uh oh Duchaufour

[gimmegreen]

I suppose he is only following the money, like most others:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ctator-come-up-smelling-of-roses-8210902.html

 

[hedonist222]

So his other perfumes were made for free then?

 

[gimmegreen]

So his other perfumes were made for free then?

Not suggesting that at all. He is in a position to choose whom he works for though, being one of the brightest stars of the current perfumers' firmament.
Also, thought this article may have been of some interest to some on this forum...

 

[rubegon]

All perfumers follow the money I assume. So do I in my work. It seems Duchaufour is willing to work for tyrants' spoiled daughters to get it.

 

[Marais]

Quite a stomach-turning read. Thanks for posting.

 

[30 Roses]

Strange and incomprehensible. Not an association I would want.

 

[Plaisir]

Strange and incomprehensible. Not an association I would want.

Same here.

 

[iodine]

I've just finished reading the Italian version of this article, on the homepage of most known daily newspaper in Italy Corriere della Sera. I wish I'd found a perfumer's name in a better circumstance!

I find it, at the very least, sad and vulgar.
Sad, because BD is acting just like one of those "talented" young girls, very popular in my country during Berlusconi's regime, selling himself to the best offerer, no matter how compromised and publicly evil .
Vulgar, because the choices of the lady in question seems to convey all the cheapness and squalor of a certain way of being a woman, and the idea of BD thinking that this is "femininity and sensuality"...

PS: there seem to be also a man fragrance...

http://www.uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&cid=33&nid=20981

 

[Guest 3]

That was disturbing. Also disturbing: the report that Sting for a seven figure fee agreed to sit beside the daughter at a fashion show. I wonder whether this is true? :huh:

 

[dusttdust]

Same here.

+1 Wonder if maybe he didn't have so much of a choice....

 

[furrypine]

Certainly in poor taste, the money must have been very, very good. Duchaufour is the darling of so many of the perfeume blogs that this story will not get much mention; they don't want to miss out of future interviews or exclusive pre-launch samples.

 

[Al Gae]

Assuming that Sting did indeed get seven figures for an evening of his time, one can only imagine what Mr. Duchaufuor was paid to create something more than a lasting memory. I imagine you'd be hard-pressed to find a perfumer who wouldn't undertake such an assignment for a million dollars or more!

 

[les*lucioles]

All perfumers follow the money I assume. So do I in my work. It seems Duchaufour is willing to work for tyrants' spoiled daughters to get it.

I agree. I don't think it's much different from any other luxury company dealing with custom orders coming from the same clientele, the only difference being that they're discreet about it.

Might be slightly OT, but it reminds me of all the pop stars getting six figures pay for singing a couple of songs at a random dictator's event. Not that far back, Britney Spears got a $1 mil paycheck for a wedding gig of a corrupt government official in neighbouring Kazakhstan. Not surprisingly, any kind of photography was strictly forbidden.

 

[hednic]

Interesting. Thanks for the link.

 

[HORNS]

The more important question: would you hit it?

Seriously, though, Duchaufour is making money in the same way Hermes, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc have over the decades when kleptocrats from Africa and all over the world have arrived in Paris and paid massive amounts of blood money for services and goods rendered.

 

[Al Gae]

The more important question: would you hit it?

For a million bucks? Sure would!

 

[catnip_too]

If this is true, it is certainly disappointing. He is certainly in a position to choose whom and what values he represents. Perhaps I am displaying my complete naivete, but I believe that even in business, there is room for ethics and personal responsibility.

 

[Sugandaraja]

Honestly, Eau d'Italie scents like Baume Au Doge, Sienna L'Hiver, and and Bois d'Ombrie already smell like they belong to a prisoner-boiling dictator, I'm just sorry reality caught up with the portraiture.

 

[LA2000]

Profoundly disappointing. If this were the 1930's, I guess Duchaufour wouldn't have had a problem concocting something for Eva Braun or Leni Riefenstahl. How else to afford your third vacation home!?

