NEW YORK — Luxurious lingerie brand La Perla will court a different consumer when it launches its fifth scent, Blue, in March: a woman with clothes on.
“Blue is a brand-new migration for La Perla,” said James R. DeLalla, principal of Abdel LLC, the fragrance’s U.S. distributor. “It’s more of a daytime fragrance.”
However, while Blue is indeed a lighter, fresher scent compared with its sexy and sultry predecessors, it is no less complicated: the fragrance opens with a light, citrusy note and eventually develops into a softer, more sensual note, emphasized by patchouli and sandalwood.
The brand’s initial fragrances — which include La Perla Classic, La Perla Creation and La Perla Shiny — were principally oriental, musk-based scents. Blue, formulated by Olivier Polge of International Flavors and Fragrances, takes a different tack.
The scent, aimed chiefly at 35- to 45-year-olds, has top notes of lemon, bergamot and violet petals; a heart of seringa flower, hyacinth and blue cyclamen, and a drydown of iris, patchouli and sandalwood. Price points will range from $58 for a 50-ml. bottle to $80 for a 100-ml. bottle, said DeLalla.
While Blue won’t hit U.S. shores until March, it was launched in Italy in May 2004 and has “exceeded expectations” for the year, said Emanuele Riva, export manager of Morris Profumi, the fragrance’s manufacturer. At its launch in the U.S., it will be available in about 150 doors, including La Perla boutiques, lingerie shops and perfumeries. And while he is still completing distribution plans, DeLalla hopes to then offer Blue in specialty stores like Neiman Marcus, Hall’s and Barneys. While DeLalla would not comment on sales figures, industry sources estimate the fragrance could pull in up to $1 million in first-year sales.
Future plans for the fragrance include a line of ancillaries, according to DeLalla. The company is also working on plans to launch a sixth fragrance in the fall of 2006.
