Earlier this year, French niche line Etat Libre d’Orange launched Fat Electrician, a “semi-modern” vetiver fragrance:
His beauty would have been his greatest asset. One imagines he was raised in the big air of Texas, his soft skin scrubbed by ears of wheat, his eyelashes curled by grappling with grace against a blinding sun. A Midnight Cowboy lost on city asphalt. A fisherman without a line, he was made to be hooked by others, to believe in his fate without knowing it, to wreak havoc and forget it over time. Youth for women-of-a-certain-age, stock for late-night parties, a partner to accompany the wealthy of Palm Peach on nature walks, his splendor is consumed in the service of others. Now, a Fat Electrician in New Jersey, his talent depleted in his sexual decline. To celebrate this beauty which cannot be recaptured, a splendid vetiver is required – an ode to bygone eroticism.
Antoine Maisondieu has willed him white, metallic, silver like the ancestral green of olive leaves. But also sweet, demure, addictive like a chestnut cream – vanilla bean, opoponax and myrrh in the bottom notes. Intensely concentrated, resinous, flawlessly unrefined, it conveys a sensuality of contradiction. Because all beauty carries within itself the knowledge that it will not last.
Etat Libre d’Orange Fat Electrician is available in 50 ml Eau de Parfum, 59€. (via etatlibredorange)
Update: see a review of Fat Electrician.
74 Comments
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Wouldn’t that butt-crack be hairier? I mean, I’ve seen electricians…
LOL…no comment.
yeah, too smooth. if it lost a few lbs. and changed the colour of the top to gray and the jeans to gray it would be me pulling seed grass out of my grandmother’s garden LOL
This is a joke, right? I’ve been fooled many times before, but I’m really hoping this is a joke, LOL.
Me too, just like a great big gulping catfish, I am….but based on their other fragrance offerings, this is probably legit!
No joke.
This guy was at the end of my driveway the other day installing Verizon Fios.
You sure? I would swear that’s the exact crevasse that was installing mulch at my neighbor’s only 3 days ago….
Ack.
Palm Peach? LOL.
This is one of the funniest things I’ve read in a long time – & a perfect hook to make one want to sniff the fragrance. Brill marketing.
It’s pretty funny. Have a feeling Palm Peach is a typo though.
Uhhhh, where does the spray come out?
Ack, again.
Eewwwww! (and LOL).
I actually think I’m starting to come around on this line.
I like a few, but with a few exceptions have not found the line as edgy or exciting as their ad copy. Would like to try this one though, I do love vetiver.
This one and Rossy de Palma sound kinda good. But ugh, my lil moment of enlightenment vanishes as I recall the 18-and-over website and the gosh-awful names of some of them. There’s kitsch, there’s tactlessness, and then there’s *come on.* I get it, I think, but honey, it just ain’t me!
“Once-handsome blue-collar man gone to seed” as metaphor of ephemeral beauty. Wow, how hip and ironically postmodern
HA.
Were this Facebook, I would “like” this comment. Haaa.
I haven’t tried any of this line, although I’d love to…at least they don’t take themselves so seriously!!!.
This one not only sounds hysterical, but actually might be interesting to sniff….Boy Toy Gone Flab!!!
Happy Rainy Dreary Monday from NY!!!!
Oh dear, is it dreary and rainy there? We are finally having a gorgeous June day, hope it lasts. Have had enough rainy/dreary to last me…
Apparently, I’m not the only one whose stomach is turning… I happen to be wearing 31 Rue Cambon today, and the contrast of ideas between the two houses (Chanel vs. ELdO) just has me gobsmacked.
Maybe it’s my overearnestness, but I don’t think I could ever wear a joke-name perfume, no matter how good the juice might be. I hear good things about that Hotel Slut ‘fume, but I just would not be able to bring myself to wear it.
I can live with the joke names if the fragrances are fabulous…
Trust me, Hotel Slut is pants!
I thought it was Palace Slut. Let’s have some standards.
