Chapter 2_Part3 - marc rosen associates

A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
CATALYST FOR WOMEN
Halston-Borghese
1993
When Revlon was broken up, after Charles Revson’s death, the
Saudi royal family acquired the Borghese brand, along with the
Halston name for fragrance, forming the new Halston-Borghese
company. The famous American fashion designer had passed
away a few years before.
I was first hired to create a fragrance under the Halston name.
They had uncovered the name “Catalyst” which had been
registered some years before. It should be noted that one of the
hardest things in the fragrance business is to legally register a
name. It seems as if everything has already been taken.
As Halston had been iconic in changing the way that American
women dressed in the ’70s, a fashion theme seemed
appropriate. His associations with Liza Minelli, Bianca Jagger
and Studio 54 added to his glamour. I envisioned a Lucite
display on the counter emulating a staircase on which the
bottles, designed to resemble mannequins, would be placed.
There were three different, though related bottles, one each for
perfume, eau de toilette and body lotion. All were sculpted in
clear and frosted glass to resemble models in draped gowns.
One morning we got a call to come immediately to the
Halston-Borghese office to set up a display of the Halston
designs in the conference room. We raced over there and
realized that all of their new products for the upcoming year
were being set up, including the new Borghese fragrance that
another package designer had been hired to design.We were
given a separate table for our presentation.
Suddenly, Mike Martens, the President of the company walked
in with a nice looking foreign gentleman. Mike introduced me
to Prince Fahad, whose father owned the company. Mike asked
me to explain my concept. I was hot and tired from all of the
rushing about, but thought to myself “I can do this.” Little did
I know that this would be one of those life-changing moments.
ABOVE: CATALYST FOR WOMEN ON THE
COVER OF WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY. 1993.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: CATALYST FOR WOMEN,
HALSTON-BORGHESE. 1993. MARC ROSEN.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
I described my designs and the approach I recommended to
launch a new Halston fragrance years after the great success of
his original women’s and men’s fragrances with the bottles by
jewelry designer Elsa Perretti. The Prince seemed intrigued by
my designs and complimented me. The two men left the room
and I proceeded to complete my display.
Again fate played a hand. A few minutes later, Mike’s secretary
walked in and said that both he and the Prince wondered if I
would be able to join them for dinner. Well let me think, do I
wanted to join the President, my client, and a Saudi Prince for
cocktails at his suite at the Waldorf Towers and dinner at “21?”Yes!
Dinner was fascinating, as my hosts talked about their plans for
expanding the company. I hoped that they would include me in
those plans. Two other Halston-Borghese executives were also
present. After dinner, as we were driving back in the limo to
drop off the Prince, it was raining very hard. When we got to
the Waldorf the Prince said good night to everyone, but invited
me upstairs to continue our conversation. I looked at the rain
thinking “I will never get a taxi,” but he read my mind and said
“Don’t worry, my driver will take you home.” I was a bit
embarrassed that I was the only one he had asked up, not even
the President was included, but I wasn’t going to decline. And
we had a great time. He wanted to know everything about the
industry and my career. The next morning, I received a call from
the Director of Marketing from the Princess Marcella Borghese
division. They were going to start their new fragrance project
from scratch and the Prince wanted me to design it.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
The next year was very exciting. Imagine, a nice Jewish boy
like me befriended by an Arab Prince. I was flown to London
where he lived on Eaton Square to present my new designs.
Often he put me up at Claridge’s for a week before he had
time to meet with me. Not bad. He was a prince of a man,
but eventually his father decided that he was having too much
fun and moved his responsibility to satellites.
After the war, in the 1950s, a number of Italian aristocrats
who may not have been impoverished, but were certainly less
wealthy than in former times, began to go into business in the
fashion industry – for example Simonetta Visconti and Irene
Galitzine who famously launched her “palazzo pajamas.” It
was a heady time. In Rome, at the cafés and hotels along the
Via Veneto, aristocrats rubbed shoulders with film stars and
gigolos, leading the morally ambiguous “dolce vita” that was
chronicled in Fellini’s film of 1960 and in “The Roman
Spring of Mrs. Stone” in 1961. In 1956, Charles Revson had
made a deal with Princess Marcella Borghese, wife of the
Roman aristocrat Prince Paolo Borghese, to market a line of
cosmetics under her name. This became a chic, upscale
subsidiary of Revlon.
