Trend Spotting with Marc Rosen

What’s Next by Janet Herlihy

Cosmetic Packaging & Design

CPD Winter 2002 a

CPD Winter 2002

the perfume BOTTLE inspiration in glass

Nordstrom Fragrance Celebration

Meet Marc Rosen, Perfume Bottle Design Expert

Marc Rosen, Package Designer and Professor at Pratt Institute, has been renowned in the realm of perfume bottle design for the past 18 years.

Passionate about the future of of the art, he will reveal the integral parts that make fragrance a memory and he inspiration behind various bottles.

As a perfume bottle designer, he has garnered six FiFi awards, as well as created classic bottles for the likes of Chloe, KL, 360, Red Door, and the Nina Ricci 50th Anniversary Lalique bottle.

Inspiration in Glass 1-1

Inpsiration in Glass 2-2

Marc’s internationally regarded Perfume Bottle Design Class at Pratt Institute is featured on the facing page. Marc will join us at the following stores:

September 14: Glendale Galleria
September 15: Topanga Plaza
September 21: Menlo Park
September 22: The Westchester
October 5: Downtown Portland
October 6: Bellevue Square

Message in a Bottle, by Lennart Pehrson – Inspire

Marc Rosen finds time to run two companies, write a regular magazine column and teach one of the world’s few courses in perfume-bottle design. Lennart Pehrson finds out what makes this award-winning perfume-bottle designer tick.

Perfume-bottle designer Marc Rosen will admit that he has a favourite among the hundreds of bottles he has designed. It’s the bottle he created for Karl Lagerfeld’s signature fragrance, KL. Rosen tells of hearing Lagerfeld describe what it felt like to be standing outside the Trianon palace in Versailles watching the first supersonic Concorde land in Paris. This juxtaposition of images caught Rosen’s imagination and inspired the fan-shaped bottle he designed for KL—a redefinition of the 18th century fan into a 20th century crystal perfume flacon.

There are tales behind many of Rosen’s more famous designs: the dinner with a New York gossip columnist that led to Gossip, a new perfume for Coty; the millennium design for the Lucien Lelong perfume, Lelong Pour Femme, includes a working clock on the front of the bottle that was inspired by the French Art Moderne Period; a recent design for Fable that features a large, faceted blue stone as its stopper is based on the famous Hope Diamond.

Rosen has won the Fragrance Foundation Award, known as the Fifi, six times already, and his creative instincts are such that it cannot be long before he wins another.

A broad approach is another Rosen trademark, a result perhaps of his unusual climb up the professional ladder. He spent 12 years working for Elizabeth Arden, where along with his duties as senior vice president he also tackled public relations, cosmetic packaging and store merchandising. All that experience put him an excellent position to start his own company, Marc Rosen Associates, in 1989. “I think [this experience] gives me a better understanding of the dynamics of the whole marketing process for a fragrance product.”Rosen says.

One example of Rosen’s marketing savvy is his shrewd understanding of the role paperboard packaging plays in selling perfume. After all, it is the paperboard box that has to work in the important role as a “silent salesperson” for a fragrance. “The box needs to give a clear, quick signal to the consumer,” Rosen explains. “It must tell something about the bottle and still be different.”

However stunning boxes can be, they have not yet captured the interest of collectors in the way that perfume bottles have. A rare perfume bottle can go for a four-figure sum in U.S. Dollars.

Marc Rosen Associates was created as a way to focus on designing custom packaging for the cosmetics industry. The company built its reputation with work for well-known brands such as Nina Ricci, Perry Ellis, Christian Dior and Estee Lauder.

By 1995, Rosen decided to tackle the mass market and founded a second company, Prêt-à-Porter, as a way to redefine how the industry perceives stock packaging.

Rosen saw a gap in the market for “beautiful but affordable packaging” and began marketing a line of what he calls “custom standard” designer fragrance components. The customer can choose among many interchangeable bottles and caps in different shapes, colours and finishes. Rosen compares his system with the children’s toy Lego. By mixing and matching, customers can use his stock designs to create something unique, which is essential in today’s marketplace.

This mix-and-match system also allows the customer to cut costs: no design fees, tooling costs or excessive lead times. “In a way, my business works as a fashion house,” he says. “Marc Rosen Associates, with its custom-designed packaging, is our haute couture. The (company) Prêt-à-Porter’s ‘custom standard’ is, well, prêt-à-porter or ready to wear.”

Rosen enjoys the eclectic range of work that both companies produce. This autumn he is launching a department store line for Perry Ellis Men’s Portfolio, a new women’s fragrance from Guess, a high-end specialty perfume called Les Jumelles that is being launched at Harvey Nichols in London, and the fragrance Nitro, for WCW, based on the current wrestling phenomenon.

He knows that today success means thinking in global terms. Every market demands good design, which must also be co-ordinated with sustained marketing efforts, merchandising and promotion. The customer needs to know exactly what he is buying, what it does, and why it should be purchased.

Rosen also has an interesting perspective on consumer taste at the end of the millennium. “A lot of young people have made a lot of money in recent years in the booming stock market and in the Internet economy.” Rosen notes. “Now they want to see the fruits of the profits they made”.

These people want simplicity, but they also want luxury-an odd blend of the blatant consumption of the ‘80s and the austere idealism of the early ‘90s.

Running two design companies might be enough for some businessmen, but Rosen somehow also finds time to write a regular column on design for the trade magazine Beauty Fashion, and he teaches possibly the only university course in the world on perfume-bottle design, at New York’s Pratt Institute.
“Teaching gives me a lot of energy,” he says. “The students are full of ideas and help keep me fresh. The fact that they come from a number of different countries also means that I get multicultural inspiration for my own work”.

Rosen has long focused on a market beyond the Untied States. He points to U.S. companies such as Calvin Klein that have pulled ahead of their European competitors in the world market. These U.S. companies generally excel at developing global market strategies, targeting young international consumers who really want to buy what they perceive as new and trendy.

But Rosen understands the limits of a global approach. One of his most recent projects will only be marketed in the United States because the concept behind it was, in Rosen’s view, so “American.”

