Investigating Fragrance in London

Our new brief is all about the fragrance world, something I've never really looked into or worked with much before. For primary research, I visited London to explore different fragrance brands, and discover information about them. I first went to Liberty of London (for the first time ever may I add!) to see the range of fragrance brands in their department store. Brands such as Diptyque, Aesop and Le Labo all live here. It was interesting to see how each brand presented themselves within a smaller space, yet it was easy to notice a distinct difference. All of these brands stated they were gender fluid (this was the case with nearly all of the fragrances) and that they targeted everyone and anyone, not just one particular type of consumer. As someone who's typically always seen fragrance scents as either "male" or "female" I was surprised that a lot of places said they didn't target a particular gender, as I think through marketing a lot of brands do segregate them.

In regards to how they present their products, I much preferred the look of Le Labo's bottles as they were sleeker, and simple (the kind of aesthetic I'm drawn to) compared to the fragrances at Penhaligon's as they were a bit more novelty. Both refer to themselves as "niche" and "higher end" yet their appearance couldn't be more different.

I also discovered two brands I'd never heard of before, Frederic Malle and Atkinson's. Both the assistants in these shops were really helpful and informative when I was asking questions. Both these brands don't use typical marketing, and instead let customers find them through word of mouth (perhaps why I hadn't heard of them). In Frederic Malle they said that they had a different idea of perfuming than most brands, and that the perfumers create what they want with no brief. Each perfume had a different story and included the individual perfumers name, they think of the perfumers as artists. Atkinson's was also similar in the fact each different scent had a different story, some even having links to the royal family.