The Borghese line featured sophisticated, shades of make-up
and introduced bath and body products that used the minerals
found in the water and mud of the Terme di Montecatini,
Marcella Borghese’s favorite spa. There were several successful
fragrances, all with Italian names: Fiamma, Ecco, and Principe
for men.
IL BACIO
Halston-Borghese
1993
Working on the new Borghese fragrance was a
great experience. When Pamela Viale, the head
of marketing, and I looked over the available
names that had been registered, one of them, Il
Bacio, struck us as perfect. Il Bacio, “The Kiss,”
suggested everything that was implied by love,
Italian-style.
Searching for an appropriate image to convey the
romantic implications of a kiss, I remembered a
beautiful necklace on the cover of a book I had
recently bought about ancient jewelry. It was an
Etruscan piece with a large cornelian, a semiprecious russet stone, carved in the shape of a love
knot. It is a potent symbol. In ancient Rome, a
bride wore a tunic fastened around the waist with
a belt that only her husband was privileged to
untie. The lovers’ knot is universally understood.
I used this image as the stopper for the perfume
bottle, which was manufactured by Saint Gobain
Desjonquères, one of the great firms.The clear glass bottle
tapers up from the bottom to an arched top. For the shape, I
was inspired by the characteristic Roman aqueducts – if you
line up several of these bottles the architectural effect is
striking. The name of the perfume was embossed in the glass
across the top in Roman letters. I wanted a monumental
impression. The box was consistent with the design, divided
by an arched line into two sections, the bottom shiny black
and the top orangey-red. Il Bacio was a beautiful scent and
quite successful.
OPPOSITE PAGE: IL BACIO,
HALSTON-BORGHESE, 1993. MARC ROSEN.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
CATALYST FOR MEN
Halston-Borghese
1994
We had helped the Halston-Borghese company launch a
woman’s fragrance with the name Catalyst. When they decided
to do a men’s version, I was asked once again to design the
presentation. I immediately thought about the unusual name:
what exactly does it mean? Obviously, a chemical reaction. It
was a perfect metaphor. Love is all about chemistry.
For any boy, when he outgrows toy guns and trucks, the first
thing he wants is either an erector set or a chemistry set. To a
kid, the chemistry set is sooo cool because you imagine yourself
as a mad scientist making potions and blowing up the whole
world, or at least the house! Men secretly miss that kind of
play; we would all like to be Doc’ Brown working on a time
machine out in the garage.
I decided to design three bottles, even though I knew they only
wanted one. I had such confidence. I made one in the shape
of a test tube in its own metal stand (that was a new idea); the
second was a beaker with a ball bottom; and the third a beaker
with a triangular shape. Together they were a complete lab set.
When I presented this unusual bottle set to my clients, they
were enthusiastic and loved the idea, even though it would be
expensive to make three molds rather than one. The mimetic
design worked perfectly. They even came up with a shave balm
in the round beaker that separated into two parts; the top was
green, but when you shook the bottle it turned amber. It was a
real chemical reaction. The whole Catalyst collection was
unique and fun, a toy for big boys. It displayed wonderfully on
the counter and drew much attention. Another FiFi!
ABOVE: ADVERTISEMENT FOR CATALYST FOR MEN.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: CATALYST FOR MEN, HALSTON-BORGHESE
1994. MARC ROSEN.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
STARDUST
1998
At about the same time, I was approached for a very different
project. I received a call from Philip Prime. He told me that
he remembered me from the days when I was at Arden and he
was working as a chemist at Eli Lilly. His wife was a television
news anchor in Indianapolis. Now they had started their own
company, and they wanted to launch a fragrance. Would I
design the bottle? I was surprised and intrigued, and we agreed
to meet. They brought a very pleasant fragrance and had
already registered the name: Stardust. I was amazed that it was
available. I suggested that we launch the perfume in upscale
specialty stores.
