The Boomers Blog – Fashion Blog

Preston Van Dyke asked:


The word trend applies to much more than just clothing.  Whether referring to the latest womens boots the most common response you may receive in a particular conversation with a girl could both certainly be considered trends.

For any Grey’s Anatomy fans like myself a recent quote I heard from Season 2: “In order to get a good diagnosis, doctors have to constantly change their perspective. We start by getting the patient’s point of view, though they often don’t have a clue what’s going on. So we look at the patient from every possible angle. We rule things out.”  No matter how confusing or clear something may seem I have found that if you just wait a few moments I am sure the situation will be completely different anyway.  So I figured lets go straight to the source and get an idea of what it is these Heroes in Heels really want.

Not that I don’t think a womans emotions are important by any means.  In fact it is just the opposite.  Living in the moment and for the moment with a woman is key.  The more I think about it the more it seems clear.  The 3 most important things to a woman:

1. Attention; y ou had better beleive that giving the girl of your life the attention she both needs, wants and deserves is key to making her happy.  How do I know this.  Unfortunately I may be the best of the worst for attention giving.  We will just blame it on family traits for the time being though.  The way the attention is provided certainly depends on the girl.  For some it is touch, others it is gifts, others compliments and conversation and still others (and maybe most) it is all of the above and more.

2. Chocolate; surprising or not.  This commodity has landed itself it the top three of those things that women need, want and love.  Coming close to or next with a nice fitting pair of jeans chocolate is just simply one of those things that if  your your girl has some life will be better.

3. Security; that feeling of “all is well.”  The idea that everything will be alright and the comfort that comes with really is what a women is looking for.  This can be viewed in different perspectives but no matter where you come at it from you will find that a women really needs and wants a secure lifestyle.

Whether seeking it on her own through work, school, and other pursuit.  Or by simply pursuing those men that appear to be the most secure in financial and relationship aspects a woman is driven by this importance.











For any thoughts, additions and or questions please leave a comment.

The information here was derived from a short poll taken from women in Utah to provide a general idea of the thoughts from women as to what they most need and want.

To find other Greys Anatomy quotes click here.

Joanna McLaughlin asked:


You’re at the perfume counter and it suddenly dawns on you. What on earth does Elizabeth Taylor or Sarah Jessica Parker or Beyonce or Jennifer Lopez or the unfortunate Brittney Spears know about perfume?

Judging by the perfume counter, you’d think they knew a lot. Fragrances by celebrities are big right now (just check out a fashion magazine) and it appears the trend is still on the upswing. So are they good fragrance choices?

Some people figure it’s just a marketing gambit and walk away. Others would argue that a celebrity would likely only endorse a product they liked, so perhaps it’s more like a “seal of approval.” And who knows more about glamour than some of the folks who attach their names to perfume bottles?

The role a celebrity plays in developing a fragrance varies a lot from product to product and celebrity to celebrity. Some celebrities play a very active role in developing a fragrance, others just have approval rights and let a team of experts work out a fragrance that’s marketable. Sarah Jessica Parker allegedly obsessed over her fragrance as it was in the works and Brittney Spears reportedly had some input on the bottle and packaging design of her scent Curious.

It’s hard to say if that is true or part of the marketing spin on these products. Most right-thinking celebrities do not endorse products lightly (even if some do it frequently). But is the endorsement deal based on love or money?

The perfume industry has been a moneymaker for the last, say, 18 centuries. Individual perfumes make money based on the extent to which sales can offset research and production. Since a very fine perfume may be sold for years–generations even–a classic perfume can make its manufacturer a great deal of money over time. But not all perfumes become classics.

The idea of a “person behind the fragrance” is nothing new. Perhaps Coco Chanel created that mystique when she unveiled Chanel No. 5, a perfume she did not invent and marketed by a company she was involved with. However, Coco Chanel quickly became Chanel No. 5′s “persona” which was a boon both to her own career and legend as well as the perfume (it’s been around since 1923).

Designers have always had fragrances. From Christian Dior to Paco Rabanne, from Calvin Klein to Vera Wang, it’s almost obligatory for a design house to have a perfume. Even luxury brands (not designers) have signature scents: Tiffany, Coach, Burberry.

It was only a matter of time before that sphere extended to include American royalty, that is, movie stars, singers, and celebrities. At first, famous women merely served as spokespeople for the perfume. Today, they are more likely to have their name on the bottle than on the ad.

But should you buy them? Celebrity fragrances tend to be produced by the major perfume houses, so you should expect to get a high-quality product. Celebrities also make sure there is some glamour and appeal in the packaging and promotion, so the perfume will likely have some of that mystique rub off on it. In other words, it’s probably worth a whiff.