Flitter, I don’t know what “pants” means! Please enlighten me – is it slang for “ridiculous” or “shocking” or “total BS”?
Thanks!
I saw this the other day on their website, as I was just checking them out for the first time. I want to try Jasmin et Cigarette, Hotel Whore (or whatever it’s called), and Vrai Blonde. When I do, I’ll let you all know what my verdict is–maybe I’ll toss a sample of this in there, too, just for laughs. I fear their schtick may have more substance than their fragrances, but we’ll see. Oh, and I believe there was another fragrance that had a, uh, far more appalling image than a (apparently waxed) plumber’s crack.
Jasmin et Cigarette is one of their best, I think. Admittedly though have not tried them all!
Love J et C — was wearing it all last week and it really held up. Plus, I realized that it goes on ashtray and ends with unsmoked tobacco. Neat trick!
Actually i have found the opposite to be true as I’ve found the fragrances mostly transcend the juvenile marketing.
Rossy de Palma is a very unique rose centered scent.
Only Secretions Manifique lives down to its marketing.
Try and look past the names and try the juice they’re pretty good and they are reasonably priced, too.
This is good to know, thanks for the feedback.
I think I’m halfway hoping I won’t like them, so that I won’t have to figure out how to work one of those bottles into my vanity display.
I am a great fan of ELd”O perfumes (I own a few bottles) and I have to agree wholeheartedly with you on your comments. Their marketing is edgy and perhaps from the daring of 2 years ago when shock value dominated sales; but these are very unique, inexpensive and innovative edp fragrances.
I’ve had good luck with the line overall and I’m hoping to obtain a bottle of this because it sounds like it would be one I like.
The idea of going from a metallic start to a sweet vanilla finish sounds great to me.
The description is very tempting…esp. since I’m a vetiver fanatic.
Vetiver, myrrh, opoponax and vanilla? Sounds really nice, ad copy aside.
It really does.
What I find most hilarious about the ad copy is its ever so slightly lost-in-translation quality. (Palm Peach, electrician instead of plumber, wheat in Texas, New Jersey (?)) So many French fantasies about America packed into one!
Dead on! Everything’s just a little off, sort of an America That Never Was, based on whatever TV dramas and sitcoms have made it to France.
Yes, yes! I thought the same.
Except Texas produces quite a bit of wheat. I take exception to the NJ remark, though.
“….his eyelashes curled by grappling with grace against a blinding sun…” I love it– now to figure out how to work it into casual conversation!
Best of luck to you
I’ve ordered a bunch of L’etat scents from The Perfumed Court but haven’t tried any of them yet, so I don’t know what to expect from the line olfactorily. Some of the bottle designs strike me as dubious, though I get what they’re doing: but there is NO WAY I could have that one sitting on my dresser. Not a chance. Just…yuck.
The bottles are pretty plain though.
I’m scared to death to try this in case it turned out to be the “perfect” vetiver I’ve been looking for!
“Ooo, you smell good. What am I smelling?”
“Fat Electrician.”
Too much explaining!
LOL…I would not miss the perfect vetiver just for that. You can always lie!
How do you say “Fat Electrician” in French? You could always go that route.
I’d love to smell it, but their concepts just make me yawn at this point. Not even very witty, really.
I’d also never buy a bottle of anything with such a ridiculous name, even if the juice itself were pure nectar; I’d get a decant and relabel it.
At this point, can’t think of what they could do that would be shocking…they’ve already used up that tactic.
Every workman I have ever seen the butt of (love that English) has a serious case of “flat butt” whether he is fat or thin. Their jeans are falling off of a seriously flat, hairy, scary butt. Oh, the memories!
Ack, yet again.
The smaller bottles are quite classy; the larger bottles are the ones with the cartoon-like labels…
GOOD TO KNOW! Especially if one wants to buy the Secretions Magnifique–I’m sorry, but the plumber’s butt has nothing on the drawing for that one. Eek!!
Oh, didn’t know that, thanks!