We'd like to think that success affords us to live our principles to the fullest and without any compromise.

And sadly, perhaps he is.

Love his work but no company should touch this man with a 10 foot pole. There are some things more important than perfume.

 

[alfarom]

Not suggesting that at all. He is in a position to choose whom he works for though, being one of the brightest stars of the current perfumers' firmament.

Exactly

I've just finished reading the Italian version of this article, on the homepage of most known daily newspaper in Italy Corriere della Sera. I wish I'd found a perfumer's name in a better circumstance!

I find it, at the very least, sad and vulgar.
Sad, because BD is acting just like one of those "talented" young girls, very popular in my country during Berlusconi's regime, selling himself to the best offerer, no matter how compromised and publicly evil .
Vulgar, because the choices of the lady in question seems to convey all the cheapness and squalor of a certain way of being a woman, and the idea of BD thinking that this is "femininity and sensuality"...

PS: there seem to be also a man fragrance...

http://www.uznews.net/news_single.php?lng=en&cid=33&nid=20981

Exactly

Strange and incomprehensible. Not an association I would want.

Exactly. Bad move Mr. Duchaufour.

Exactly!

 

[pluran]

.........He is certainly in a position to choose whom and what values he represents..........

Not necessarily.

He's connected to a lot of entities in the perfume industry and most likely has obligations to some of them.

 

[Elf]

This is really appalling. L'Artisan Parfumeur should dress him down, because this reflects on their brand as well. I can't imagine that BD would do this if his own son had to labor as a slave in Googoosha's cotton fields each summer.... Artists have to, above all people, care about who their clients and patrons are. If they don't care, we really are doomed as a civilization.

 

[dusttdust]

Yes, I really believe if this guy is as bad as everyone is saying, I'm fairly certain Duchaufour wouldn't be allowed to refuse him, nor say anything bad about him. It sounds like he's possibly "enslaved" Duchaufour because he IS such an artistic master. That only makes me think even more that Duchaufour shouldn't be judged for what's happening, but rather, maybe we should have compassion and concern for him.

 

[Trebor]

If this is true, it is certainly disappointing. He is certainly in a position to choose whom and what values he represents. Perhaps I am displaying my complete naivete, but I believe that even in business, there is room for ethics and personal responsibility.

Agreed.

- - - Updated - - -

Certainly in poor taste, the money must have been very, very good. Duchaufour is the darling of so many of the perfeume blogs that this story will not get much mention; they don't want to miss out of future interviews or exclusive pre-launch samples.

That's the world of fragrance blogs for you... :wink:

 

[Kagey]

Yes, I really believe if this guy is as bad as everyone is saying, I'm fairly certain Duchaufour wouldn't be allowed to refuse him, nor say anything bad about him. It sounds like he's possibly "enslaved" Duchaufour because he IS such an artistic master. That only makes me think even more that Duchaufour shouldn't be judged for what's happening, but rather, maybe we should have compassion and concern for him.

Nonsense. Do you have any facts at all to back up that fantasy scenario? I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but my guess is he did it for the money.

 

[hedonist222]

Quite a stomach-turning read. Thanks for posting.

Strange and incomprehensible. Not an association I would want.

Same here.

If this is true, it is certainly disappointing. He is certainly in a position to choose whom and what values he represents. Perhaps I am displaying my complete naivete, but I believe that even in business, there is room for ethics and personal responsibility.

Exactly



Exactly



Exactly. Bad move Mr. Duchaufour.

Exactly!

This is really appalling. L'Artisan Parfumeur should dress him down, because this reflects on their brand as well. I can't imagine that BD would do this if his own son had to labor as a slave in Googoosha's cotton fields each summer.... Artists have to, above all people, care about who their clients and patrons are. If they don't care, we really are doomed as a civilization.

So then, is it all talk or are you going to put your mouth where your principles are?