As Rosen tells it, he and his wife, Arlene Dahl, had dinner with the New York gossip columnist Cindy Adams. The three of them gossiped about gossip, and how everyone loves to do it. Adams remembered how Hillary Clinton had asked her for a “gossip fix” on events at a recent party hosted by Donald Trump, the New York real-estate mogul.

So why not a fragrance called Gossip? Rosen got to work on a bottle made of a crystal-like glass formed in the shape of an antique Japanese snuff bottle, with a black Gossip logo and a translucent ruby cap.

“It is playful and humorous, perfect for a fragrance with the name Gossip at the end of the ‘90s,” he says.

Romance in a Bottle, by Edna Thomas – Saga Magazine

The perfume bottle is the essence of his world

In magazine pages, the fragrance it contains carries a secret, seductive promise of beauty, fashion, wealth, of winning the heart of Prince Charming or maybe just bringing some lesser mortal to heel.

Marc Rosen is more likely to call it, simply, romance.
His voice grows low and contemplative when he conjures up the fragrance of the past, and how potent a familiar perfume can be in recalling to mind old, close associations.

“The shape of a bottle remembered from the dressing table of your mother or grandmother, can fan memories in a pretty potent way,” he says. “Scents are incredibly powerful in re-creating the spirit of a person from your past’.

Fuelled by energy, drive and soft-voiced enthusiasm for what he does, Marc is persuasively articulate on his favourite subject.

In New York City he runs his design business from a mid-town office where he spurns modernistic high-tech design in favour of the more romantic past.

He found space to stir the imagination in a roomy, high-ceilinged apartment on W. 55th St. Once it served as a pied-à-terre for dancers and technicians involved with the dazzling productions staged at the old-time Ziegfeld Theater by legendary showman Flo Ziegfeld.

Now it holds a flow of designers and craftsmen who huddle round antique tables, or step out on to the wide terrace overlooking the frantic, bustling city. The studio space, decorated in soft subdued colours, holds bold gilt mirrors, an antique piece or two, a mirrored screen, and, of course, small decorative perfume bottles.

Creating imaginatively designed perfume bottles – many of them re-created from the past – is Marc Rosen’s profession.

It is known as the silent salesman in his business.

“In order to get as far as smelling the perfume you first have to be drawn to the bottle; tempted to pick up, touch it. Texture is important. If it’s rounded, it’s voluptuous and enticing; if it’s square and the edges are sharp, it’s sexy, dangerous.”

Marc Rosen has learned his craft from some of the masters. He began his career working with Charles Revson (mastermind behind the giant Revlon corporation) and just establishing his own design firm nine years ago, his bottle for Arden’s Red Door perfume, the glass sphere bottle for Perry Ellis 360 and his unique test tube and beaker design for Halston’s Catalyst for Men all won prestigious industry awards.

Now he is eager to pass on some of his knowledge to others.

Students want to become better informed about today’s designs. His knowledge of the psychology of perfurme bottles is what brings people from all over the world to his studio in New York City. Many of them come for professional training in the art because he is the only person worldwide teaching such a skill.

In fact, he tries to teach tem the three Ps. “With the right packaging, the right product and the right promotion you can have a success,” he says. “The problem is inconsistency. The reason people fail is because they may produce a beautiful bottle but the name has nothing to do with the bottle and the fragrance doesn’t fit either.”

Next he’ll launch into a verbal historical picture from past fragrances.

It’s a kind of nostalgia that is gaining momentum in the auction houses where a frenzy of bidding is now galvanizing the sale of vintage perfume bottles from the Twenties, bottles which originated at such fashion houses as Lelong, Schiaparelli and Chanel.

“Perfume bottle collectors used to be in the closet,” he says. “They would trade privately, but now auction houses are open to the public and doing roaring business.” He is flicking through a catalogue as he speaks, where distinctive bottles are itemized for prices ranging upwards of $2,000. His eye alights on a bottle holding Parfum d’Orsay, “Here’s one going for $3,500,” he says.

Many of his own designs have a period feel to them.

For the 50th anniversary celebrating the launch of Nina Ricci’s L’Air du Temps he recently designed an exquisite dove – as if perched on top of the world – landing on a glass fantasy of blue Lalique, a globe of stars with a frosted glass stopper. Only 5,000 pieces were made and overnight it became a collector’s item.

He brought a new contemporary significance to the fan when he designed a fan-shaped perfume bottle for the Lagerfeld house. “Fans were once used as a weapon of flirtation,” says Rosen. “The user could see the face of her admirer while he couldn’t see her expression. They could flirt most discreetly from behind the barrier of the fan.”

After the fan-shaped perfume bottle went on the market, Karl Lagerfeld took to using the fan himself at his fashion shows, and at all notable personal appearances when he wanted to capture attention. ” He took it as a personal symbol,” says Rosen, “and has made it uniquely his own.”

It reminds him of earlier days when women often claimed a particular perfume as their own. It is a custom he favours because he finds it intensely romantic. “So many women today splash on toilet water like a commodity, nothing more, nothing less.” He says. “In days gone by there was more glamour and romance attached to the use of perfume. And there was only perfume that left a trace of the woman’s presence even after she’d left the room.

“But I do believe younger women are re-discovering the pleasures of old fragrances. Soon we shall be entering a more romantic time,” he believes, “after the austere period of the Nineties. Frangrance is one of the most evocative things in the world. We can relate to people we care about by the fragrance they wear.”

Marc Rosen’s reputation as an award-winning designer attracted the attention of actress Arlene Dahl when she was seeking advice about a perfume she was in the process of marketing.

The actress — a red-headed beauty who has turned to writing books about her considerable knowledge of the beauty business—epitomizes all the sophistication and glamour that Marc puts into his designs, so it is small wonder that they found themselves on the same fragrant wave-length.

In short time they were involved in a deep personal relationship and have now been married for 15 years. For a time, delays in the production of the perfume halted their ambitious marketing plans, but the next 12 months should finally see the launch of the perfume, Dahlia, which originally brought them together.

Designer Class – SPC

SPC talks to packaging designer Marc Rosen about the co-existence of classic bespoke design and off-the-shelf standards.

