People Seem To Think John Galliano's Perfume Smells Like Anti-Semitism

By Jenna Sauers | June 17, 2011 | 5:00pm

Latest

John Galliano‘s perfume Parlez Moi D’Amour launched in Europe and the Middle East with a snazzy Taylor Momsen-infused ad campaign last year — and was supposed to go on sale in the U.S. this spring. But then came racism. The company wouldn’t give precise figures or name names, but some German and U.K. stores have not stocked the scent — although the impact on sales in Italy and France has been minimal. “Everyone knows John was sick at the time” he was caught on camera ranting about loving Hitler and all the people who would have been “fucking gassed,” says the head of the company that holds the perfume license. John Galliano — who has been fired from the label that bears his name — is just like Kate Moss, in fact. “We have all forgotten now that she messed up.” An industry analyst, speaking anonymously, put the perfume’s global wholesale sales since the launch at around $14 million, and said that it could be “several months” before people forget their “negative perceptions of the brand.” [WWD]

Versace booked Dutch model Saskia de Brauw for its fall campaign. “For me, it is expected to have the blonde girl, the sexy girl, and this is what Versace meant recently,” says Donatella Versace. “But I thought about how in the past, when Gianni used girls like Kristen McMenamy and Stella Tennant, everyone was always saying, ‘Wow, this is not a Versace girl, she is not blonde.’ Sometimes you need to renew yourself to work better and to make a little bit of a push.” [WWD]

Most Popular

Here’s another shot from Helena Bonham Carter‘s Marc Jacobs campaign, which is maybe our favorite of the season so far. [Fashionologie]

Our enjoyment of these photos of Joe Jonas modeling Calvin Klein men’s wear is necessarily impacted by the fact that we can’t remember: is Joe Jonas the one who fucks? [WWD]

Here’s Eva Mendes in her Thierry Mugler Angel perfume campaign. [FashionETC]

Heidi Klum conducted an interview from a luxury suite at the Mondrian hotel — from atop a big pile of sand she’d had dumped on the floor there specially. Where can one go to get a big pile of sand delivered to a hotel suite in Manhattan, you ask? Home Depot. Klum, who is promoting her new AOL website and her soon-to-be-released perfume, Shine, says Seal has never seen Project Runway. “You know, my husband has never seen one [episode.] What about that for a fun fact? He’s come to the set, but he hasn’t watched an episode.” Klum will begin Tweeting this summer. “But I’m not into Tweeting like, ‘I’m at Starbucks and I took two sugars and syrup in my coffee.'” And she says her ads for Shine are not overly retouched. “You can sell a dream, and you can sell a lifestyle that a woman aspires to have, but you can’t completely trick her. If people retouch me too much, I get upset — yes, you can help me out a little here and there, but don’t go overboard. I have one tooth that’s longer than another, and if you look at the [Shine] ad my snaggletooth is coming out a little bit — but I like that.” [WWD]

Mariah Carey‘s Lollipop Bling perfume has begat the even more ridiculously named Lollipop Splash The Remix. (Coming up with names for perfume sequels must be a fun job. Naomi Campbell Cat Delxe With Kisses.) [People]

Beyoncé is also adding a third perfume to her retinue: Beyoncé Pulse is expected to sell around $70 million at retail in its first year. [WWD]

Jean-Paul Gaultier is the subject of a major retrospective at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The museum director and chief curator says, “We are a fine arts museum and it was more about the message he has, a very humanist message, a social message, about his vision and his generosity. I think it’s that we wanted to work with him as a contemporary artist, not as a fashion designer. I wanted to show this dimension of his work, and because it was contemporary art.” [Vancouver Sun]
Gaultier says, “I don’t think my work is art. We are in the service of men and women.” [WWD]

Rodarte’s collection of ten couture dresses is displayed in an installation in Florence. Speaking of contemporary art, there’s a Dan Flavin-esque feel to the set. [WWD]

