Alex Curran, “über-WAG” wife of UK footballer Steven Gerrard, has launched her debut fragrance, Alex, in collaboration with OK! magazine.
The notes include bergamot, lemon, rose, jasmine, creamy vanilla, tonka bean and powdered musk. It will be available in 100 ml Eau de Toilette for £19.95.
So, somebody please explain to me what is going on in the UK lately. The US strikes me as completely celebrity-obsessed, yet we don’t have all these B-list celebrity fragrances — why? Or do we?
Just in the last few years, the UK has seen Coleen, Jade Goody Shhh, Jordan Stunning, Kelly Brook, Samanda, Shilpa Shetty S2, The X Factor, and I’m sure I’m missing a few. As near as I can tell, all you have to do to launch a fragrance in the UK is appear on a reality show or marry a football (soccer, for us Americans) player. Do any of my fellow Americans even know the names of any of the spouses of well-known sports figures? Would you buy a fragrance from any of them? Has there been a single fragrance from a reality show star? Is it just easier to launch fragrances in the UK for some reason?
(Alex by Alex Curran fragrance details via responsesource)
26 Comments
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well, that's a new low. I don't think she 'does' anything apart from shop. The excuse could be made (half-heartedly) that all these other quasi celebs had a selling point because they did *something*, no matter how awful or cheesy etc (well, except for Calum Best, who is only famous for being the son of a famous (and famously alcoholic) football (soccer to you) playing father. And for being Lindsay Lohan's boy-toy for a week or so. This Alex, as far as I know (and I only read the gossips at the doctor's office) did nothing prior to marriage and is only known for being the now-wife of a talented football player – and really, REALLY spending his money. I read somewhere she dropped upwards of £80K on a custom Elie Saab couture wedding gown that had real diamonds on it. On the business end of things, I guess the rationale is with all the gossip weeklies that must rake in the money in this country, with the bigger ones like OK! and Hello shelling out millions for rights to wedding pics, etc, that some genius thought a lot more could be milked from the phenomenon of the UK quasi-celeb by the perfume market. While there's no doubt the 'celebs' themselves are making some money, the real winners are probably their PR people, and the actual companies behind the marketing, disctribution, and who are really fuelling the non-stop flow of crappy perfumes.
As an aside, did you see what see cited as her perfume loves? Boudoir and Coco Mad. Looking at those notes, it would be interesting to see how much they were copied by the perfumers to create this.
One more comment, and I'll shut up. While Victoria Beckham was probably the start of WAG culture, Jade Goody was probably when marketers and PR people realised that *normal* (word used very loosely) people put on TV created even more of a fan/buying base just by virtual of being a regular person who 'done good' by being themselves (no matter how vile that may be). I guess that appeals on a wider, more common level which equals more money.
Thanks so much for all the info!
What puzzles me is — why not here?? We've got certainly as much dumb reality tv, for instance, so why no fragrances?? Why aren't football or baseball player's wives famous in the US? I guess I'm trying to figure out what cultural difference accounts for it. I always imagine that the US has mostly cornered the market on bad taste…
I saw this fragrance in a shop the other day, and I hadn't the faintest idea who she was. And me a footie fan too! It's getting ridiculous when the 'famous face' has to be explained in a caption, because it's not really that famous. I suspect the reason for the celebrity perfume drive here is that we are, as a nation, pretty cheap and fairly conservative when it comes to perfume. These celebscents are ususally priced lower than 'real' scents (believe me, Superdrug is no glamour chain, and that's where most of these scents are carried ). So the youth division can buy a series of pink frootiflorals at low cost, while the Older Women carry on investing in the traditional one-scent-per-decade bottle of Amarige. The cheapness of the scents means they need some marketing muscle, and that, I think, is why these semi-recognised faces are wheeled out.
In the good old US we've got:
-Paris Hilton – our favorite “what does she do exactly?” celeb.
-Kimora Lee Simmons (who is now a “designer” but before just known as the wife of Russell Simmons)
-The Desperate Housewives Perfume (which made me laugh when I saw it the other day-clearanced down to $3 at Target)
-KISS – the band has a perfume
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Don't worry, we'll be caught up to the UK soon enough! LOL!
Aha — a larger market for mass-market cheapie scents, then? Interesting, thanks.