I'm assuming you're going to boycott Duchafour, and by association, L'Artisan Parfumeur perfumes.


Good news everyone else, the For Sale section is going to be flowing with Duchafour bottles.

 

[dusttdust]

Nonsense. Do you have any facts at all to back up that fantasy scenario? I'd be happy to be proved wrong, but my guess is he did it for the money.

I have just as many facts to back up the things that are speculated in this article. I am trying not to judge people based on such little information. I'm not defending his decision, I'm just saying I'm sure the issue isn't so black and white and people shouldn't be so quick to judge.

Would you consider that nonsense, Kagey?

 

[danny1967]

So then, is it all talk or are you going to put your mouth where your principles are?

I'm assuming you're going to boycott Duchafour, and by association, L'Artisan Parfumeur perfumes.


Good news everyone else, the For Sale section is going to be flowing with Duchafour bottles.

LOL! spot on. so he did it for the money, so he's prostituted himself, soooo what??.. it's not the first time and won't be the last. the last time i've checked, we live in a pretty materialistic, cynical world, why do all of you find this so surprising or shocking? sorry, but i haven't batted an eyelid when reading this article. sad, maybe. but that's about it.
there are a lot more pressing, urgent and tragic matters in this world that need and should be addressed and this is not one of them. rich guy doing something for another rich guy, my heart cries rivers.

 

[catnip_too]

I don't presume to speak for everyone, but I saw my post cited above

(BTW, I opened my sentence with "If this is true," because the short article is all I see right now. It would be interesting if the information could be verified.)

I realize that we live in a selfish and materialistic world, but we are not merely consumers or social puppets. We do have some limited agency. I don't wear, for example, fur coats. I avoid companies that have been implicated in the exploitation of child labor. I don't eat meat, and if I must, I buy cage-free eggs because I don't like cruelty to animals. I am not responsible for other people's actions, and I cannot control other people's actions but just because there is selfishness out there, it doesn't mean that we should all accept it as something we shouldn't even question. In the end of the day, we decide what's important and what not to us.

 

[hedonist222]

I don't presume to speak for everyone, but I saw my post cited above

(BTW, I opened my sentence with "If this is true," because the short article is all I see right now. It would be interesting if the information could be verified.)

I realize that we live in a selfish and materialistic world, but we are not merely consumers or social puppets. We do have some limited agency. I don't wear, for example, fur coats. I avoid companies that have been implicated in the exploitation of child labor. I don't eat meat, and if I must, I buy cage-free egs because I don't like cruelty to animals. I am not responsible for other people's actions, and I cannot control other people's actions but just because there is selfishness out there, it doesn't mean that we should all accept it as something we shouldn't even question. In the end of the day, we decide what's important and what not to us.

agreed.

i get first cherry picking of your Duchafour bottles though, right.

 

[catnip_too]

I'll have to double-check, but I don't think I have Duchaufour bottles. I like his perfumes as concepts, but I find them difficult to wear (a completely unrelated detail to the discussion above).

 

[iodine]

So then, is it all talk or are you going to put your mouth where your principles are?

I'm assuming you're going to boycott Duchafour, and by association, L'Artisan Parfumeur perfumes.


Good news everyone else, the For Sale section is going to be flowing with Duchafour bottles.

No, I don't think I'll boycott Duchaufour fragrances- his are the most consistent in my collection:huh:- nor the houses that are working with him, as I won't stop listening to Wagner because of his racist ideas.
I'm just sad to see his venality, and every time I'll be admiring his ability to produce a mood or an exotic scenario, I couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy, thinking of how easily he interpreted the dreams of a dictator's daughter!!

 

[Guest 3]

I would like to see this verified or refuted - I am skeptical of what I read. There is always so much more to a story than is reported. In the meantime...I for one will think twice about Duchafour, and Sting.