Lol again their ad is so hilarious and ironic. I just love the self-humorous and un-serious style of their attitude.
And as for the scents… when I go to Paris I’ll definitely visit their boutique. I’d definitely try *Charogne* (“Carrion”), notes listed include leather, animalic notes, ginger and oh-my-favorite incense!
I’m not sure about the translation of the word “fillet” in FR as a “line” in EN. I believe the fisherman is without a ‘net’.
I think they go so far in the direction of irony that their attitude doesn’t strike me as un-serious in the least…they’re working it too hard.
I sent their website to my friends a few weeks ago
I thought they would think it was funny, but they were mostly just scared
Ah well.
FWIW, I got to sniff this in Paris back in early May. They didn’t have it for sale yet, but they did have a big tester display with a sign “Coming Soon!”. My immediate reaction was “this smells just like Rien – did they put a new label on an existin bottle?” I even did an on the spot comparison between the two, and they smelled *nearly* the same but not exactly.
So I guess if you like Rien, you’d like this one. Based on the reported notes, I was sure it would be something I’d have to own. But I do already own Rien, so I’ll pass for now. HTH somebody.
Pretty sure I haven’t tried Rien, although I should go look through my notes. Huge thanks though!
Robin, I have ‘Rien’ and although I love it, many of my friends are not so appreciative of it as I am. the frgarance lasts for 24hrs on your skin and you have to be very careful of how much to wear.
Personally, I’m very heavy-handed with my fragrance; but the very intense Indian incense means that I usually wear it on my days off work (I’m a shift-worker) and I go town on it for myself.
I do the same with ‘Secretions Magnifique’ (which is a little X-rated quite frankly) and ‘Tom of Finland’, but I keep Rossy de Palma’s ‘Eau de Protection’ for evenings out and I’ve recently finished off ‘Delicious Closet Queen’ which is a most unique fragrance!
I think that the reason why most people are afraid of ELd’O fragrances is because they definitely don’t just smell ‘nice’; but daringly different!
Gosh, is anybody afraid of the line? I know some people found Secretions Magnifiques a bit much, but other than that, have never heard anyone express fear
Butt cleavage – hilarious!
I guess
There’s something in the air. Tauer Perfumes is testing a new perfume related to a mechanic and some hyacinth. To quote: “A bouquet of May flowers, in the hand of a mechanic with an undertone of oily skin”. Electrician? Mechanic? I need a plumber myself.
I take the postman, then… or at least the Cable TV guy!
That’s been around for a couple years, so he beat them to it.
Secretions Manifique is the worst perfume I have ever smelt. Admittedly, I’m pretty young and have only been into fragrance for a short time. But I honestly felt nauseous after putting it on. The marketing was kind of amusing, but wow, the scent was deadly. (on me anyway!)
Many people shared your reaction…
I would very much love to meet someone who likes it or on whom it “works.” Hard to believe it could, or that anyone would buy a FB. It made me feel sick as well and I had to rush to scrub. Interesting just to experience that reaction, I guess…
Yep, instant nausea. I wonder if the adrenaline accord doesn’t have something to do with that, only because there is no one note in there that is even remotely repugnant to me.
For instance, I got a huge whiff of blood, but that in and of itself doesn’t nauseate me at all; I worked in an emergency room for years, and never once got sick at the smell of blood. Milk isn’t sickening to me, and even the secretion that is on the label isn’t at all offensive to me, though I can’t say as I even got that note.
However, it occurs to me that I always get faintly queasy with a huge rush of adrenaline. Like right after I have a near-miss of a car accident, or really bad stage-fright before public speaking….isn’t it adrenaline pumping that gives you that horrible feeling?
This fragrance doesn’t sound that interesting to me but I was at Henri Bendel’s the other day and I smelled Magnificent Secretions and I was impressed! I would never, my god, wear it…but the idea of discreetly spritzing onto the clothing of people I can’t stand? Hmm…
Or I could wear it and just walk up the street to Bergdorf’s and see what kind of response I got. I am evil.
LOL…that is evil!