Anybody in any profession can run the risk of becoming stale. Award winning US designer, Marc Rosen makes sure there is absolutely no chance of it happening to him by teaching regularly at the Pratt Institute’s School of Art and Design in New York. “The students keep me fresh.” he says. “They’re full of ideas.” And with a truly international student body, those ideas have many sources of inspiration.

Rosen’s own inspiration lies primarily in antiquities, something in which he has always had a keen interest. “If you’re schooled in classic design, that’s your base,” he says. This is certainly fitting since it is the classics, which are currently experiencing something of a revival. One of Rosen’s latest projects is the revamping of Indiscret, originally launched in 1936 by the fashion designer Lucien Lelong, who numbered such icons as Dior and Balmain among his protégés. The original perfume bottle design was kept but Rosen adapted it for the edt and designed new cartons. He is also working on a new line under the Lucien Lelong name, which is due to launch in September.

A renaissance in classic perfumery is very much a current trend in fragrance, particularly in the US where the likes of Fracas, Bal à Versailles and Norelle have also made reappearance. Rosen is certain we will see more revivals, coinciding with a general return to luxury, but this is not the full story. “French fragrance houses will continue launching fragrances close to the spirit of the house,” he says. “The French still think people will buy a fragrance just because it is from a famous house. They will in France but maybe not elsewhere.”

Meanwhile, companies in the US, and Calvin Klein in particular, have really understood marketing, believes Rosen. “When they launch they realize that the maximum life span is about five years. What dictates fashion today is “what’s new?” This may sound like something of a dichotomy, but today’s woman expects to have a full fragrance wardrobe to suit all occasions. That means a selection of fragrances of different types from different families and a combination of classics and more ephemeral scents.

In a similar way, Rosen combines his talent for customized design, which he compares with the couture of the fashion world, with a range of standard packaging, aptly named Prêt-à-Porter (P-à-P). The customer standards business was originally a collaboration with German designer Dieter Bakic but is now a complete Marc Rosen Associates (MRA) unit. The MRA design consultancy comprises just six people but Rosen wouldn’t have it any other way. “You start to lose your individuality if you get too big.” he comments. “I would rather have fewer clients and be able to service them properly.”

Computer aided design is another thing Rosen has strong feelings about.” the computer has helped a great deal technically and there is no room for design without technical understanding any more. But the computer is only a tool,” he says. “I insist on my students doing their original drawing by hand to maintain spontaneity.”

In terms of design, Rosen sees everyone now wrestling with the concept of a return to luxury as a reaction against the more spiritually oriented spareness of design and branding of the nineties. “Young people who are successful want to reap the rewards but we have made people feel too guilty. Ultimately it comes down to a new definition of quality.” Here he uses the example of a very simply designed dress, which is actually cashmere and therefore amazing to the touch. “I’m a great believer in tactile communications. Tactile/touch responses are truly global.” In the quest for such results, a good relationship with suppliers is obviously vital. Fortunately Rosen feels packaging suppliers have improved their attitudes towards designers. “They used to see us as a necessary evil. We always pushed them and they resented it but they have realized that they would be out of business without collaboration between design and manufacture. The best suppliers these days are the ones that embrace complex ideas and are really prepared to push them to their limits.”

Q & A with Marc Rosen

Marc Rosen is an internationally known packaging designer who has created fragrance, cosmetic and skin care packaging for houses such as Elizabeth Arden, Halston Borghese, Fendi, Sanofi, Bath & Body Works and Parfums International. He has won many Fifi awards for designs such as Elizabeth Arden’s Red Door, Karl Lagerfeld’s KL, Perry Ellis’ 360, and Halston’s Catalyst for Men.

In addition, he is both a journalist and professor at New York’s Pratt Institute where for many years he has taught “Package Design Workshop, a graduate course dealing with fragrance packaging, the only known course of its kind.

We asked Marc to share his thoughts on a variety of marketing and design issues relating to recent new fragrance packaging both here and abroad as well as his thoughts on the past, present and future of cosmetic packaging.

How would you characterize the cosmetic and fine fragrance packaging industry today?
Cosmetic and fragrance packaging today from the designer’s point of view is perhaps a greater challenge than over before. With cost pressures, environmental questions and conservative attitudes about luxury, designers have to interpret marketing concepts and create images for packaging that reflect the issues and needs of society. The nineties attitudes and mores are a strong reaction to those of the eighties. The nineties “less is more” attitude is in sharp contrast to the luxury and excess that marked the decade of the eighties. The designer today must create a new definition of luxury in a quieter way.

Do you consider the eighties to have been the golden age of packaging?
The eighties was a Renaissance or revival of the golden age of packaging. Fashion designer fragrances flourished throughout the decade; each needed to create its own spectacular bottle to express the image of the fashion house. Money was lavished on fragrance launches, advertising and packaging. I call it a Renaissance because probably the true golden age of cosmetics and packaging was the late twenties, thirties and early forties—a time when the French fashion houses reigned supreme. The style and cachet of the designs created during that period will never be equaled.

How do today’s packages stack up against those packages from previous eras?
Today’s packages stand up to packages of previous eras quite well. Bottles like L’eau de Issey, Chloe, KL, Boucheron, Fendi and Perry Ellis 360 are but a few examples of bottles that have the same drama and panache of the previous eras. It’s really all about style. A perfume bottle should create the image, the aura and the point of view of the fragrance or for the fashion designer it stands for. These bottles do that.

What inspires you when you’re creating a cosmetic or fragrance package?
Like all forms of art, packaging is a reflection of society. The nineties are a time of enormous change and reassessment of the attitudes of the eighties. Clearly, we can see this in the dramatic changes in fashion, architecture and even the corporate culture. I am inspired to create packaging that will define these new cultural changes.

Marketers are discovering evocative ways to present consumers with new product forms that will appeal to their ever-changing lifestyles. Fragrance and cosmetics are fashion accessories and the packaging we create for them must reflect the moment we are creating them for.