I imagined something nostalgic at first, but decided that I
wanted this perfume to have a contemporary look. And, as it
was going to be high end, the presentation should be very
special. I created one of my most daring designs. The square
shape is a traditional architectural form, but here it tilts
backward. The bottle seems to be falling over. The
disequilibrium gives an impression of giddiness, not unlike the
sensation of falling in love (a not unmotivated metaphor). It is,
of course, an illusion; the facetted back of the bottle provides
support. It also gives a sparkling, prismatic effect when seen from
the front, particularly as there is a second anomaly: the liquid
inside is crystal clear. That was unique; traditionally, perfume has
been amber-colored. To further carry out the theme, I designed
a striking oval cap of blue glass embossed with stars surrounded
by a band of brushed aluminum. We launched Stardust at
Bergdorf ’s, and it was successful, but, unfortunately, as so often
happens, the small entrepreneurial company did not have the
means to see it through. It was our only project together.
ABOVE: ADVERTISEMENT FOR STARDUST.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: STARDUST, PRIME
1998. MARC ROSEN.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
FABLE
Fable Fragrance
1999
The fun of having my own firm is meeting fascinating people
and becoming involved in some surprising projects. One of
them was a perfume based on the Hope diamond. One day,
two young men came to see me. Joseph Gregory and Chuck
Rapp. Joseph introduced himself as the great-grandson of
Evalyn Walsh McLean, the famous owner of the fabulous blue
stone that still draws crowds daily at the Smithsonian Institute
in Washington, DC. He had decided to honor the family
legacy by launching a perfume named for the most famous
diamond in the world.
Legend has it that the Hope was stolen from a temple in India
where it had been set into the third eye of an idol. The theft
supposedly laid a curse on anyone who owned it. What we do
know is that the diamond was brought to Europe by the
celebrated gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier and sold to
Louis XIV. It was known as the French Blue and was one of
the treasures of the crown. It disappeared during the
Revolution, and, after many vicissitudes, came into the hands of
the Hope family in England. The Parisian jeweler Pierre
Cartier acquired it in 1910, knowing he had the perfect client:
Evalyn Walsh McLean, the daughter of a prospector who had
struck it rich in the American West. With Daddy’s gold, Evalyn
collected important jewels and loved to wear them. She said
that if she forgot to put on jewelry, the family called the doctor.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
She bought the Hope in 1911, and, although she never believed
in the curse, she was no stranger to tragedy. After her death,
the Hope diamond was acquired by Harry Winston who
donated it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958.
I was a bit bemused. This was an exciting, unusual theme for a
perfume, but I was concerned that “Eau de Hope Diamond”
might frighten customers, who had heard about the supposed
curse. They might not want to tempt fate. So I suggested that
the fragrance be called FABLE, an allusion to the famous story,
but implying that it might, after all, be a fairy tale. They agreed
and off we went! Now the challenge – how to interpret a
great gem as a perfume bottle? I had my answer when I
remembered Evalyn Walsh McLean’s passion for jewelry. The
Hope has had many settings in its history, so why not imagine
one of my own? I designed a perfume bottle in the shape of a
glamorous brushed platinum cuff bracelet with the large blue
oval stone set dramatically in a bezel on top as the stopper.
Fable was introduced at Bergdorf ’s with much fanfare. Oddly
enough, my wife actually knew Evalyn Walsh McLean, whom
she met through Elsie de Wolfe, and she had even starred in a
film with Fernando Lamas called The Diamond Queen, which
told the early story of the Hope. It was released in France as Le
Diamant bleu. Over the years I seem to have been a magnet for
very esoteric clients and unique concepts, but my theory is that
life is all about the mix, so I love the challenge.
OPPOSITE PAGE:
TOP: FABLE, FABLE FRAGRANCE 1999. MARC ROSEN.
BOTTOM: THE INFAMOUS AND STUNNING HOPE DIAMOND.
Photograph © Tino Hammid, Los Angeles.
RIGHT: EVALYN WALSH MCLEAN
WEARING THE HOPE DIAMOND.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
LELONG
Lucien Lelong
1999
In 1998, I had been asked to create the re-edition of the classic
fragrance Indiscret by Lucien Lelong. Lelong had been one of
the great pioneers in the French couture in the 1930s and ’40s.
He was the first to introduce the idea of prêt-à-porter and to
bring his designs to New York. His incredibly glamorous wife,
Natalie Paley, was the daughter of a Russian grand duke. She
was Lucien Lelong’s muse and model. Lelong introduced
numerous scents, always with glamorous and fashionable bottles
and packaging. Lelong died in 1958.