But should you buy celebrity perfumes as gifts? Should you add them to your collection? That depends on what type of perfume lover will wind up with the celebrity scent.

Among the men and women of fragrance, there are really only three types of perfume fan.

The first is the person who is enamored of America’s celebrity culture. This includes lots of young men and women, particularly those who are big fans of specific celebrities. They love celebrity perfumes. If you don’t know what to give that person who adores Celine Dion, a celebrity fragrance is a great idea.

The second type of person of fragrance is the one who has very specific ideas about fragrance. Perhaps they have a signature scent or they have just made up their minds that they **** Dior but love Givenchy or some other quirky thing. These are the equivalent of people who don’t like the vegetable to touch the meat on their dinner plate; they are finicky. This kind of person is usually intelligent, confident, self-assured, and shares her opinion a little too freely. I suspect Ann Coulter is in this mix. If you buy a fragrance gift for such a person, be sure to find out what they like. In all probability, they do not like celebrity perfumes because, quite frankly, they dislike the cult of celebrities.

There is a reason for this, of course. Celebrity scents have to be made to appeal to a lot of people, but not everybody adores scents that have “mass appeal.” To do that, you have to create scents that have the least ability to offend people. Bottom line, you end up with fragrances that most people like but few people love. The second type of person finicky, and finicky people are hard to shop for.

The third and final person of fragrance is the true perfumista, the person who wears a lot of perfume and knows about them. This is a more free-spirited individual who is, paradoxically, the least likely to be a perfume snob. Perfumistas will wear drug-store perfume, providing they like it. These perfume lovers will wear scents that they like (but don’t adore) and they educate their nose and senses to the point that they have very broad tastes and can appreciate a wide range of fragrances.

For them, every scent is judged on its own merit. They probably own some pretty eclectic fragrances and they might very well enjoy a celebrity fragrance.

Generally speaking, people who have claimed a celebrity fragrance as their personal favorite (like the lady at work who loves White Diamonds by Elizabeth Taylor), who are young and still sweetly impressionable, or those who adore specific celebrities are ideal candidates for celebrity fragrances. So are people who have sort of broad tastes for fragrance and seem open-minded about trying new things.

Should you check out the celebrity fragrances at the perfume counter? Absolutely! You may even find some that you really like.

Joanna McLaughlin asked:


It isn’t everyday you meet a man who brags about wearing Chanel No. 5. Neil Morris is a Boston perfume-maker who delights in getting noticed for his own scents but who is a big fan of the classics. “I love it when people compliment me on the scent, and I can tell them it’s Chanel No. 5.” Like a lot of perfume experts, he understands that the dividing line between men’s and women’s perfumes is largely fictitious. In his own perfume line (http://www.neilmorrisfragrances.com) he labels his products “shared scents,” suitable for both men and women.

While this may sound terribly modern, it is quite the opposite. Back in Europes early perfume heyday (in the 18th century), there was no notion at all that any scent might be reserved or more appropriate for one gender rather than another. The most powerful men wore perfume back then, including kings, dukes, and generals. These were mostly heterosexuals and they wore perfume at some of their most solemn official occasions.

The dividing line for perfume back then was based more on social class and economic buying power: the rich and famous smelled better than the poor and downtrodden. Among those who could afford perfume, there were no masculine versus feminine fragrances.

You can still see that in the worlds oldest cologne, 4711 made in Cologne, Germany. This ancient concoction is still on the market and claims to be the product that gave lighter cologne its name. Its a citrus scent; mild and strangely contemporary despite the fact that its been around for centuries. Although Europeans, in particular Germans, consider 4711 to be a bit old-fashioned, it is a gender-spanning fragrance. Men use it for aftershave, little old ladies dab it behind their ears, and American girls in Europe spray it in their hair.

The notion of fragrances for gender gained traction in the early 20th century as perfume and fashion, in lockstep, ceased being the private reserve of the privileged few and became at least accessible to the middle classes. This is, not coincidentally, around the time that modern advertising started influencing consumer choices. As new fragrances came to market in the 1920s, advertisers identified women as the target demographic rather than men.

Coco Chanel marketed both her fashion line and her signature fragrance to females. This was no different than other (but perhaps less well known) perfumes of the era were doing. Think of Joy by Jean Patou, My Sin by Lanvin, Nuit de Noel by Caron, or even the Emeraude and Muguet de Bois from Coty.