You recently returned from a trip to Europe; what were your impressions of the Old World?
On my recent trip to Europe, I was amazed by the number of new fragrance launches during October in Paris. There were new fragrances from Dior, Cartier, Hermes and several others. This was in sharp contrast to the number of launches in the states. Estée Lauder’s Pleasures was the only fragrance launch I could think of in the U.S, last fall. It struck me as very interesting that the French were still so hung up on the importance of new fragrances coming out of a fashion house. In contrast, the American fragrance attitude is based on a woman’s perception of herself rather than the fashion designer’s perception of her.

Are there some basic differences between these two markets when it comes to cosmetic and fine fragrance packaging?
I found the European packaging very attractive, but in some cases it was more packaging for packaging’s sake rather than packaging for the sake of the concept. I think that there is a tremendous shift between the leadership of Europe vs. America in the fragrance business as well as in its packaging. Calvin Klein’s cK One helped to create a new type of specifically American product whereby the scent, the name and the packaging came together as a whole to create one consistent concept for the fragrance. I’m not saying that our packaging is better, but it is distinctly different in its totality.

What are some examples of recent, outstanding cosmetic and fragrance packaging and why do they work so well?
Recent examples of outstanding cosmetic and fragrance packaging include: Cartier’s So Pretty and Estée Lauder’s Pleasures, with bottles that fit easily in the hand and say something about a more casual, utilitarian fragrance. Hermes, with its allusion to the famous Hermes scarves, both in terms of the bottle shape and the etched pattern through the glass. Last year’s L’eau de Issey, Jean Paul Gaultier and Halston’s Catalyst create beautiful and strong images as well. I have selected these packages because in each case they create a distinct mood and point of view about the designer or product name in a simple, elegant and dramatic way. East bottle speaks volumes about the product that lies within.

What forms or shapes work best with the simplicity that is so popular in current U.S. packaging designs?
At the moment, we seem to be going through a phase where the taste is clearly for tall vertical bottles or broad squarish bottles, both of which create an important presence at point of purchase. I am sure it is only a matter of time before we see a return to round and/or squat bottle shapes. In reality, creating simplicity is not necessarily a matter of shape, but what you do with that shape; how you decorate it, the closure, etc.

In previous interviews, you’ve noted that fragrance marketing is all about fantasy. What role does the bottle design play in this fantasy?
Yes, fragrance marketing is all about fantasy, and the bottle is the physical manifestation of the fantasy, the fragrance and its name endeavors to create. As fragrance is ephemeral, we all prefer to seize upon a visual image that we can hold in our hands, like a bottle, to epitomize our fantasies. As long as fragrances reflect upon the aspirations and sexual dreams of men and woman, beautiful bottles to contain these fragrances continue to stimulate those fantasies.

If all the glitz has been replaced by a more subdued, matte look, what new technologies and materials help provide a high-end look?
Today, looking high end is less about glitz and more about a subdued low key and elegant look. It is the nuances that create the look of luxury; not the overt golden flourishes and over packaged containers. New technology and materials are more essential than ever to inspire the designer and to give him new tools to create designs that are more socially and environmentally acceptable.

How important is continuity to a package’s impact and image?
Continuity is the essential ingredient for a product’s long-term image. When you think of the great classic lines such as Chanel, Chloe or Oscar de la Renta, one immediately conjures up the vision of their packaging, their colors, hence their image. To quote the old adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” continuity in packaging is the one consistent element the consumer hopes will remain.
Will this simple elegance continue to dominate cosmetic packaging in the U.S. for the foreseeable future or is there change in the air?
Yes, for the moment simple elegance in packaging will continue to dominate the market. But that is not only because package designers prefer understatement, it is because cosmetic companies are creating products with simple, direct names and concepts behind them that call for quiet packaging.

A good package designer merely interprets the market positioning he is given. It is therefore up to the market itself to change this course if it wants to. As we are now in the second half of the nineties it is inevitable that we will redefine fashion and fragrance dramatically as we approach 2000.

But the next decade will probably be a reaction to the nineties as the nineties was a reaction to the eighties. With the new millennium giving us a new feeling of buoyancy and excitement about the future, the world may decide that it is time to dress up, get out and shout about our achievements. A new definition of luxury is inevitable. Will it have beads and glitter? I doubt it. But clearly it will be lovely to celebrate life again with those little excesses that make everything so worthwhile.

Package Design, by Ellen Ruppel Shell – Smithsonian

Package design: the art of selling, all wrapped up

When competition for customers’ attention gets ferocious, that bottle, carton or can is a lot more than just another pretty face.

Packages are sometimes called “silent salesmen,” but what they really do is seduce. They transform ordinary things—like soap or hair spray or baby powder or muffin mix—into objects of desire. They make us hungry for things we don’t need, even for things we don’t want. In the eight seconds or so that it takes to choose a laundry detergent or frozen pizza, the package must scream or whine or purr or whisper its message of good taste or cheapness or strength or luxury loud and clear enough to grab our interest. No wonder, then, that designing, producing and marketing packages has grown into such an enterprise, a business of equal parts art and artifice, science and deception.

“The identity of a product grows out of its external covering, its shell,” says Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. Indeed, many competing products are similar—aspirin, for example, is aspirin is aspirin. What draws us to some over others is the message that they’re wrapped in. As Stewart Ewen, professor of media studies at Hunter College, puts it, packaging is the triumph of the superficial.

Perhaps the ultimate in “power packaging” are the designs for plain water, as beautiful packages convince millions to pay for a product sometimes indistinguishable from what the rest of us get for free. This is not a new idea: indeed, the trick of wrapping goods in luxury packages to increase their apparent value dates back to ancient Egypt, where gold and jewel-encrusted perfume flacons were worth far more than what they contained. This practice is even more flagrant in today’s cosmetic and perfume industry, where image is everything.