According to sources familiar with the deal, Prada has set a share price for its Hong Kong IPO at the lower end of its projection: 39.50 Hong Kong dollars, or $5.06 per share. Earlier estimates had put the share price at up to $6.17, which would have valued the company at around $15.3 billion. As it is, Prada had to lower its guidance yesterday because although institutional demand was said to be high, individual investors weren’t biting. (In fact, only around half of the 10% of shares set aside for the general public drew interest.) The IPO will value Prada at just under $13 billion. [WWD]
David Koma, Burberry, Vivienne Westwood and Matthew Williamson all designed custom dresses for tennis stars to fête Wimbledon. [Vogue UK]
Kristin Chenoweth, who is 4’11”, is able to shop at GapKids. (Like certain fashion editors who were really into the GapKids Stella McCartney collection.) [NYDN]
Twilight‘s Kellan Lutz says that he is “more than just the face” of the clothing line he’s launching, Abbot + Main. (He’s partnered with a man named Danny Guez on the project.) What else is Kellan Lutz up to these days? “I still do a lot of inventing. A lot of chemistry stuff. I really wanted to make a breakfast-omelet-creator thing, and then I looked in SkyMall and they already have something like that.” [The Cut]
Forbes says the top-selling celebrity fragrances are, in order: Elizabeth Taylor‘s White Diamonds ($54 million sold), Derek Jeter‘s Driven ($27 million sold), Beyoncé Knowles‘ Heat ($21 million sold), P Diddy‘s Unforgivable ($18 million sold) and Sarah Jessica Parker‘s NYC ($18 million sold). [FFG]
According to Visa, “The average family with a high school student attending the prom spent a whopping $807 this year.” A quarter of families could not afford to let their children attend. [CNNMoney]
A University of New Mexico football player who was flying home from a friend’s funeral was arrested on the plane — for wearing his pants too low. A flight attendant asked him to pull up his pants, he said no and sat down, and for that, he was charged with trespass and resisting arrest. [NYDN]
Timo Weiland calls designing his sister’s wedding dress “the most challenging but fulfilling design project of my career to date.” Awww. [Racked]
A man has filed a $200,000 lawsuit against a salon that charged him $1 more than a woman for a manicure. His lawyer says he’s the Rosa Parks — of manicures. [NYPost]
Sudanese-born, Kansas City-raised model Grace Bol: “In five years I would love to go back to Sudan with the money I make from modeling and help support my country by providing jobs for my people. I would love to open a clothing line of some sort and have my people design it from start to finish; something to make them proud.” [The Cut]
Coco Rocha is sad that Rebecca Black deleted “Friday” off of YouTube. “I have horrible news for tomorrow everybody… Rebecca Black has deleted her song “Friday” from YouTube,” she Tweeted, adding the hashtags #sadfriday, #nofunfunfunfun, #notlookingforwardtotheweekend, and #nothingcomesafterthursday. [@CocoRocha]
After Jessica White was arrested for assault following a violent attack on a woman who was arguing with her over a cab, White has taken to going out with a bodyguard. Not getting arrested for the next six months, along with anger-management training, community service, and a fine, are conditions imposed by the court to have the charges stemming from the incident dismissed. White says, “When you’re successful, you’re a victim. People see you…and they try to antagonize you.” [NYPost]
Women’s Wear Daily featured three Asian models to watch: Hyoni Kang, Ming Xi, and Tao Okamoto. We’ve been watching each for kind of a while. [WWD]
Andrej Pejic is walking in Sao Paolo fashion week. He says Brazilian designers have “interesting ideas.” [Andrej Pejic Page]
Designer Bruce Oldfield says Princess Diana would have looked good at age fifty. “She looked after herself. She was keen on the old gym, and she’d have made the best of what she had, but I’m sure she would have got a few things done, like many women of her age.” What a relief. A random dude thinks Di, had she lived, would have been hot. [Vogue UK]
Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli swear Valentino Garavani totally likes the clothes they make under his name. [Vogue UK]