Fragrance was promoted mostly by fashion enterprises and the fashion world targeted female customers. While there is nothing inherently masculine or feminine about products like sunglasses or watches or clothing, Chanel and other big couturiers quickly spun out a line of products exclusively for females. Perfume just went along for the ride.

These fragrances were largely cast in very feminine and elaborate containers, designed to fit well on the dressing table of a chic woman. Chanel used the clean simplistic lines of the No. 5 bottle to pay homage to the classic, un-frilled female (which mirrors her approach to clothing design). So whether the bottle was bejeweled or colored (like the glorious cobalt blue bottle of Evening in Paris) or clean-lined, the bottle was also part of the appeal to the modern woman.

It was no coincidence that right after the great wave of fashion came the grand era of glamorous movie stars. Marilyn Monroe, who dominated the cinema world in the 1950s, became an unpaid spokeswoman for Chanel No. 5 when asked what she wore to bed. (The answer, which is sometimes quoted as Two drops of Chanel No. 5 still ranks high on the famous quotation lists today.) Thus, it did not take long for perfume to be linked to fashion and glamour. (Even today, celebrities like to lend their name to line of fragrance products but perhaps the interest nowadays is more mercantile than image.)

It would be hard for men to reach for that bottle of Chanel No. 5 once Marilyn cooed over it. And yet the idea of fragrances for one gender only was a relatively new concept.

For centuries before that, kings and noblemen wore perfumes (including floral scents). But a couple of years worth of hardcore advertising turned the perfume world into a womens only party.

The emergence of products like after-shave and mens cologne (note its never called mens perfume) were studied attempts to try to capture the attention of modern men who somehow got the notion that fragrances were not for them. These first efforts to win men back to perfume (Old Spice, Burma Shave, Aqua Velva, English Leather) embraced a utilitarian theme. These werent fragrances, they were products related to shaving.

Eventually, mens colognes hit the market and more and more scents appeared on the scene. Yet the dividing line was in place in that certain fragrances were considered suitable for menand they were definitely not florals. Men wore scents that were spicy, leathery, woodsy, light and fresh, or even musky.

Again, that is a modern notion, not some venerable old tradition. The scents that wowed the men of the French court in the 18th century were florals and citrus brews.

Meanwhile, in our own day, the scents that were reserved for men only found some resonance among females. In fact, most perfume manufacturers today recognize that women have an interest in a lot of masculine types of scents and vice versa.

The emergence of the so-called fresh scents may have been an attempt to try to harmonize those worlds. Many fragrance products today are deliberately light and ambiguous, as if trying to woo women who are not thrilled with the sometimes more complex and/or flowery perfumes in the womens section.

A recent landmark in the notion of male-vs.-female fragrance occurred with Calvin Kleins CK One. CK One was created and sold as a single product for use by men or women. It was marketed as the one fragrance for both men and women. Because most of us really do not know very much about perfume, we thought this concept was delightfully revolutionary and modern. (By the way, CK One is a citrus scentlike the original 4711 Cologne, likewise a gender-spanning fragrance, albeit from the 18th century.)

The perfume company Bond No. 9 in Manhattan offers many eau-de-parfum products it labels simply for him or her. One of my favorite of their both-gender scents is Gramercy Park, a peppery fresh fragrance. Most women like the scent but then ask cautiously, Is this for women? Its not a typically girly-girl aroma. Fortunately, for the faint-hearted perfume-wearer, the manufacturer gives permission for men and women to put on this scent.

Of course, maybe what the manufacturer says should not matter so much. After all, perfume products are marketed by people interested in selling them, not by the people who wear them. In other words, marketers are always reaching out to a target, but that target is not necessarily the entire universe of people interested in the product.

Apparently, it makes good marketing sense to keep the genders distinct in the perfume aisle. Right after Calvin Klein offered CK One, he came out with a scent called In2U which exists in two versions: one for each gender. The idea here is that men and women can wear the same fragrance family, but the products, of course, would have to be different.

There is really no traditional or fashion-based reason for doing that, other than the fact that it seems to make some of us feel more confident in our perfume choices.

While urban dwellers, the tragically hip, and unbearable perfumistas may be deemed the most likely to cross gender lines in perfume, the fact is the line we have now is not only moving and blurryit is largely artificial! There is no reason why women cant wear fresh, woodsy, or leathery scents or why men need to shy away from some of the great classic perfumes.

A good deal depends on how well we like the fragrances were wearing and how the fragrance works on our skin. Beyond that, most of the people around us cannot even begin to tell whether the scent weve put on was manufactured and labeled for men or for women. Besides, that label doesnt mean a thing anyway!