“Fragrances used to be all about sex and romance, but today they’re about lifestyle,” gushes package designer Marc Rosen, ushering me into what he calls his office, but I call a salon. He directs me to an 18th-century Irish Chippendale chair covered in faux leopard skin. Glass shelves hold his award-winning designs—giant perfume bottles inspired by the shape of test tubes, skyscrapers, Japanese-style fans and what Rosen says was an ancient Etruscan love knot. “In the 1970s and ‘80s, the industry wanted bottles that conveyed sex and power; that’s what that skyscraper is about,” he notes. “But now it’s all about escaping stress and feeling good about yourself.” I understand “sexy and powerful,” but it’s hard to imagine a package conveying a “feel good” message. “Oh, it’s not that difficult,” Rosen insist. “For example, I just designed a fragrance line for men in the shape of beer bottles.”

The Philosophy of Consistency, by Di Antonella Crua – Beauty Market

Despite his young age, Marc Rosen has already become an institution in the American perfume industry. Recognized as a main player in cosmetic design, he is the recipient of numerous awards. In addition to his work as a designer and entrepreneur, Mr. Rosen also teaches at Pratt Institute. He recently revealed to us his vision of design and the ‘new luxury’.

Good design creates an image, projects a sense of quality, instills faith in the consumer and increases a company’s chance for profits. This, in essence, is the philosophy of Marc Rosen, the noted American designer who took on perfume as his prime source of inspiration. Rosen made his debut in the perfume design sector while studying Package Design at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. It was during this course that he first revealed an innate propensity for the world of fragrance. From then on, his road has been paved with success. He has designed a little something for everybody: Chloé, KL, KL for Men, Red Door, and Perry Ellis 360°, for which he received the 1994 Fifi Award. Today Rosen divides his time between Marc Rosen Associates, the design company he founded, and the ‘Package Design Workshop’, his extremely popular course in which he teaches every single aspect of perfume design. Rosen’s personal approach is, without a doubt, innovative, with his goal being to produce all-around consistency for all factors that tie into a product’s communication abilities.

What would you say is unique about your approach to designing a perfume?
The basis of my approach to designing a perfume is what I call ‘design and marketing consistency’. It is indubitable that the entire creative process of perfume design stems from the fragrance itself; everything that follows must be tied to the olfactory sense, starting with the name, moving on to the bottle design, all the way through to the display material and the advertising campaign. I firmly believe that the reason some products do not compete successfully in the marketplace is precisely because they do not maintain consistency throughout the entire process. All of the elements must be tied together from start to finish.

How is the world of design responding to the current consumer trend, which disavows the traditional symbols of ostentatious luxury?
I think that there still are many consumers who are interested in all things that are perceived of as being precious, comfortable and exclusive. But the difference today, however, is that people no longer want to show off their opulence. If, for example, in the ‘80s’ you went riding around town in a stretch limousine, nowadays, you might still have a chauffeur, but the car you will be driving around in will be a much smaller one. Getting back to perfume, though, we have noticed that today, a woman does not want her perfume entering a room before she does. She would rather have her fragrance be more discreet. The perfume bottle itself is still, nevertheless, expected to be an elegant and precious object, but now it is being shaped by a much more sober and essential visual code.

How is this new definition of luxury influencing the designer’s work?
In order to express these characteristics, designers today are constantly seeking out new materials that can speak of luxury. However, these new materials must be in line with the predominant trend of understatement. Everything that glitters, for example, gold and strass, has been banished. Personally, when I use gold, I prefer it to be opaque, or even antiqued. So, lavishness and beauty, the two elements that are, and have always been, indispensable to this sector, must be recreated for today’s consumer with utmost intimacy and simplicity.

Doesn’t this new trend somehow risk impinging on your creativity as a designer, especially in a field where appearances and desires are the inescapable motivations for a consumer wanting to buy a product?
I really don’t think so. Just think that perfume is very closely tied to the world of fashion. Because of this, it has to interpret new lifestyles and must be able to do so with utter flexibility and vitality. It just couldn’t be different. What’s more, in today’s’ market, a perfume’s brand name is not the only factor that acts as a determinant to its success. In the United States, at least, people are taking a more subjective approach to buying. In making their choices, consumers are seeking out products that actually reflect their personalities. As a result, the name alone just is not enough anymore.

In your opinion, is the tie between fashion and perfume really still so strong?
Absolutely! Even by virtue of the idea of consistency that I mentioned before. It is because people, in addition to appreciating the intrinsic wholeness of a product, also want the product to be in harmony with all of the other elements in their daily lives. So, although it’s true that consumers are not buying perfumes based solely on designer names alone, it is also true that once he or she has chosen a certain look, the perfume that best reflects that look will most naturally be chosen. Personally, I’ve had very stimulating experiences in the world of fashion. Apart from my wonderful association with Lagerfeld, I was extremely impressed with the Fendi Sisters. They have such a strong sense of ‘company image’. I have to admit, too, that Italy is my favorite country, and I would love to work with another company from your country again.

The Package Designer’s Art – Perfume 2000 Magazine

Internationally acclaimed designer Marc Rosen is known for his award-winning fragrance, cosmetic and fashion packaging ideas. For more than twenty years Mr. Rosen has worked for some of the top names in the fashion and beauty world including Elizabeth Arden Worldwide, where he was vice president for Corporate Design and Communications. In addition he has worked for Revlon, Perry Ellis, Oscar de la Renta, Chloe, Karl Lagerfeld, Fendi and Burberrys among others and has won several prestigious Fifi Awards.

Mr. Rosen was involved with two highly successful museum exhibitions on the subject of fragrance and packaging and has been an associate professor (Package Design Workshop) at the Pratt Institute graduate school in New York for eight years.

Perfume 2000: Who is the packaging designer? What part does he take in the perfume conception?
Marc Rosen: The packaging designer is the component of a fragrance team that creates the visual reality of the marketing concept. We see everything in three-dimensional light. We understand that the dynamics of creating a bottle can seduce the consumer through its tactile and subliminal message. Choosing a fragrance is all about fantasy. We create the visual fantasy while the perfume creates the olfactory one.

P 2000: How do you become one?
MR: If you are a good designer, understanding marketing, psychology, and manufacturing, you can probably do well in our field, or you can take my course “Package Design Workshop” at New York’s Pratt Institute Communications and Packaging Design Graduate Program. I’ve been teaching it for the past 11 years. It is the only course in the world that deals with how to create a fragrance launch in terms of bottles, cartons, displays, testers, samples, launch materials, etc.

