a cocktail party at Grand Central Station's Vanderbilt Hall closed off during the height of Rush Hour (and in yesterday's case, a particularly grueling one that included annoying U.N traffic plus a subway snarling water main break) seemed intriguing. It felt delightfully decadent to sip wine and scarf and endless flow of hors d'ouevres while everyone in the rest of the station was scurrying to their trains, or trying to peer into the roped off section wondering what the heck was going on? Lacoste did an impressive job transforming the cavernous space into a swanky lounge replete with video screens which informed us that we were at a fragrance launch for the brand's new trio of men's fragrances, Eau de Lacoste L.12.12, named for the style number of the famous crocodile festooned tennis shirt. La Machine turned out to be (as out press package explained):

a groundbreaking interactive visual installation which aims to show the transformation of the polo shirt (the inspiration for the collection) to a fragrance in both a mechanical way (you can watch as a real polo short is magically transformed into a bottle of Eau de Lacoste L.12.12) and visually using special user-generated videos

Wow that's a lot of alchemy for one perfume to bear. We're not quite sure how to describe the giant installation, but we can report that it does not literally make perfume out of shirts, or an other garments. We can also report that fragrance launches are pretty damn extravagant. Just before the momentous presentation, we noticed young people intermingling through the crowd dressed in jeans and Lacoste shirts in white, green and blue (the three colors of the fragrances). It turns out that the were a dance team there to do a celebratory routine to the classic Hip-Hop track "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The president of Lacoste's fragrance division made a speech in his charming French accent which, among other things, indicated that we call the installation "L.douze.douze". Then the dancers came on again, this time with Grandmaster Flash himself and about two or three of the Furious Five who performed "The Message" live and in person (at left). We closed our eyes and pretended that it was 1982 which suddenly made it much more thrilling. At which point we couldn't help feling bemused that the seminal rap song was being performed behind what was possibly the whitest group of Hip-Hop dancers ever at a party for French fragrances. Then, more randomness as actor Max Minghella, best known for playing Divya Narendra, the non-Winklevoss plaintiff in "The Social Network", was brought out to personally unveil "La Machine". It ia a huge, swooping structure placed on the other side of Vanderbilt hall with lights and moving parts and a social networking component that we don't totally get, but then, we are old enough to remember when "The Message" was an outrageously edgy new song, and Hip-Hop was this newfangled kind of music that we started hearing people perform and dance to on "Soul Train".

At the very least, we were dazzled by the resoures devoted to fragrance launches, and we left with a generous package of products including a full, 100 ml bottle of the white Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Eau de Toilette and two smaller 30 ml bottles of the blue and green variations.

La Machine L.12.12 will be exhibited in Grand Central Terminal' Vanderbilt Hall (at the 42nd Street entrance) through September 27^th. If you stop by, let us know what you think.

JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING: Olfactory Overload Edition

We learned all sorts of things from this week's Critical Shopper in the Thursday Styles. Some were interesting, some were disturbing. This week's shopper, Jon Caramanica braved the SoHo fragrance boutique MiN New York. Valentine's Day is just around the corner, after all.

We learned that Caramanica is a former Drakkar Noir abuser (considering that any use of Drakkar Noir at all qualifies as abuse in our humble estimation). We also learn that there are no good names left for fragrances, and so perfumers are left with numbers and random phrases to identify their scents, like "Love, Don't Be Shy" or "Liaisons Dangereuses, Typical Me".

We learned that when you try to describe a fragrance in print, it almost always sounds like something mysteriously disgusting —pepper, yuzu, mulled cider, musk?. Apparently, our shopper is drawn to fragrances that smell like food, which sounds challenging. We can't really tell if the nice folks at MiN will helpfully guide you through their forest of scents or simply assault you with so many different smells that you'll buy something just to give your nose a rest. We have to admit that The Shophound is highly sensitive to perfumes. In fact most of them give us a headache, so a fantastic fragrance store translates to us as a ticket to nausea. We would have to commend Mr. Caramanica for his bravery in taking on a scent store at all. In fairness, he admits to breaking cover and getting the royal press treatment, but we can hardly blame him. We naturally assumed that the review was timed to coincide with Valentine's Day shopping, however it looks like our shopper was mainly investigating new scents for himself, something we wouldn't dream of attempting without an expert guide.

