European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 8, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Dollars and scents by Michael Gross new York times he makers of prestige fragrances colognes perfumes and scented products ranging from shampoo to foot Cream want attention. So they come up with names hat Are As suggestive As opium and decadence. As sort involved As obsession and Beautiful or As bizarre As the newest entry Poison. What s next lust greed and avarice said Victor Gassman. The president of Liz Claiborne cosmetics which will introduce the fragrance bearing the designer s name in september. The Norm today is  perfume manufacturers routinely run advertisements thai Are often even More outrageous than their perfume names. They give away buckets of samples at Charity galas in stares and on scent strips in magazines and mailings. And like Elizabeth Arden which recently introduced Al homme a men s fragrance from the designer Karl Lagerveld they also give lavish parties dinner for 700 at Versailles a few weeks later a dinner and laser show at the International design Center in new York and shortly after that a repeat performance in los Angeles. For Alt this they pay enormous Bills. In fragrance today Lagerveld said ii you Don t have s10-to-t20 million to spend on a launch spend it on something  ones Cathlon fragrances seemed to be forever now their average life expectancy has shrunk to three to five years. After thai a scent is either a classic such As Estee Lauder s youth Dew or Halston or else it disappears. The terrain is Lull of corpses of perfumes thai Haven t lasted said Eugene p. Grisalli the chairman and president of International flavors and fragrances which created and manufactures such fragrances As Halston Ralph Lauren Paris and Chloe. But if your fragrance lasts More than five years he continued you be got a Gold  for designers fragrance can mean even More. Hit a fragrance Homo run. And everything does better a top fashion and fragrance executive said. Consumers who cannot afford a designer s expensive fashions will often buy his or her fragrance thus increasing awareness of the designer s name and adding clout with retailers. For Many fashion houses successful perfumes have even meant survival. After the end of world War ii when returning gis brought then exotic european fragrances Home wih them French couture houses Learned what they could earn from perfume sales in the United states Milton Stem chairman of partus Stern marketer of the Valentino Perry Ellis and Oscar de la renal fragrance lines said the income out of fragrances supported the  the Oscar a la renal fragrance which partus Stern put into limited distribution in 1977. Quickly became a top seller. Ii exemplifies what fragrance can mean Lor a fashion company today. Designers earn a Royalty on fragrance sates generally 5 percent but in Soma cases As Little As 2 percent la s free Money if it s done the right Way said Gerald Shaw the president of and de Sarente s partner in Oscar de la renal lid. Fragrances Are de Larenta s top earning licensed products bringing in More than $100 minion at retail Shaw said. At a 5 percent Royalty Rale Hal would mean $5 million in Cost tree revenues to the company. In comparison last year de la renal and Shaw s two wholly owned clothing companies had sales in excess of $25 million Shaw said Bui out of Hal the costs of materials manufacturing and some promotion had to be paid. Dreaming up a new perfume or gelling a designer to sponsor one is not the hard part. Obtaining financing is they need the Guys that put up the Bucks to launch and  Grisanti said. The sponsor lakes All the risks he said. The designer lakes the Cream off the  nevertheless the bottle must be felled first and that s where companies such As International flavors and fragrances take a Gamble. Half a dozen fragrance houses May compete to create a new fragrance. Some designers work closely and constructively with them Grisalli said. Others have nothing to do with it and could t care less some choose Iho first version. But Bill Blass rejected More than 200 samples before deciding on his women s perfume according to Daniel j. Moriarty a senior vice president at Revlon its distributor. Development costs As High As $250,000 per fragrance Are borne by each of the manufacturers competing for the designer s name. But there Are considerable rewards for taking such risks. The formula remains she property of the supplier hirer a a to Mil p4w1 Christian dior1 new to cent potion. Grisanti said. Often the customer does t know the formula. Our return is the sate of the finished perfume  his company s Fine fragrance sales topped $100 million last year according to Industry estimates. A Ottomar mat out a scent in a new York department atom. Rma Bombeck High tech is All right in its place but it getting out of  All remember padded bras strapless bras French bras and Phyllis Ciller s living Bra that died. Now technology has come out Wilh a memory Bra i m serious. It s an undergarment that contains a special lightweight Metal Altos of Nickal and titanium that allows the Bra to shape itself to the wearer and weighs no mom than a ballpoint pen. No matter How Many times it is laundered it remembers its original shape and goes Back to it. That s All Well and Good assuming ii has something to remember. But what if All of our clothes were programmed to taunt us Wilh our past next thing you know we ii have bikinis that Roll up Inlo a string and play. The Way we were. Or talking Slacks that shout repent when you try to zip them up. I be got nothing now but a close full of memories there s a Navy coat dress that remembers when it buttoned Over my stomach and a wraparound skirt thai remembers wrapping All they Way around to the Back. I paid big Money to have a knit skirt steamed and blocked to erase the memory of my profile when i wore it. Probably the Only Greal thing about pantyhose is thai every Lime you Wash them they go Back to their original shape i look at that puckered starved withered six inches of Nylon and feel reborn again. God has Given me a second Chance to pack it in the next thing you know your entire closest will have a memory storage Bank. Your shoes will remember when they fit. Your blouses will remember when you could Budon the Bottom Button your Over Blouse will remember when it Blouse. In talking with my friends i asked them if a Bra Wilh a memory had been one of Thair priorities. Compared to what asked one of them compared to feeding the world s poor securing peace in the Mideast or discovering a cure for  actually she replied i see it More of an effrontery to women Hal they can t remember from one washing to another what they look  that s a problem what was the question i Don t know. Sometimes it seems the world is just moving along too fast for me. Phones without cords. Digital clocks. Word processors thai hold your memories. Now i have to worry what happens Whan i take a Bra out of the dryer. Did it just collapse from too much to remember. Or did it just turn senile a 1 Mut Angstat Tami Send Tali monday september 8, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 17