After an initial infatuation with his best-selling Daisy scent, Marc Jacobs has a new girl: Lola.
The new women’s fragrance is due out in the fall and brings a whole new personality to the party. “Where Daisy is more innocent and sweet, Lola is more sensual — the name conjures up a flirtatious, warm spirit,” said the designer in a phone interview Wednesday. “It was the first thing that came to my mind, and I was very insistent with Coty that this had to be the concept. It just felt natural in contrast to Daisy.”
Where Daisy Marc Jacobs — which was launched in 2007 and helped catapult the designer’s fragrance house to worldwide prominence — works its girlish charm, Lola is intended to be the confident and slightly vampy older sister, the designer added.
The distinction was particularly important to Jacobs, who sees fragrance as an integral part of a person’s style. “Fragrance is just as important as accessories, bags and shoes are,” said Jacobs. “Not only does it help set a mood, it’s a luxury you can have no matter what your size or height or wallet. I’m happy to keep offering more choices. I know I like to rotate fragrances depending on my mood.”
Lola, which Jacobs developed with Calice Becker of Givaudan and Ann Gottlieb, opens with pink peppercorn, pear d’anjou and ruby red grapefruit. Its heart is of fuchsia peony, rose and geranium, and the drydown is of vanilla, tonka bean and creamy musk.
The scent will launch at Bloomingdale’s in August for a monthlong exclusive (it will also be available in Marc Jacobs stores in the U.S. at that time), then will roll out to its remaining U.S. distribution — about 2,200 department and specialty store doors — in September. It will also commence globally that month.
At launch, the collection will include eaux de parfum in two sizes — 1.7 oz. for $65 and 3.4 oz. for $85 — as well as a 5.1 oz. body lotion, $45; a 5.1-oz. shower gel, $40, and a 4.9-oz. body cream, $50. In November, a 1-oz. (for which a retail price has not yet been finalized) will join the permanent Lola collection, as will a limited edition solid perfume ring, $40. Both are intended to “reenergize the brand for holiday,” said Claire Fermont Langlais, senior marketing director for Marc Jacobs fragrances at Coty Prestige, adding that the brand will anniversary the ring’s debut with another Jacobs accessory.
In an unusual step, Lola’s bottles differ in shape according to their size. The 1.7-oz. bottle is tall and curvy, while the 3.4-oz. is wider and rounded. Both are topped with riotous free-form flowers of violet, fuchsia and red. “I had a color palette in mind from a cruise collection I was working on at the time,” said Jacobs of the cap design. “I started playing around with fabrics and swatches of leather, and that became the basis for the cap.”
Of the decision to create different bottle shapes for the 1.7-oz. and 3.4-oz. scents, Jacobs noted: “I don’t know all the rules and regulations of the perfume world. Robert [Duffy, Jacobs’ business partner] and I have always operated by instinct. We don’t design by calculators. I don’t know if we’re right or wrong, but I’ve learned over the years to trust my instincts. The bottle was a whim, and it came together.”
Purchase MARC JACOBS ‘Lola’ Eau de Parfum
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