In 2024, Coty, the beauty giant and expert in bottling, luxury and ego, continued to bet on perfume as one would bet on a horse that has eaten Red Bull: with hope, confidence and a hint of panic. Fragrance is their engine for growth, their olfactory Elon Musk, their balance sheet booster.
In a burst of fragrant audacity, Coty has signed pacts (like arranged marriages between great families) with brands as prestigious as Swarovski (to sparkle like a disco ball), Marni (to smell like a contemporary art gallery) and Etro (which is never pronounced the same but always smells expensive). They’ve even enlisted Lena Gercke, a German presenter and model with a minimalist techno name, to launch “LaGer”, a line of mainstream fragrances. Yes, mainstream, like a lukewarm beer… but in a designer bottle. The name sounds like peach and vanilla.
Internally, Coty has also come up with a premium line called ‘Infiniment Coty Paris’ because nothing says “class” like a long name with ‘Paris’ in it. They’ve stuck their ‘Molecular Aura™’ technology on it, which is supposed to make the fragrance last 30 hours. Yes. Enough to survive a techno night, a morning after drinking, and a family brunch without re-parfuming. Bimbos, you’ve been warned, it’s going to smell strong in the Uber.
And then… Cosmic Kylie Jenner. The first fragrance from Kylie Cosmetics. After conquering the bimbo’s sister on Instagram, Karda thought: “Why not conquer the world’s nostrils? Clearly, the universe needed a cosmic fragrance. Soon a fragrance that smells like a BBL algorithm.
Burberry Goddess, released in 2023, remains THE best-seller. A divine fragrance, meant to make you a goddess… or at least someone you’d notice in the underground. For Hugo Boss, the brand has been so successful that they are planning to relaunch fashionable uniforms for the German army, like in the good old days for the SS (creepy, yes, but stylish) The Russians will appreciate this.
In the UK, it was Marc Jacobs Daisy Wild that got everyone on the same page. Because nothing says “rebellion” like a limited edition wildflower.
And then there was the little corporate drama: the Lacoste fragrance licence, gone, gone. Taken over by Interparfums, under the obscure influence of the mysterious entity “Madar”, which sounds like the name of a James Bond villain or a Corsican pastis maker.
Finally, in Asia-Pacific, the vibe was less “lotus and serenity” and more “strategic withdrawal”. Revenues were down 8%, due to China saying ‘no thanks’ to Western glamour, and airport boutiques where perfumes gather dust next to giant Toblerones.