P2000: From your background, we know that you have designed packaging for the most prestigious firms in the industry, but let’s suppose for a moment that you work for a client without a corporate image. What will be the modus operandi to create his fragrance line?
MR: A client’s strong corporate image helps them basically in terms of their relationship with stores and the money they have to spend to launch a new fragrance. Apart from that, creating the image of an individual fragrance through its packaging is no different from creating a new fragrance for an unknown client. We are working with exciting concepts and strong marketing ideas for attitudinal fragrances. A strong identification with a fashion designer or a celebrity will create the initial image with the fragrance and help to give me a direction for the packaging. After speaking to the marketing people and/or designer/celebrity, I will determine how we can embody their spirit or philosophy into a design of the bottle. Whether this fragrance is launched by a major corporation or a new entrepreneurial group, its initial success will rely on the reaction from the seasoned professionals at the store, and ultimately by the consumer’s identification with the concept, the packaging and the fragrance.

P2000: We know packaging is very important in the making of a line. In your opinion what is the percentage taken by the packaging in the success of a fragrance line?
MR: In the ad and at point of purchase, the package is the consumer’s introduction to the fragrance. Before she smells the fragrance, she must respond positively to the bottle or she will never reach out to touch it. Amidst the multitude of perfumes at the fragrance bar, the perfume bottle must be the “silent salesman.” It must speak to her and say, “pick me up, touch me, open, smell me.” The initial purchase is heavily reliant upon the consumer’s identification with the bottle. She must relate to its inherent image, status and style. The repeat purchase is primarily reliant upon the fragrance itself.

Perfume 2000: When you are designing a perfume bottle, are you limited by manufacturer’s requirements and technical responsibilities?
MR: I feel like my head is a computer crammed with all sorts of technical and bottom line information from my years of experience. The way I work is to totally associate and create a perfume bottle that solves the marketing problem. Miraculously my mental computer always kicks in to make sure that my designs are technically feasible and cost effective. Naturally as a designer I always like to challenge the glass manufacturers, which always makes the results more exciting when they achieve something they initially felt would be very difficult. I am an optimist and believe that nothing is impossible. I will not take no for an answer from a manufacturer until they have explored every possibility. The manufacturers that pride themselves on solving problems and work with designers that challenge them are naturally my favorites.

P2000: In your creations, how important is the previous market study (customer’s target, age, range, territorial distribution etc…)?
MR: I am a very marketing oriented designer having spent 18 years of my life working for Revlon and Elizabeth Arden. I see the packaging designer as an arm of a marketing team, and feel that the marketing brief (demographics) are gospel. It is my challenge to create a package that will meet the marketing criteria while creating an indelible image for the fragrance.
P2000: What is the price for a Marc Rosen creation (design and conception only)?
MR: My background in the cosmetic industry is very broad, my career as a designer has expanded over the years. I am one of the only design consultants who have had extensive corporate experience (Vice President Worldwide Design and Public Relations for Elizabeth Arden and Parfums International). I have been an editor for Beauty Fashion magazine for the past ten years. I have worked extensively with the fashion world (Karl Lagerfeld, Chloe, Lagerfeld, Fendi, Perry Ellis).

In addition I am involved with show business and celebrities through my wife actress Arlene Dahl, and stepson Lorenzo Lamas. Therefore the range for which clients engage Marc Rosen Associates can go from package design, point of purchase, and public relations, to naming and concept work, celebrity contacts, and image marketing. Therefore our prices can range anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on the scope of the project.

Chemical Reaction, by Pete Born – Women’s Wear Daily

COVER STORY
Halston’s $10 M Catalyst

New York—With packaging right out of the chem Lab—test tubes, flasks and beakers –Halston Borghese is projecting $10 million in business for Catalyst for Men, its new Halston scent. It’ll be launched next May, in time for Father’s Day.

New York—Last May, when Catalyst was launched, it was the first time in 17 years that the Halston name made a major splash in the fragrance market.

Halston Borghese Inc. is ready to take its second step next spring with Catalyst for Men.

But this time, the company will be more methodical in mapping its strategy. Even the packaging—reminiscent of test tubes, beakers and flasks—will smack of laboratory analysis and scientific method.

The spring launch of Catalyst was an exclusive with Saks Fifth Avenue. The women’s fragrance is being rolled out to 600 department store doors this fall, and expects to top out at 800 doors this year.

David Horner, president for North America at Halston Borghese, said he plans to introduce Catalyst for Men in a different way: through a series of regional exclusives with department store retailers.

Although discussions with stores are still in the early stages, Horner estimated that Catalyst for Men will be launched in 300 doors next spring, then roll out to 500 more in the fall.

That total is roughly the same as the women’s fragrance, but the men’s distribution would be more targeted to specific retailers in particular markets, Horner said.

“We changed our strategy for Catalyst for Men,” he said. “It’s different than for Catalyst.”

He identified Saks as a probable launch store on a national basis, although discussions have just begun with store executives. Horner plans to be making presentations over the next month.

Horner said he intends to seek launch partnerships with dominant department stores in different markets. He cited Dayton’s, Hudson’s & Marshall Field’s plus select divisions of May Department Stores Co. as possible regional partners.

Allen Burke, divisional merchandise manager of DH & Field’s, said a strategy combining a high visibility specialty retailer on a national basis with powerful regional department stores seems like “a plan that makes good sense.”

Steve Bock, vice president and divisional merchandise manager at Saks, said Calayst ranked in the store’s top 10 for spring, then slipped to the top 20 this fall after its distribution was widened, although it continues to do well.”

Bock said Saks is “very enthusiastic” about the new scent, and described it as “very different.” Launch details are still under discussion.

Although the product is still under development, the basic ideas have been fleshed out.

“The name Catalyst has something to do with a chemical reaction,” said designer Marc Rosen, who also did the Catalyst packaging. “This is what made me think of the beakers and test tube stands.”

“That’s what men and women are about—chemistry.” said Horner.

He noted that different products will come in the differently shaped packages. A silver stand holding three 1.7-oz. test tubes will contain an eau de toilette, after shave and a moisturizing cream with an SPF of 6. The cream will be marketed as a protective product to be worn outdoors, said Horner.