 

[muskymoi]

Luckily for BD, he presumably lives in a free country and has the choice of saying no, as we all do in free societies. This isn't some sort of Bourne movie where the banana republic dictator kidnapped BD and forced him to perfume his trampy daughter in some sort of 3rd world perfume lab guarded by toothless grunts with AK47s.

And, for what it's worth, I'm ultra happy that my mother had the courage to take me out of the Soviet Union in 1979 so that I wouldn't have had to grow up in such an environment of fear and oppression.

 

[dusttdust]

Luckily for BD, he presumably lives in a free country and has the choice of saying no, as we all do in free societies. This isn't some sort of Bourne movie where the banana republic dictator kidnapped BD and forced him to perfume his trampy daughter in some sort of 3rd world perfume lab guarded by toothless grunts with AK47s.

Haha, I wonder if you are referencing what I proposed above? Seriously though, I wasn't saying that, but that was an excellent movie adaption of it! I'm just saying that if someone that skummy and sketchy asked you to do something specifically for his daughter, I would think twice about refusing him because of his power and craziness. And it looks like from the article below that it was his daughter that hired Duchaufour.

I am very very grateful that I live in a free country where I can even type such things on the internet and I in no way support Duchaufour working for this guy's daughter, but I do feel like someone would be in an awful spot if they were approached by some of Gulnara Karimova's goons.

Here's the other article I was referencing:
http://www.thenonblonde.com/2012/10/lets-talk-about-it-bertrand-duchaufour.html

 

[muskymoi]

Haha, I wonder if you are referencing what I proposed above? Seriously though, I wasn't saying that, but that was an excellent movie adaption of it! I'm just saying that if someone that skummy and sketchy asked you to do something specifically for his daughter, I would think twice about refusing him because of his power and craziness. And it looks like from the article below that it was his daughter that hired Duchaufour.

I am very very grateful that I live in a free country where I can even type such things on the internet and I in no way support Duchaufour working for this guy's daughter, but I do feel like someone would be in an awful spot if they were approached by some of Gulnara Karimova's goons.

Here's the other article I was referencing:
http://www.thenonblonde.com/2012/10/lets-talk-about-it-bertrand-duchaufour.html

Sorry Dusttdust, i didn't read all the posts, just skimmed. I was being jokey before, but, I think that he could have made the "hero" decision and said NO in the face of potential danger and fear for his own safety. How many people in history have done so, said NO, and are admired for it now as opposed to those who have buckled to pressure and then admired for it? the numbers would be in favor of the former.

Admittedly, this is all conjecture and we may just have really good imaginations or have seen too many action films.:huh:

 

[Elf]

Hedonist 222, I don't know if you were being facetious or not when you asked us if we'd take any concrete actions, but it's a very good question. I don't have any BD or LaP perfumes on my wish list, so I had to ask myself if my favorite perfumer, Calice Becker, did something like BD did, would I no longer buy her work? I would be very sad, but the answer is yes, I would no longer buy those perfumes. I can spend my hard-earned perfume money on any number of other perfumers' works whose values are more allied with mine. It does matter to me what an artist does, and who they do it for, and this is just awful. I've done as much fact-checking as possible and this story seems to be true. It's in the press all over Europe, Eurasia, and India.

 

[ariodant]

Mr. Duchaufour probably won't get my business anymore either. I grew up in an oppressive country and the description of Uzbekistan under Islam Karimov gives me uncomfortable flashbacks.

 

[Marais]

It may not be the crime of the century but it is certainly highly morally-questionable. Cynical blind-eye turning and fantastical excuses are not for me, so I look forward to Duchaufour exercising his right of reply, which he has declined to do so far.

 

[muskymoi]

It may not be the crime of the century but it is certainly highly morally-questionable. Cynical blind-eye turning and fantastical excuses are not for me, so I look forward to Duchaufour exercising his right of reply, which he has declined to do so far.

I'm hitting the virtual "like" button.