Friendly Fur, a new niche line, has launched À Rebours. À Rebours' packaging features fox fur sourced from controlled forest management efforts.*
À Rebours is like tender Sun Rays falling on a cosy Forest Glade. Lush and peaceful the Fragrance reflects the Dew of wild Rose, Violet and green Oak. It combines a natural Sensuality with the Coolness and Distinction of urban Influences. An elegant Fragrance, that definitely marks its Note. Neon green meets German Red Fox. Vanguard Art meets Country Side. Bohemian Society meets Homeland-Fairytale from the Woods & Fields.
À Rebours was developed by perfumer Mark Buxton; additional notes include bergamot, freesia, galbanum, orange blossom, green mandarin, cardamom, black rose, magnolia, jasmine, cumin, leather, osmanthus, carnation, civet, castoreum, oakmoss, patchouli, musk, Chinese cedar, rock rose and ambergris.
Friendly Fur À Rebours can be found now at Luckyscent in the US. The outer fur case is packaged with two 20 ml refills, $210.
(quote via friendlyfur.de, additional information via luckyscent)
*In other words, the foxes were killed for conservation purposes.
I can’t believe someone made a fur outer packaging of perfume!
I can’t believe it’s never been done–but can’t think of one offhand.
True, the weird idea should’ve been used long, long in the past. Not now.
There had to at least be a limited edition that included mink in some way.
I’ve got mink teddy bear stuck in my mind – this is going to drive me nuts.
Oh boy. PETA’s going to love this…not that I’m a PETA supporter, but I find this kind of tacky anyway. I mean, were we really pining for fur covered perfume bottles?
The furs were being thrown away — their point seems to be that that is wasteful.
Neon green meets German Red Fox?
Well, I bet it wasn’t a friendly meeting.
I’m glad my spinal cord isn’t soft and fluffy.
I hope the German Red Fox mauls Neon Green.
It reminds me of the lucky rabbit’s foot that I coveted as an 8 year-old in a gift shop. Not the most sophisticated association!
Marjorie, me too!! So funny. I thought it would be the *most wonderful* thing to have and I envied a classmate who owned one. lol. Thanks for the memory.
Remarkable how *important* those things seem at the time, huh? I went back to that gift shop *so many* times, wishing I could buy one. I think I maybe even considered hiding one in my pocket and walking out with it!
I had a lucky rabbits foot. It was blue. Somehow I don’t think I realized that it had come from a real rabbit.
This is so tacky. When I was about 4, my granny gave me a fox fur stole which I adored – I thought it was just another teddy and didn’t have any concept of what it actually was! But my mother loathed it (probably quite rightly) and one day gave it to the rag-and-bone man. I was distraught. But I was 4. I can’t believe that they think this is good marketing on so many levels. Shame, ‘cos I might have liked to smell it, although I think that they left out the kitchen sink.
I agree! It look hughly repelling rather than tempting.
Yep.
VERY creepy and in poor taste, just the thought of holding the “bottle” gives me the willies.
Extremely tacky and as an animal lover, I am appalled.
So, let me get this straight..the foxes have already been killed? Will more be killed to make this perfume? Confused.
The foxes are being killed as part of a forest conservation program, and the pelts were previously being thrown away.
Going to guess that foxes wouldn’t be killed to make this perfume. Lol duncecap, but still very tacky.
I wonder if it looks like a dead animal laying on the counter in real life? I like odd but this is even a bit much for me.
I see no difference between this, and various other companies using calf leather in their bottle coverings. Guerlain Habit Rouge, Bottega Veneta, and Thierry Mugler’s new leather series either feature an embossed tag on the neck of each bottle or a ‘limited edition’ leather covering. If these are from culled animals, and I don’t think a european outfit would advertise the fact if it wasn’t, then ethically it is fine, if you eat meat, wear leather etc, etc. After all that, it does strike me as being a little third year art-school!
Pretty much in agreement with you, Stephen. Issues of taste and tackiness aside, it’s no more offensive than eating a hamburger or wearing leather shoes.
I don’t get why animals had to be killed for forest conservation…beyond me. Sad.
Depends on the local ecology doesn’t it? I’m n Australia and where I live kangaroos are regularly culled because, especially at the end of winter when there is little fresh grass, they starve to death.
Does anyone remember that scene in The Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson’s film) where Mr. Fox loses his tail. This is immediately what I thought of when I saw this.
What. The. ?
Oh yes, ouch! Wish you had not mentioned that.
I thought it was like a rabbit’s foot too. Those were weird in their day as the poor little toes could be felt through the fur. This is beyond good taste. Not understanding how forest conservation includes killing animals. No PETA here and they could be trapped and shipped elsewhere? Ick to this packaging although the juice sounded interesting.
The toes, yes! That was how I knew they were REALLY rabbits’ feet and not fakes! (Sort of fascinated and disturbed me as a kid!) Although the odd colors, like the red one mentioned above, are sort of remarkable for their lack of authenticity!
whoops–*blue* not red! (so much more natural–ha!)
There must be an overpopulation or environmental damage for them to call it a conservation effort. People shouldn’t get angry at this, because they aren’t killing the animals specifically decorate the bottles.