The trio of test tubes will be sold as a $35 value set.

The flask will hold 3.4 ounces of eau de toilette and the beaker will hold the bath gel, Horner noted, adding that a miniature flask is being produced for fragrance sampling.

Horner said he is also toying with an idea of coloring the liquids green or blue for a soothing effect.

Another idea under consideration is to manufacture the product with liquid components separated into blue and white that would blend into pale blue after being shaken.

The items will range from $30 for a 3.4-oz. moisturizing after shave balm to $47.50 for a 3.4-oz. spray. A 1.7-oz. eau de toilette spray will be $35, the same price as a 3.4-oz. after-shave.

Competitively speaking, the pricing is higher than Aramis and Ralph Lauren’s Polo and below Lancaster’s Cool Water, Horner said.

The fragrance, being developed by Firmenich, is 90 percent finished, he said. He described it as a fresh spicy scent.

In plotting distribution, Horner’s aim is to find partners. “We would rather be in fewer doors and be more important in the long term,” he said. “I want to be careful that we and the accounts understand what is required.”

Horner maintained that the only way to develop a brand beyond the launch period is to form strong partnerships with retailers.

“Exclusive distribution by market and intensification by brand are the way of the future,” he said.

Referring to the sharpened competition for shelf space, triggered by the abundance of new launches this year, Horner noted retailers have become choosier.

“Everyone is not will to make commitments until they see who is spending the most money with the newest thing,” Horner said. “We are not building classics any more.”

His long-term goal, Horner said, is to double his fragrance volume to $100 million by 1995. That would include Halston’s 1975 signature women’s fragrance, the two 1976 men’s scents, Z-14 and 1/12, Catalyst and Catalyst for Men, plus the Nautica brand that the company acquired in December.

Although the men’s line is still in development, Horner said the fragrance will probably be introduced in May to get a jump on Father’s Day business.

He declined to discuss numbers, but sources indicate that the firm is shooting for first-year wholesale volume of $10 million, compared with the Catalyst women’s plan of $12 million this year. The promotion and launch budget for the men’s fragrance also is estimated at $10 million. That figure includes funds for co-op TV, Horner said, noting that the women’s fragrance was not advertised on television.

He maintained that a TV campaign, which probably will be broadcast in 10 to 12 markets, is more effective in the men’s fragrance market.

“There’s a dual market,” he said. “Both women and men purchase the fragrance and react to the commercials. There’s more bang to the buck.”

Horner noted that the firm probably will use about 30 million Scent Seal inserts—as it had for the Catalyst launch—in store catalogs and magazines. The company also will hand out vials on cards, deluxe replicas of the eau de toilette bottles and scented blotters.

Haltson’s Catalyst for Men – Beauty Fashion Magazine

The Chemistry Continues

Next spring, Halston’s Z-14 and Z-112 men’s fragrances will be joined by Catalyst For Men, the more precocious brother of its classic sibling scents and soul-mate of the Catalyst women’s fragrance launched earlier this year. Halston Borghese’s most hormonal fragrance to date, Catalyst For Men, is unmistakably Halston, yet undeniably cutting edge to compete in an overpopulated marketplace, offering men a highly sophisticated, seductive and fun collection of chemistry-set inspired formulas and bottles. In regard to the following Catalyst For Men is expected to attract, Halston Borghese North America President, David Horner, ventured to say that by 1994, the company’s Halston/Nautica business will match that of its princess Marcella Borghese brand. Upon the 1995 introduction of an unprecedented concept in fragrance, it is anticipated that sales for the Halston/Nautica division will exceed those of its sister brand.

The Right Chemistry-
Fresh and spicy, Catalyst For Men’s juice is as bracing and sparkling as its respective packaging. Exhilarating nuances of mint, lavender, bergamot, tangerine and sage awaken the senses. At the heart, a spicy alliance of cinnamon, nutmeg, bay and clove further animates the scent which drifts to sensual, warm basenotes of coumarin, labdanum. sandalwood, oakmoss, musk and amber.

Engineered by Bottle Designer Marc Rosen, Catalyst For Men and its grooming counterparts are presented in test tubes, flasks and beakers which are very clinical at first sight but at closer look play to man’s inherent attraction to that which visually stimulates and feels good to the touch. The line commands attention and experimentation. According to Mr. Horner, “A lot of what happens between a man and a woman is a chemical reaction. Why not illustrate some of this energy in a package?”

The After Shave Lotion will consist of two different colored fluids—one for fragrance and another for emolliency—contained within a clear glass flask. The Protective Moisture Complex will feature an amber-colored concentration with suspended colored SPF capsulettes. The company is contemplating the future introduction of a deodorant with suspended deodorizing agents. “Catalyst For Men tends to bridge the gap in the men’s treatment market; it’s a little more approachable,” maintained Carrie Maisano, Vice President, Worldwide Creative Marketing, Halston Borghese. “Essentially, the fragrance is for a man that’s comfortable with himself and whose scent becomes part of his persona,” added Mr. Horner.

Catalyst in His Element-
Catalyst For Men will initially launch at 500 doors nationwide, followed by a rollout to a total of 800 retailers by fall, 1994. Put off by the launch climate dominating today’s marketplace, Mr. Horner has strayed from the distribution that governed the launch of the Catalyst for women and is committed to launching by market/account. “We are doing a major market, important account launch…accounts that want to embody the spirit of cooperation and partnership for the long haul and not just for a season,” were Mr. Horner’s words. He added, “We can’t go on launching and eating our young.”

“Hundreds of thousands” of deluxe mini flasks, Scent Seals and vial-on-cards will be used to sample the scent during its initial launch phase. Currently in production to back the introduction, a print campaign and T.V. spot will relay the message “When the attraction is physical, the reaction is chemical” and, according to Mr. Horner, will “explore the interaction of people.”