True, but I don't think of those as B-list. I mean, Paris Hilton, yeah, there is *no* reason for her to be famous, but she is REALLY famous. I can't believe Alex Curran is that famous??? And notably, all of those scents (even Desperate Housewives!) debuted at mainstream dept stores like Macy's, not at mass-market chain stores.
These little UK celeb scents are not in dept stores at all. It is as though the wife of some Dallas Cowboys player launched a fragrance at CVS, or someone from The Real World or American Idol or something.
So sport players or football players ' fragrances were not enough, apparently we need their wives' fragrances as well? *LOL*
You got me there. These wives and such are less than what I would call b-list (to me b-list is had a sitcom a few years ago, doing tv movies now, decent bit parts in movies) they are more c-list (reality tv, flavor of the week types).
Other than football players mom's trying to get us to buy chunky soup, no such phenom here!
the notes of most new releases sound so boring lately,it's always the same notes over and over.
You're right, C-list is a better term!
Exactly!
True enough.
Tabloid newspapers, gossip mags, disposable income for trash. As someone who never touches Hello, OK or their lowest common denominator derivative, I've never heard of her. Like Kelly Brook, destined for the Superdrug crowd I imagine (the LCD of cosmetic stores).
Guess who woke up in a snooty mood?
And not only is she a Z list she also has bad dress sense (money does not equal style) and a monobrow.
I think the problem with these scents is that the culture for todays British youth (who are the prime target for these cheap, pink, schleb scents) is that studying and working hard is an idiots game. Thanks to the likes of Jade Goody and Katie Price kids think it acceptable to get their boobs out, marry someone rich or get on a reality show to be deemed 'successful'. I think alot of young girls aspire to that future and so admire these ordinary women, like Alex Curran, for getting rich the easy way. I think in the US you have always admired hard workers much more than we have, and don't give these Z listers the time of day. Even in UK schools, science and maths are seriously unpopular as subjects such as media studies take over……we're turning into a nation of blonde hair extensions….how depressing.
LOL — no worries, snooty is the best response to this trend
Interesting, thanks!
At least you know that you still have something to look forward to.
I don't read these mags (what an elegant idea – to create a perfume together with a tabloid mag – this lady must be a very chic one
))), I only remember that she was one of the WAGs that behaved very badly during the world cup in Germany and I guess that the coach decided that they shouldn't be allowed to travel with the national team again next time.
LOL — that is really funny — no wives on the trip!
How about some of the more 'out there' US tv shows getting their own frags? I'd love to smell “Eau de Dog” (by Dog the Bounty Hunter) or “Stink of Ink” from Miami Ink. But my fave show already had its own frag! For a while, you too could smell like an Orange County Chopper, but unfortunately there are are no frags on their website any more. I am saddened.
And in the US you can buy frags like Harley Davidson (midlife crisis anyone?) and Hummer. I can only dream of the advertising copy for that one…
I forgot the Chopper scent, that qualifies as a US entry in this genre, thanks!
My vote for a TV show fragrance is still for House, MD
She looks like a cheap porno star. Just like Paris Hilton. But Paris is way more well known. I could give an RA about this person's celeb scent and whom she is married to and everything else.
I so hope this celeb scent market dies down next year or sooner. It's tired and it's becoming a dead horse issue for us to beat it down so much as we do. Not like it's bad to slam a piece of drivel like this scent probably is. Yet AGAIN a fruity floral, how unique and original!!??
I wouldn't mind if the trend ended tomorrow, but I don't see it happening any time soon!
Well it wouldn't bother me if these B-listers actually created something INTERESTING and MEMORABLE, that would get them some attention for something good/useful… but they all seem tobe creating b-list fragrances also, and theres nothing new and exciting about them… If I was to release a fragrance (I have actually thought about this! lol) I would do my best to make it groundbreaking, something that people would either love or hate… Isn't that what these people should be doing?
GRRRRRRRRRRR makes me mad… Same for the whole celebrity fragrance thing… I wouldn't mid if it was something new and interesting than just a candy/flower scent in a pretty bottle.
LOL — so many “A-list” celebrities release what I'd call “B-list” scents…so perhaps the B-list celebrities are actually going above & beyond the call of duy