The Fragrance Foundation of the United States has announced the winners for the 2009 Fifi Awards. The award ceremony was held this evening at the Downtown Armory in New York City. This year’s Hall of Fame Awards went to Marc Jacobs, Davidoff Cool Water and Elizabeth Taylor White Diamonds. Paris Hilton, if you remember, was named Celebrity of the Year. And the winners are:
Women’s Luxe (sold in over 250 doors) ~ Gwen Stefani Harajuku Lovers
Men’s Luxe ~ Sean John I Am King
Women’s Nouveau Niche (sold in 51 to 250 doors) ~ Chloé Eau de Parfum
Men’s Nouveau Niche ~ Burberry The Beat for Men
Unique Boutique (Men’s & Women’s; sold in 50 or fewer doors) ~ Tom Ford Private Blend Champaca Absolute
(via fifiawards at twitter, where you can find the winners in all the other categories as well)
See also: the Fragrance Awards page.
Update: “Perfume extraordinaire of the year, recognizing the actual juice of a fine fragrance, went to Mane USA for A travers Le Miroir Thierry Mugler (Groupe Clarins). Mane USA also took home the Technological Breakthrough of the Year award for Aquafine, a technology for creating environmentally friendly water-based scents.” (via cosmeticnews)
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Pardon my pedantry, but isn’t “Harajuku Lovers” five separate fragrances?
In this context, not sure it matters.
yeah womens and mens luxe? r they serious? thats rediculous! I Am King was horrible! It smells like everything else. If not worse then everything else! And Sensuous should have won over harajuku lovers! And yeah did the whole collection win? Oh fifi i am very disappointed!
Agree on Sensuous. Or possibly the Chanel Eau Premiere. But we have to remember that this year they added a category “Perfume Extraordinaire” that rewards the best juice, so it would seem that what they’re rewarding in these other categories is not the best juice but something else.
BTW, all they said on the twitter feed about that Perfume Extraordinaire award is that it went to Mane, but I have no idea for which fragrance.
I’m afraid that my expectations are pretty low for a group that would vote Paris Hilton celeb of the year.
{ NO nod of approval bestowed, gracious or otherwise! }
LOL — good point. Still say it was probably a wise move though, in terms of getting publicity.
Yup, I’m afraid that things in general seem to be too much about publicity….so I’ll just sit here for a few moments being disappointed in my fellow man….then it’s back to the sewing machine…sigh, why do I wait to the last minute to do projects??
I don’t know if it’s publicity or something else. I was looking at the women’s nouveau niche, and it seems to me they picked (IMHO, obviously) easily the most lackluster entry out of the 5 finalists using almost any criteria I can imagine: the juice, the concept, the packaging (although Chloe does have a pretty bottle and an awfully spiffy ribbon). And Chloe’s advertising was hardly what you’d call innovative or exciting. So I really have no idea how they pick.
with eyes closed and a strong drink in one hand, perhaps?
Please…
WHAT???
Yep.
Even FiFi has Whored itself down to the lowest common denominator! I AM KING? ARE YOU FREAKING SERIOUS? PARIS HILTON? This is Scandalous and Outrageous! this is the last time i give one WHIT of a care about FiFi in any for or fashion! Just HORRENDOUS!
I don’t think the picks are out of line with what they’ve chosen in other years…
I can’t really believe Chloe is niche anything nouveau or ancienne.
Oy.
LOL…perhaps.
SEAN JEAN??????
Oh purrrrlease! Men’s Luxe?
It’s a mediocre designer scent at best.
“Luxe” just means how many stores it’s sold in, nothing more (although also distinguishes from mass, which is discount stores).
I get their categories based on the number of outlets, but maybe we should translate them. Seems like “luxe” means “full retail, department store”, “niche” means “full retail, more expensive department store”, and “unique boutique” means “full retail, tiny, trendy department store”, not to mention any names. They omitted the category “subluxe”, “sold by retailers that don’t spend a lot on advertising”.
Oh, that’s absolutely right. And do bear in mind that there are other categories as well, for direct sell & for mass market chains.
Well I certainly am glad I took the “Fan of the Fifi Awards” or whatever they were calling it off my FB page.
That’ll show em
Once again, I’m not surprised by what was chosen. They are going by what sells and not quality. It’s gotten boring, and I don’t even look forward to hearing the results anymore.
I wonder if it is what sells? I honestly don’t know what the criteria are, but obviously it’s more geared towards the general perfume-buying public than towards perfumistas. Just like the Oscars vis-a-vis the art film fanatics, I suppose…
My understanding–and Robin would probably know better than me–is that companies sort of bid to have their products included. I don’t know if they pay, per se, for the chance to be voted on, but I do recall reading something on their site about having to put in a request or whatnot to be included.
Am I making any sense?? I feel like my command of the English language is really poor today.
Yes, you have to nominate your scent, and if you aren’t a member then I think you have to pay a fee.
What’s next – that the pretentious and unintentionally hilarious commercial for I Am King will win a Clio?!
Now THAT would be funny!