Borghese Celebrates with a Kiss – Beauty Fashion Magazine

This Fall, Princess Marcella Borghese goes to the root of romance with Il Bacio, Italian for “the kiss.” The company’s first fragrance in 15 years, Il Bacio was created to capture the “enduring power of the kiss” and the heart of Italian romance. “A kiss leaves nothing to the imagination,” commented Halston Borghese President, North America, David Horner.

A Sensual Fruity Floral Packaged With Love-
Il Bacio is a light, fruity floral bouquet described as “distinctive, unquestionably feminine and understatedly elegant.” Opening with notes of freesia, honeysuckle, rose, jasmine, orchid and lily of the valley, Il Bacio moves to a heart of sensual fruits with osmanthus, melon, peach, plum, passion fruit, pear and iris. The scent ends with the warmth of sandalwood, cedarwood, violet, amber and musk.

Designer of Note, by Catherine Ellis Hunter – Drug and Cosmetic Industry

In spite of the current merger/acquisition mayhem, which hasn’t been particularly encouraging to innovativeness and inventiveness in the cosmetic business, there still lurks in the hearts of many corporate executives the spirit of the entrepreneur. One seems to be Marc Rosen, widely acclaimed package designer, who recently formed his own company, Marc Rosen Associates, at 34 East 51st Street in midtown Manhattan. No doubt contributing to this spirit in Rosen has been his background working with companies created by two great cosmetic entrepreneurs, Charles Revson and Elizabeth Arden. After graduation from Carnegie-Mellon University and Pratt Institute, he worked at Revlon for four and a half years, including the last years of Revson’s life. Rosen worked closely with Revson, and recalls a Saturday meeting at Revson’s Westchester mansion at which Revson once again stressed his rule that particular attention should always be paid to the three P’s: Product, Package, and Promotion.

Rosen declares; “It sounds too simple, but a superior, innovative product in beautiful packaging, which can seduce the consumer into wanting to touch it and carry it home (plus of course great advertising and merchandising) is what it’s all about.” He uses this philosophy in his new company’s stress on Image Marketing—product, package and corporate identity design supported by marketing and communications. The notion is to offer clients a form of one-stop shopping that projects a coordinated corporate image from logo to product to promotion. He says he believes that today’s global consumer is buying good design and lifestyle—no mater what the product. “Look at Black & Decker’s Dustbuster, that wonderful little hand vacuum, people are responding to the good design and are purchasing it over other models. Also, design has made the Ford Taurus station wagon the best selling of its kind in America—not just in my opinion, but other researchers have pointed it out. I never thought I’d buy a station wagon, but I saw someone drive by one day in a Taurus, and was so impressed by the design I bought one for my country house.”

For 13 years prior to the formation of his company, Rosen was vice-president, corporate design and communications at Arden, where he worked closely with designers like Karl Lagerfeld and the Fendi sisters, for whom he created wonderful packaging. Rosen’s remarkable fan-shaped crystal decanter for KL-Women won the 1983 FiFi Award, and he recently completed the design for Red Door, the new Arden fragrance and redid the cosmetic line for the company in handsome blacks and golds. From 1979 to 1987, while creating the Christmas Porcelain Collections for Arden, he worked with internationally renowned museum directors and government officials to research and license the designs. The list included the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, the Hermitage in Leningrad, the Schoenbrun Palace in Vienna, Versailles, and the cities Rome and Natchez. His creativity extends to interior design (he did the new counter look at Arden to coordinate with the new black and gold package) and redid the Arden mini-salon at Blair House, the guest house in Washington for visiting heads of state. That too is consistent with the new look of the Arden packaging.”

Rosen’s versatility extends to everything from handbags and jewelry and other items used in promotions and GWPs and PWPs. He hints that these other non-cosmetic interests will let him try his hand at designing furniture, food and pharmaceutical packages. His client list includes Rayovac (flashlights), East/West Inflight Network (magazines), Carnegie-Mellon University and Paolo by Paolo Gucci (fashion/accessory stores). But he has no notion of turning his back on his first love, the beautybiz, and through the end of 1990 will act as consultant on an exclusive basis for Elizabeth Arden.

Rosen is outspoken about the consumer’s attention not only to good design but to the lifestyle it represents: “When you work with someone like Karl Lagerfeld, you come to appreciate lifestyle, since that is a large part of him (his many homes, his taste, his fashion, his liking for 18th Century furniture), and these are elements of his creativity. Another example of lifestyle is Ralph Lauren’s shop on Madison Avenue—the minute you walk in there you feel like you are old money and want to just buy and buy.” Even outside New York and the other major cities, Rosen insists, “they have mass stores in the malls where most people go, almost like a social event, to shop. They appreciate good design and merchandising, and much is available there to attract them. A woman might not be able to afford a Fendi fur coat but she appreciates its taste and quality and if she buys a Fendi fragrance feels she’s wearing something as special and luxurious as the coat.”

Rosen credits the Fendi sisters with teaching him a whole new work ethic. “I always considered myself a serious, hardworking professional, but at the end of the day I went home to my other life. But with the Fendis it’s total commitment, they work all day, take a long lunch and come back, go out for dinner and resume work until 11 p.m. They are always thinking Fendi, how to make it better, how to reinforce the image, how to do something more beautiful. Certainly they are commercial and want to make money, but they care so much about their name, about keeping a certain taste level, that this image has become more important than money.”

Marc Rosen Associates is not a public relations firm, per se, but will offer public relations for special events for a client, more as an extension of product image to keep the theme consistent. Rosen says he has come to appreciate the value of public relations and promotion through mega launches and store merchandising with such stores as Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Marshall Field, and Macy’s, and of “enormous parties we did around the world, including at Harrod’s in London.” Marc has also devoted considerable effort to teaching, having been a visiting professor at Pratt Institute for four years. He is also a columnist for a cosmetic magazine and has been active in the planning and production of two highly acclaimed museum exhibitions: the 1979 Cosmetic Packaging: A 20th Century Art Form show at the Fashion Institute of Technology and the Fragrance Foundation’s Scents of Time (1986-87).

Since he is married to actress/astrologer Arlene Dahl, he was asked what his wife thought of his move to his own business. “She told me this was the time to do it!” And, one other revelation in that direction: there may be a resurrection of Arlene’s fragrance Dahlia.