The personal care company ET Brown had bought the
fragrance brand. The company owned by Arnold Neis and his
then wife, Lucy, had had a great success with products
containing cocoa butter. Now they wanted to revive the
prestigious Lelong brand.The original bottle for Indiscret had
been a trompe l’oeil drape of fabric. It had been introduced in
1936 and was very much in the surrealist mode of that day. My
new bottle followed it closely, only slightly updated.
The owners decided to follow with a new signature Lelong
fragrance, a project that was more interesting and challenging.
The bottle had to be contemporary, yet somehow express the
essence of Lelong. As I did my research, I discovered
photographs of the fabulous art deco interiors of Lucien
Lelong’s Paris apartment. One room had a Safari theme with
various hunting trophies, including a pair of elephant tusks.
That dramatic Exposition Coloniale-style interior inspired my
extravagant art deco clock design. The dramatic stopper was
created with two tortoise shell-covered tusks fitting over an
arched clear glass bottle into which a real working clock was
embedded, something never done before. It illustrated my tag
line “The fragrance that makes time stand still.” It also makes
reference to the luxurious Art Deco “mystery clocks” that
Cartier made in rock crystal, jade, and other precious materials.
The secret of those clocks was the use of moving parts made of
invisible, transparent crystal. A modern quartz battery
permitted me to imitate the effect more economically. The
bottle epitomized the elegance and luxe of the age of Lelong.
ABOVE: DETAIL OF CARTON FOR LELONG.
OPPOSITE PAGE: LELONG,
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LUCIEN LELONG. 1999.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
PERRY ELLIS
PORTFOLIO
Perry Ellis
1999
The Perry Ellis folks came back to me for another men’s
fragrance. Since my previous work for them, ownership had
changed; it was now part of the Florida-based Parlux company.
They had loved my lab set for Catalyst, so I felt that I could
again make a design that suggested an object from the real
world. At the time, cell phones were beginning to be all the
rage. They were still a novelty.We decided to make something
that resembled an electronic device of some sort. Men love
gadgets! So we had the inner glass bottle completely sheathed
in brushed aluminum with rubberized edges that have those
little raised bumps to give a good grip – like something you
would see on sports equipment. The container wasn’t
breakable; you could just toss it into your gym bag. It was a
cool, masculine design that was very popular and has been used
for a number of flankers, done in all different colors. Like my
lab set for Catalyst, this was a playful design that appealed to
younger men who might not feel comfortable buying a more
elegant fragrance.
ABOVE AND OPPOSITE PAGE: PERRY ELLIS PORTFOLIO
PERRY ELLIS. 1999. MARC ROSEN.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
L’AIR DU TEMPS
Nina Ricci
2000
Sometimes I am asked to update a classic from the past. That
is always a tricky assignment, but it is an opportunity to pay
homage to my great predecessors in the field. For the 50th
anniversary of their most famous perfume, L’Air du Temps,
Gilles Fuchs, the president of Nina Ricci, invited me to create
a very special, luxurious presentation. Gilles was the son-inlaw of Robert Ricci, but he is also a member of the family
that owns Fragonard, one of the great perfume houses in
Grasse, the capital of the perfume industry in France.
Fragonard had produced Blue Grass for Elizabeth Arden in
1936. I already knew his brother Patrick. Years before, I had
been invited to dinner by their mother at the huge family
estate in Grasse. She was a grande dame, and everything was
formal and impeccably elegant in the grand French manner. A
footman stood behind every chair at the table. It had been an
unforgettable experience.
L’Air du Temps was one of the first perfumes introduced in
France after the war. René Lalique had died in 1945. It was his
son, Marc Lalique, who designed the original bottle in 1948. It
is a memorable conceit. The frosted stopper in the shape of
doves, symbols of peace, of renewed hope, but also of love,
seems to hover over the fluted, clear glass bottle. The perfume
was a light floral scent, very feminine and always a favorite with
young women.
Now it was 50 years old, and we were about to celebrate the
millennium. I wanted a striking new design that referenced the
past. I naturally decided to keep the iconic doves. I had them fly
above a spinning globe, marked with spiraling ridges, and set it
on a blue glass disk embossed with stars. Very heavenly! There
was an allusion there to the famous indigo blue Lalique bottle for
Dans la Nuit with its motif of raised stars. My bottle was an
hommage to the original, but updated for the occasion. As this
was a special edition, the presentation box was unimaginably
luxurious and so was the price, $750, very heady at that time. It
was introduced at Bergdorf ’s and Harrod’s as a collector’s item,
and it quickly became one. It is avidly sought after today.
