Lanvin to Woo 30 Crowd

PARIS — Lanvin is going after thirtysomething women with its latest fragrance, Eclat d’Arpege, starting this December.

With a new owner — Harmonie SA, which purchased the French fashion and fragrance house and its subsidiaries from L’Oréal in July 2001 — and designer, Alber Elbaz, Lanvin deemed the time ripe for a new scent.

Eclat d’Arpege is meant to woo a clientele younger than that of Arpege, Lanvin’s classic introduced in 1927, and older than the crowd lured by Oxygene, its fragrance which bowed in 2000, according to Jacques Levy, chief executive officer of the house.

Company executives refused to divulge numbers, but according to industry sources, Eclat d’Arpege could generate $8.6 million to $10.7 million in wholesale volume during its first 12 months.

The scent will be launched in early December in France to the tune of a $2.4 million advertising campaign, including yet-to-be unveiled posters, according to sources.

Its kickoff in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia is slated for the first half of 2003. And stores in the U.S. — where distribution of Lanvin’s products will be handled by L’Oréal until yearend — are scheduled to start selling Eclat d’Arpege in early 2004.

The fragrance’s bottle was created as a modern take on Arpege’s original Art Deco flacon, which was designed by Armand-Albert Rateau, Lanvin executives say. Both bottles include the engraving depicting Arpege’s founder Jeanne Lanvin and her daughter Marie-Blanche and are round, made in the same mold.

The primary difference is Eclat d’Arpege’s cap, created in-house with Elbaz. While Arpege’s bottle is topped with a golden-colored round, fluted cap, the new version’s is more streamlined, in silver and gold colors, and crowned with a faux white diamond.

The transparency of Eclat d’Arpege’s bottle allows for the fragrance’s lilac-colored juice to be seen.

Its scent, a floral that’s lightly fruity and musky, was concocted by Mane’s perfumer Karine Dubreuil and is not linked with Arpege olfactory-wise.

It includes top notes of leaves of Sicilian lemons and lilac greens. Middle notes count wisteria flowers, green tea leaves, peach tree flowers, red peony and osmanthus from China among them. And base notes comprise white cedar from Lebanon, mild musks and precious amber.At launch here, the Eclat d’Arpege line will include 30, 50 and 100-ml. eau de parfum sprays — of which the latter two will come in Plexiglas packaging — that will retail for $37, $45 and $67, respectively. Ancillaries will be introduced starting in April. All figures are converted from the euro at current exchange rates.

Lanvin’s beauty business, which — discounting its U.S. activities — generated $26 million in wholesale volume last year and is expected to ring up $43 million in wholesale sales by yearend, according to Pierrick Guegan, international commercial director for Lanvin perfumes.

Worldwide, the brand is available in 17,000 doors. Its four fragrances, which also include Oxygene Homme and Lanvin Homme, generate almost equal sales each, confirmed Lena Pierotti, international development manager for perfumes at Lanvin.

"We have an enormous potential with this brand," added Guegan.