The Trouble With Balenciaga

Balenciaga - Florabotanica - Eau de Parfum

This fragrance has been bothering me since the moment it entered my life.

To start with, I can't make up my mind as to whether I actually like it or not. I initially loved it, but as time went on I started to have my doubts. Despite featuring two of my favourite scents- rose and amber- I actually find its intensely floral top notes quite overpowering. In fact, it positively reeks of a florist, and I can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. 

It also apparently has notes of cannabis which I can't pick up at all, and it's most likely just a gimmick to justify it being marketed as 'dangerous'...

Admittedly its staying power is pretty good, and I've found it lasts for a fair few hours before I need to reapply. But there's something else that bothers me about this perfume, and (aside from hiring the perennially irrelevant Kirsten Stewart to front their ad campaign) that something is this godawful packaging.

LOOK AT IT.

It is horrible. When I choose a perfume, it has to satisfy two prerequisites: it needs to smell good, and it needs to look elegant. The first is obvious, the second is perhaps a little illogical. But if I'm considering spending so much money on something, I prefer to be able to put it on display in my bedroom rather than shove it in a drawer.

OK, so Balenciaga hasn't got it completely wrong here; the monochrome stripes are okay, and I do like its 60s vibe and clean lines. I just don't understand how they had this amazing pattern (a vintage Pierre Frey wallpaper) to work with, and after what was inevitably months of planning they ended up putting two primary colours on the sides of the bottle...

I've long lamented the absence of this pattern from the bottle, and long questioned its relegation to the outer packaging. Would I ever get over what I saw as a heinous crime against art direction? Would my thoughts be forever plagued with what could have been? How could I sleep at night, knowing the true potential of this pattern would never be realised?

Interestingly, Balenciaga's Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquiere stepped down last year. When the fashion house announced a new fragrance, Rosabotanica, some wondered whether Ghesquiere's close friendship with Kirsten Stewart would affect her role as spokesmodel for the fragrance (it didn't, unfortunately..).

So what did this shakeup mean as far as packaging was concerned?

VOILA!

While the colours aren't really my cup of tea and although I much prefer the original pattern, I'm so happy they've gone down this route and abandoned those red and blue panels. Taking the plunge and incorporating the pattern into the package design was definitely the right move; there is now more coherence between the box and the bottle, not only giving the perfume more personality but also strengthening the brand identity in general.

What's more, with less carnation, more rose and new notes of fig, hyacinth and pepper, it definitely sounds more to my taste. I'm really excited to try it when it's released in the UK!