ABOVE: L’AIR DU TEMPS, NINA RICCI, 1951.
DESIGNED BY MARC LALIQUE AND ROBERT RICCI.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: L’AIR DU TEMPS, NINA RICCI
2000. MARC ROSEN.
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
ELLEN TRACY
man; everyone was afraid of him. When
I was preparing for the encounter I
thought of my Uncle Ben. He was the
richest member of my family, very
irascible and tyrannical. Yet I had not
been intimidated even as a child, and
somehow he knew it, and we got along.
I decided that Herbert Gallen would be
Uncle Ben to me, and I went into the
meeting with confidence. It worked.
He picked the design I had
recommended; he loved it; and it was the
perfect choice for the popular fragrance.
The bottle was manufactured by Saint
Gobain Desjonquères.
Ellen Tracy
2000
Ellen Tracy was a hugely successful company that produced
mid-market (bridge) sportswear with the working woman in
mind. The name was made up; there never had been an Ellen
Tracy. The brand began in 1949 as a manufacturer of women’s
blouses. In 2000, the line was designed by Linda Allard. She
wore lots of silver jewelry and was very close to Herbert
Gallen, the owner of the firm.When I saw her again, two years
later, they had married and she had abandoned her silver for a
diamond solitaire large enough to skate on. Ellen Tracy
customers were loyal; they loved the clothes, as they were true
to size, fit well, and were flattering to all figures. The company
was now ready to launch a signature fragrance, and they came
to me to design the bottle.
When I start to work on a new design, I always begin with
pencil and paper, making random sketches of basic shapes –
circles, squares, triangles – while I wait for the unconscious
associations to kick in. I call it the X factor. Something just
clicks. It can be quite unexpected. Things from your past, filed
away in your mental computer – a lamp, skyscraper, or a piece
of furniture – come through. When I was sketching the bottle
design for Ellen Tracy, I was on an airplane (I do a lot of my
best work on planes where I am alone and uninterrupted).
Suddenly I recognized in the shape I was drawing the form of a
handbag that had belonged to my mother when I was a child.
It was a tapered shape with a tubular horizontal closure. It was
also reminiscent of the dramatic building at 9 West 57th Street,
a skyscraper designed by Skidmore, Owings, Merrill (1974)
with a curved glass façade. The base of the bottle was made of
heavy, clear glass. A rose-gold collar cradled the frosted plastic
tube that could be removed to expose the stopper.The use of
rose-gold was new at a time when one only saw yellow gold or
silver. It was reminiscent of Art Deco jewelry. The liquid itself
was blush pink. The top of the bottle seemed to glow with the
reflected light.
It was an unusual design, feminine, but contemporary, and I
really liked it. I had made several others, but this was the one I
believed in. I thought that it worked. We had a meeting
scheduled with Mr. Gallen. He was reputed to be a formidable
The Ellen Tracy clothing collection for
Spring 2000 featured simple, unadorned
shapes, but in feminine colors,
particularly shades of a rosy pink. It
expressed the optimism of the new
millennium that had rendered obsolete
both the starkly minimalist and the
scruffy “grunge” looks that had
dominated fashion in the mid ’90s. The
debut of Sex and the City in 1998 had
introduced a pretty, flirty, feminine style
that gave young urban women a new,
charming image. Ellen Tracy was part of
that optimistic spirit.
ABOVE: ELLEN TRACY, ELLEN TRACY
1999. MARC ROSEN.
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OPPOSITE PAGE: DESIGN SKETCH AND LUCITE MODEL FOR THE
ELLEN TRACY BOTTLE. PENCIL ON PAPER. MARC ROSEN.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
JILL STUART
Jill Stuart
2007
Jill Stuart does exist. Her brand appeals to the young urban
woman who wants feminine, even somewhat retro fashions, a
‘Charlotte’ rather than a ‘Samantha.’ Jill’s warehouse is filled
with vintage clothes, shoes and accessories. She wanted her
own fragrance in a bottle that reflected her tastes. I took her to
visit my friend Ken Leach whose shop, Gallery 47 in the New
York Antique Center, is not far from my office. Ken has an
extraordinary collection of vintage perfume bottles and is an
authority on their history. I designed a bottle that recalls, in
miniature, a cut-glass decanter. It is amphora-shaped with a
small base and a narrow neck. The fluted collar is the
distinctive feature, carried up onto its jewel-like, prismatic cap.