Critical Shopper: A Place of Mystery and Elixirs  By Jon Caramanica (NYTimes)
MiN New York 117 Crosby Street between Prince & Houston Streets, SoHo

BEAUTY NEWS: Estée Lauder Broadens Its Scope With Joan Smalls

For years, an Estée Lauder contract was one of the modeling industry's biggest prizes, given to a single model who would typically represent all the company's by herself. In the past decade, however, the brand has multiplied the roster, and announced this week that Puerto Rican born Joan Smalls (pictured left in an official image) will join the brands lineup. This is significant not only because the Lauder contract remains a plum achievement and Smalls is a beauty whose career ignited in 2010, but also because the company has been without a model of color since Liya Kebede's contract expired a few years ago.

Smalls, as well as newcomers to the brand Liu Wen from China and Constance Jablonski from France, joins longtime spokesmodels Carolyn Murphy, Elizabeth Hurley and main face Hilary Rhoda at Lauder. Her addition finally allows the team of models to represent a fuller spectrum of beauty than it ever has —something that the company, which has grown to be an enormous force in the beauty business, has been slow to do in its flagship brand.

Well, better late than never.

Estée Lauder Signs Joan Smalls (WWD)

BEAUTY BOUTIQUE: NARS Set To Bow On Bleecker This Spring

Proving that no space on Bleecker Street stays empty for long, makeup artist François Nars is announcing that the first flagship boutique for his hugely successful NARS cosmetics brand will open for Spring 2011 at 413 Bleecker Street, the former home of Leo Design.

At the very least, it trumps expectations, slightly. We would have put money on the space going to yet another clothing boutique. Though there are fragrance shops nearby from Bond No. 9 and Dyptique, aside from Fresh, there is much less in the way of cosmetics on the still coveted stretch, so the shop will round out the selection in its own way. Nars fans should getting excited for that, and also because the shop promises exclusive merchandise to be found only at the boutique. We have no further details, but the folks at Nars promise more information to come, so stay tuned.

(Shophound Inbox)
Previously:
Upcoming Relocations: Leo Design Gets Booted Off Bleecker

WINDOW TEASE: Lush Serves Up Bosoms

Click the image for larger boobs in a new window

Considering the uproar that American Apparel's risqué advertising used to cause, we are kind of surprised that we haven't heard any complaints about the windows we saw recently at Lush, the natural cosmetics chain that has sprung up all around the city over the past few years. They've got that AA girl-against-white-seamless-with-a bright-strobe look, and there's a pointed emphasis on the models' barely covered bosoms to promote the brand's Lovely Jubblies breast cream. So how, when American Apparel's scantily clad strumpets have raised community hackles on so many occasions, does Lush able to get away with its topless sextet with nary a whimper that we have heard about?

Is it the humorous yet juvenile reference to jugs, headlights, hooters and watermelons that excuses the image? Even the token male (or very hairy flatchested female) holds up a pair of door knockers. (Get it? Knockers!) Maybe it's just the wholesome context of personal care and maintenance instead of AA's louche "hey look at my ass" aesthetic that makes the imagery seem so innocent. Perhaps we are unbothered because we don't know of a pervy, slightly unhinged CEO behind the scenes shooting the ads at Lush.

Mind you, it takes a lot more than some barely covered breasts to offend The Shophound, but we discovered this window display smack in the middle of the stroller clogged, family friendly Upper West Side where would have thought it might raise an eyebrow or two. If this all means we now live in an enlightened, prude-free society, then we are all for that, but we think Lush is just flying under the radar here.

Lush (Official Site)

TODAY IN EXPOSURE: ...And For Those Of You Out There Who Haven't Seen A Naked Picture Of Marc Jacobs Lately

About eighteen months ago, the media was lousy with pictures of Marc Jacobs in the altogether. It seemed like everywhere you turned the still recently trimmed down, toned up and tattooed designer was taking any and every opportunity to be photographed without clothes to the point where it started to become comical. At one point, we wondered if he was in a competition with Tom Ford (who had also developed a penchant for being photographed unclothed for magazines) to see who could get the most naked pictures published of himself, and then, mercifully, it all stopped, and Jacobs went back to wearing clothes -skirts, mostly, but clothes all the same.

