? ? ? Good Juice
There is nothing technically wrong with the juice, as perfume is called by industry people, of Dreaming, the major new Tommy Hilfiger launch. And that raises a question.
This is Hilfiger’s most important new feminine since the brilliant 1996 Tommy Girl, created by perfumer Calice Becker. Tommy Girl set a new standard for American scents as it was exquisitely built and an aesthetic advance: a cool seawater green, a balance of the electrical and the natural. Since then, Estée Lauder, which is Hilfiger’s licensee, has put out assorted seasonals (perfumes sold during a single summer, for example) and flankers (riffs on existing perfumes, the scent equivalent of Spiderman 2). But Dreaming is Lauder’s first truly new creation for the Hilfiger brand in 11 years.
Dreaming was created by perfumer Stephen Nilsen. Nilsen is relatively young, with a young man’s résumé: it’s short and filled mostly with flankers, several of which were for Hilfiger. But he has already proven his talent. He has under his belt the wildly underestimated With Love Hilary Duff and the quietly excellent Moss Breches for Tom Ford’s Private Blend collection.
With Dreaming, Nilsen has created a Lauder perfume: a juice that’s been precisely and closely directed. The Dreaming creative team was led by Evelyn Lauder & Trudi Loren. Both are seasoned professionals. Together, the three have made a scent designed to please millions. The perfume opens with a lovely floral top and goes immediately into a light, sweet drydown with a gentle fruit angle. The press materials list “White Peach” and “Freesia,” though these don’t exist as natural raw materials; they are marketing terms meant to communicate a certain fruitiness and floralcy, and both come through clear as a bell. And that is basically the scent.
A reader of the perfume blog Now Smell This commented on Dreaming last December, two months before the perfume’s February 2008 launch. The comment: “I can honestly say it is delicious! My new favorite parfum!” will be representative of the general reaction. There is no reason that Dreaming should not make a lot of money with first-time buyers, and I would be surprised if it didn’t, in particular in the Asian market, for which it is perfect. It is absolutely plug-and-play accessible, it diffuses nicely, it whispers, it flatters the wearer. There is nothing wrong with it, and nothing to frighten anyone away. The question with a perfume with which there is nothing technically wrong whatsoever is whether it has the personality necessary for the sale of the second bottle.
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