RIGHT: JILL STUART’S FALL 2010 COLLECTION.
OPPOSITE PAGE: JILL STUART, JILL STUART
2007. MARC ROSEN.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
SHANGHAI
2003
What can I say about Shanghai?
It was a dream design project. No client to please! It was an
opportunity to bring the sum total of my career experience to
one special project that would underscore the exotic history
and modern aura of an incredible city, and allow me to create a
bottle that would give the consumer a unique, one-of-a-kind
experience.
The idea of Shanghai was conceived with my friend, renowned
New York Post columnist Cindy Adams. In discussing ideas for a
new fragrance, we brainstormed about possible perfume names
and positioning. At some point the name Shangra-la came up,
to which Cindy brilliantly came back with Shanghai! A brand
concept was born.
After a lifetime in the fragrance industry, I was beginning to
feel that we had drifted away from our mission. We were so
bottom line driven that we had forgotten the importance of
that “X-plus quotient” we had been famous for. I was hoping
to demonstrate that a new fragrance with a strong concept, a
beautiful scent and bottle could still capture the imagination
and sales without a pop star endorsement or fashion designer
label. Shanghai, “the Forbidden Fragrance,” was my answer!
It was the ideal moment. China was on everyone’s mind, and
Shanghai was the hot new city. Everyone wanted to be there.
All the major luxury brands were opening huge new boutiques;
young people were flocking to the fashion capital of Asia. Yet
behind the futuristic new architecture and the rapid change,
Shanghai was still the romantic old commercial city where East
meets West. Remnants of that intriguing world remained, at
least in our memories. There had been a wonderful louche
glamour about Shanghai in the 1920s and early ’30s. Who
could forget Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express? I was
intrigued by the history of the city, but also by its modernity;
by the blending of the old and the new. The scent itself would
be an Oriental, an enduring fragrance family going back at least
to Poiret’s Nuit de Chine.
When I set about designing a bottle that would be as exciting
as the city itself, I chose the basics of geometry: a circle and a
line. To execute it, I imagined a new use of glass, something
ABOVE: SHANGHAI, 2004. MARC ROSEN.
OPPOSITE PAGE: WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY
COVER STORY FEATURING SHANGHAI.
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A DESIGNING LIFE: MY CAREER
that had never been dared before. I wanted a spherical bottle
bisected in the middle, with the top half a hollow cavity
containing the liquid and the bottom half made of solid, very
heavy glass. The bottle would have a wonderful tactile quality,
almost like a paper weight. You would want to pick it up and
hold it in your hands. Only Brosse, an old French maker of fine
perfumery glass, was able to achieve my design. The perfume
itself was tinted red to contrast startlingly with the clear glass
below. The closure features a long horizontal clear Lucite rod,
slid through a golden loop raised from the cap. It is a sleek,
modern concept that references the oriental. The colors of
Shanghai, red and black, are featured prominently in the strong
graphic packaging. The red perfume within the bottle gave the
consumer that experiental moment I sought to create.
Saks Fifth Avenue was offered the exclusive launch of the
fragrance, and they created spectacular window displays on Fifth
Avenue and in their stores throughout the country. It was so
magical that I wept when I saw it. The sales assistants, all wearing
red Chinese dresses, were manning black Chinese-styled étagère
outposts around the first floor. People were lining up for me to
sign the bottles with gold ink. Later, when Shanghai was
introduced at Bloomingdale’s, rickshaws waited outside the store
to give customers who made big purchases a free ride home.
Shanghai was launched with similar hoopla in Dubai and, of
course, in Shanghai itself.
We had achieved the total statement; the ad, in-store merchandising,
OPPOSITE PAGE: SALES ASSOCIATES AT SAKS DRESSED
and beauty press made the industry sit up and take notice. And, for
IN RED AND BLACK FOR THE SHANGHAI LAUNCH.
me, the icing on the cake was when the Shanghai bottle won the
ABOVE: I WAS THRILLED TO ACCEPT MY SEVENTH
FiFi Award, my seventh, one of which I am particularly proud.
FIFI AWARD FOR SHANGHAI IN 2003.
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