We figured he had gotten it out of his system, but no, he was just biding his time for the right opportunity to take it all off again. This morning, we discovered that his new men's fragrance, BANG, will have a naked Jacobs as its model, photographed by his steady campaign photographer Juergen Teller (pictured above left, with a larger, slightly NSFW version after the jump). From the sounds of WWD's report, it took about zero arm-twisting to get the designer oiled up and in front of the camera again,

“Robert and I work closely with Coty on these projects, and he said, ‘Marc, you look so great now — you should be the model for men’s fragrance.’ My immediate reaction was, I don’t know. But then I came to see that it made sense. Men’s fragrance, unlike women’s in a certain way, is very personal. It’s a layer on top of skin — for women, it can be like changing a makeup color, but not for men.

“Once I agreed to be the model, I couldn’t see what I would wear to express this. We tried it with clothes, but it didn’t work. Then Juergen [Teller, who shot the campaign] had the idea for the silver Mylar, and it all came together. The silver Mylar also gives it that flash, that bang.”

We're betting it didn't even take that much convincing to get his kit off.

BANG debuts July 30 at Bloomingdale’s and Marc Jacobs stores, rolling out to 1,800 department and specialty stores in September when the ads break.

Marc Jacobs Heads Into Men's Scent Market (WWD)

Beauty Moves: Sephora Heads North

You can bitch all you want about Manhattan's mall-ification, but there's not much point if developers keep attracting stores you want.
The unfolding Columbus Square development is gradually reshaping Upper West Side shopping as one familiar store follows another into the shiny, bright spaces just reaching completion in the massive new structures.
While there will surely be continued grumbling about the dramatic changes to the area, so far the stores that have opened have been consistently embraced by a good portion of the neighborhood at the very least. Even that scented candle capsule of suburbia, Michael's has seen lines at the registers on a busy weekend afternoon, and Whole Foods has been an unqualified hit.
The latest chain to join the mall-like collection is makeup favorite Sephora, which will be opening its doors next to TJMaxx on April 9^th, on Columbus Avenue somewhere around where 102^nd Street would be.
While there is no Sephora shortage in Manhattan, we feel confident that Upper West Siders in the 90s and up will be happy not to have to trek 20 or so blocks south when a lipstick emergency strikes.

Buyer Beware: Bed Bath & Beyond's Sunscreen Switch

It's that newly balmy time of year again when The Shophound is reminded to stock up on sunscreen, and as much as we can gripe about Big Box stores, we have to admit that vastness of Bed Bath & Beyond's Harmon drugstore department does have a relatively unmatched selection. We were halfway to the register, however, when we discovered that the Neutrogena sunblock in our hand was not in fact the brand name item it appeared to be, but a cunningly designed, generic private label lookalike found sitting alongside the genuine article on the shelf. Coincidence? Perhaps, but the Coppertone Sport product in our other hand proved to be yet another impostor.

Isn't Trovata in the middle of suing (and re-suing) Forever 21 over exactly this sort of thing? "Trade Dress", we believe it's called.
Legally speaking, this is something for attorneys to pursue if they so desire. We're just reminding you to check the labels before you check out. (Misleading packaging and display strategy aside, the brand name prices were still $2 cheaper at BB&B than at Rite Aid, for what it's worth.)
Happy sunning.

Today In Downsizing: Limited Shrinks C.O. Bigelow Chain

While Limited Brands appears to be busying itself with trying to transform Henri Bendel into a more profitable mall chain, another of its smaller properties is being pruned back. New Yorkers know C.O. Bigelow as the quaint, yet upscale Greenwich Village pharmacy on Sixth Avenue, but the brand has been owned by Limited for the past several years. They have expanded in an attempt to create a sort of Kiehl's/Sephora hybrid, which apparently hasn't been going too well. Six of the company's 11 stores will be closed by the end of July, and the brand's manager was dismissed about six weeks ago.
Interestingly, the beloved original Bigelow's location is safe from the corporate bloodbath as it is privately, separately owned. Apparently, its owner was able to strike a deal with Limited that allowed company to expand the brand while protecting the neighborhood institution from corporate meddling.
If only Bendel's had been so lucky.
C.O. Bigelow Closing Six Stores (WWD)