When it comes to men and fragrance, two, possibly three paths are typically taken.
The first is that your SO buys you a bottle they like the scent of and therefore think you will too. They’re right and you’re happily spritzing their acquisition.
Path two, your dad or uncle or grandfather wore the same cologne his entire life and you’re now following in his footsteps and maybe even wearing the same scent.
And last but not least, you spent a solid twenty minutes in a department store sniffing bottles until you found the complex, designer eau de toilette you wear religiously every day.
Well, there’s a new trend brewing in perfumery and it is carving out a fourth path for consideration. According to Global Industry Analysts Inc., not only will the global fragrance market reach a booming $51 billion by 2022, it will include more of the super diverse niche scents we’ve watched sporadically pop up since L’Artisan Parfumeur, Serge Lutens, Amouage and Clive Christian started crafting a-typical and frequently gender-defying fragrances in the 1990s.
So while these newb niche numbers may eventually sit alongside our mass-market favourites atop department store counters there will be nothing mainstream about them.
Described as indie, artisanal, experimental and artistic, these parfums—much like how Le Labo and Jo Malone list their dominant notes as the scents name directly on each flacon—will trade the usual creative pomp and circumstance for straight forward storytelling in the form of putting their core notes front and centre on the bottle’s label. Rumour has it, these specialty parfums may even boast simpler formulations, so that you can align yourself with say, a sandalwood or an iris and then mix it with another bottle that reads amber or geranium, thereby providing you with a more personalized and unique way to spritz your personality. Feeling too far out for your tastes? No worries, designer favourites will keep up by continuing to bottle exclusive elixirs under their brand.