I must say though, I wouldn’t mind sporting this bottle. I’m a fan of the individuality of the art behind it. I would love to try it to say the least. Seems like its going to be a very warm concoction.
When I saw this on my android, I thought it looked like a DIRTy cooked carrot. I had been thinking about trying I love les carottes and was pretty happy that there’s a new carrot-based scent to try along with it. I recoiled in horror when I realized it was actually a fur perfume bottle sheath.
On a somewhat related note, one of my nieces (who used to say FAFfles instead of WAFfles) once upon a time complimented me on my FURfume – little did she know she was ahead of her time.
This is the difficulty that I have when people complain about fur;
People can’t believe that an animal would be killed in order to harvest its fur for consuming it in a capitalistic market (opposed to a market base where the resource is in need for necessity, like northern regions and desolate places). We as humans clear the land in order to mine, extract resources, farm, build, etc. We destroy animal habitats for our own self consumption in the process of keeping our consumer culture alive. We farm animals in order to eat them, use their skins, bones, etc. Everything that we do to consume is impacting our environment in a devastating way. That plastic bottle you’re drinking water from, the chemical processes/extractions/exhausts used to make your electronics, the electricity you’re using, that tiny piece of plastic from the gum wrapper that fell on the ground and you didn’t pick up, etc. Dairy comes from animals, other animals are displaced to farm land, the BBQ you’re making, the feathers in your pillow, the wool clothes you’re wearing, the fine silks for special occasions, etc, they are unnaturally attained. We use animals as our slaves and therefore it’s actually a little healthier to for this planet if the animals we consume were actually running around wild, rather than being held captive under our command. There is no way of arguing that fur is bad without knowing the impact you’re creating on this planet yourself. I can understand it being morbid to some to have a piece of dead animal on them or around them, but next time when you look at your pet, think about how natural of a habitat they live in on the end of their leash/in their pens…running free at your command. Let this piece of art be judged for its artistic perspective and creativity, rather than gawking that it includes fur. No one is commenting that it contains civet, castoreum & musk…which come from extractions of animals.
Huh, this is so disgusting. I don’t believe a word about ecological necessities. The poor beasts were probably killed by so-called “hunters” who see themselves as sportsmen. Would be some sport if the furry ones could shoot back.
As far as I know civet, musc and castoreum are no longer “harvested” from animals but synthesized chemically (ambrettolid, civeton, musconat etc.). Luckily.
So if they’d put artificial fur on that bottle I might’ve given it a try. But like this, I see no other way than to boycot that horrifying venture.
Which is easy with so many other perfumes around.
I don’t think the company will care if you boycott them or not. Fur isn’t such a big deal in Europe.
I wouldn’t be shocked if castoreum is still harvested. They kill so many beavers along side other animals here in Canada, not to mention sports hunters in the USA, Siberia, Scandinavia and other countries as well.
There are 35 different types of civet and despite the fact that civets are endangered, the musk oils are still used for fragrance, medicines/ailments and aphrodisiacs.
Musk is also attained from several different animals, despite the musk deer being the one most prized, there are several different animals that are harvested for the oils. The cosmetic giants don’t use them, because they would be too expensive, but quite a few niche/high end lines will use real oils. Musk from the musk deer is in a controlled market through ‘CITES’.
Like you said, there are synthetic equivalents that can compensate, but by no means are they not used.
the consumption of animals for fragrance is no different than that of consumption for clothes(leathers/furs) or nutrition. You can’t argue that one is right and the other is wrong.
Creepy.
It is no wonder that such a controversial subject should receive so many responses.
I would not have wanted to mention it, but I am a vegetarian. My not eating meat won’t stop animals being killed on an incredible scale, such as my boycotting Friendly Fur won’t impress a big company. But I get the impression that other people feel the same and maybe will react in the same way.
As for natural muscs, here’s what Jean-Claude Ellena wrote on page 27 in his book “Le Parfum”, Presses universitaires de France, 2007:
“Les matériaux d’origine naturelle…Ceux d’origine animale sont, aujourd’hui, remplacés par des reconstitutions chimiques, à l’exception de l’absolu de cire d’abeille, et ont conservé le nom de l’odeur “naturelle”, comme: civette, castoréum et musc.”
Which roughly means that animal products have been replaced by chemical formulae (apart from bee’s wax) but the original denominations have been kept.
For further reading: “The Chemistry of Fragrances”, RSC Paperbacks, Cambridge 1999, or “Riechstoffe, zwischen Gestank und Duft” by Wolfgang Legrum, Vieweg + Teubner, 2011.
As I was a bit angry about the comment that in Europe people are not concerned about furs, I got into touch with Peta Germany who promptly replied.
Friendly fur has been on their list for some time. What Friendly fur are doing is called “Greenwashing” . Have a look at their logo: it makes me sick.
The only friendly fur is fake fur.
Stevan, I’m sorry but I removed your last comment. It got too personal towards Petra — you don’t have to agree w/ others, but you have to be polite. I am closing comments on this article since people seem to be getting upset, and as we all know, animal rights is not really a great topic when people need to stay polite.