Okay, upon trying the new Boss Selection the other day I instantly understood that this thread had to be written. Perhaps not many people will read it, it doesn´t matter, this has to be said.
I have personally always stood up for this house, just check the reviews in the directory, many of Hugo Boss´s fragrances under different labels have indeed been excellent over the years, and ORIGINAL.
This obviously has ended now. Too bad. I honestly feel their clothes line will suffer longterm from the recent lack of quality in their fragrances and the utterly disapointing skin care range. People are not stupid, it´s little details like this that will make this brand even less premium than it is, especially considering the defunct Baldessarini label.
To illustrate my feelings here´s a quick run through of the historical development:
Boss Number One (1985): A dry classic powerhouse that is instantly recognizeable. Although not my personal cup of tea this is bursting with character and is a favourite for millions of men around the globe. Very nice conservative packaging also.
Boss Sport (1987): Oh wha I wouldn´t do to lay my hands on a bottle of this elusive juice. This really remains one of the best juices of it´s decade IMO. Dry, masculine, spicy, mossy but balanced - fantastic - Truly a Gordon Gekko scent if there ever was one. Class Act.
Boss Spirit (1989): Probably even harder to find than Sport (actually had a bottle myself before), this was a very competent contender for the ultimate masculine league, similar to Heritage, BdP and others in terms of quality and power.
Boss Elements (1993): Not a personal favourite but liked by many on the boards, Elements posses a casual earthy quality that corresponds well with the bottle and concept. Probably perfect for a sunday in the park with your partner if you dig this one. Still excellent output and quality.
Hugo (1995): Launched in a time where diffusion labels still actually meant something in terms of differet concept and results (obviously not the case anymore, at least in the world of fragrance) this was in fact a juice designed to appeal to the youger, more active consumer of Boss products. Never liked it much myself but the originality is unquestionable, I mean who doesn´t instantly recognize this one? It very strongly represents the 90`s for me as it was extremely popular in my country during this decade. Killer sillage and over potency.
Boss Elements Aqua (1996): Always been a personal favoutite of mine, but not aquatic at all. This is a very warm and spicy affair ith strong juniper presence and a lovely wermouth accord- Strong personality & always a mega sucess on the dancefloor thanks to the massive, sweet & pleasant trail it leaves. Some of the best supporting products on the market to IMO. A standout for me.
Boss Bottled (1998): I don´t care about the haters, this is one of few scents where I actually have finished 2 whole bottles. Infintely pleasant to wear this apple/vanilla combo, very popular office scent. Easy going and with great strength to - still a worthy brand.
Hugo Dark Blue (1999): Now this is where the first signs of warning start to appear. Dark Blue is mediocre at best and above all much more synthetic smelling than any of it´s predecessors. 2,5/5 - not a promising launch.
Baldessarini (2002): So what a welcome return to form this was! Werner Baldessarini restored quality to things with this updated cologne. Somewhat overpriced this zesty, sugar-frosted orange peel juice was representative of the fine clothing issued under this prestige label. Things were looking hunky dory again.
Boss in motion (2002): Just the fact that there very several releases a year now was a little discouraging, and Boss in Motion unfortunately did nothing to restore my hope in the brand. Slightly powdery vanilla fragrance with a pez-orange candy vibe in a ridiculuos gimmick-y bottle - pathetic. Perhaps a bit better qualitywise than Dark Blue, but still... Won´t even mention all the silly colour variations that came out later, one more of an artificial mess than the other.
Baldessarini del Mar (2005): Released just shortly before the news of the cancelation of the label, this fragrance really oozes of poor engagement from it´s makers. It´s not awful, but for the price and considering it´s great predecessor a major letdown nevertheless. At this point I was really disillusioned.
Boss Soul (2005): Then came Boss Soul (note that we´re at about 3-4 releases a year at this point) which was your standard tonka/woods combo, in no way improving over stuff like Allure pour homme or even the dirt cheap Hoggar by Yves Rocher. Even the bottle looked cheap and bored.
Hugo Energize (2005): When stuff couldn´t get any worse (I thought - silly me) they slap us in the face with this, what the fuck is this anyway - a Duracell battery cologne??? Come on please... Unfortunately the content sucks as bad as the concept and packaging, just a mess with no direction, evolution or anything + it honestly nauseates me. By now I realized not to expect anything from this house. EVER again.
Boss selection (2006): But you know how we work. Saw this one in the store and thought, what the hell. perhaps they´ve realized themselves that all the recent stuff was just too cheap and boring even for the ignorant masses? Maybe this was their launch saying sorry for all the crap and the welcome return to from that I guess still was in my hopes. Well how should I put it... Upon sampling it I felt like joining the local communist party. It was like the liquid epitomy of everything that is wrong with the quarter-capitalism of today where numbers overshadow quality, handcraft, and REAL values et etc etc. Ihonestly felt disgusted. I would like to participate in the meetings at Procter & Gamble where the decisions are take to launch this type of bullshit. I can promise you they really go on about how we can create the most appealing, characterless, run of the mill stuff to fit into the pc-mindset that is the ew plague of the western civilization.
This is just terrible, I hope no one buys this, but it´s probaly already on the top 10. I don´t know what to add here, it just feels sad that this is the obvious raod that the major brands seem to have taken. I guess YSL & Chanel are next.
Monkeyman out.
I have personally always stood up for this house, just check the reviews in the directory, many of Hugo Boss´s fragrances under different labels have indeed been excellent over the years, and ORIGINAL.
This obviously has ended now. Too bad. I honestly feel their clothes line will suffer longterm from the recent lack of quality in their fragrances and the utterly disapointing skin care range. People are not stupid, it´s little details like this that will make this brand even less premium than it is, especially considering the defunct Baldessarini label.
To illustrate my feelings here´s a quick run through of the historical development:
Boss Number One (1985): A dry classic powerhouse that is instantly recognizeable. Although not my personal cup of tea this is bursting with character and is a favourite for millions of men around the globe. Very nice conservative packaging also.
Boss Sport (1987): Oh wha I wouldn´t do to lay my hands on a bottle of this elusive juice. This really remains one of the best juices of it´s decade IMO. Dry, masculine, spicy, mossy but balanced - fantastic - Truly a Gordon Gekko scent if there ever was one. Class Act.
Boss Spirit (1989): Probably even harder to find than Sport (actually had a bottle myself before), this was a very competent contender for the ultimate masculine league, similar to Heritage, BdP and others in terms of quality and power.
Boss Elements (1993): Not a personal favourite but liked by many on the boards, Elements posses a casual earthy quality that corresponds well with the bottle and concept. Probably perfect for a sunday in the park with your partner if you dig this one. Still excellent output and quality.
Hugo (1995): Launched in a time where diffusion labels still actually meant something in terms of differet concept and results (obviously not the case anymore, at least in the world of fragrance) this was in fact a juice designed to appeal to the youger, more active consumer of Boss products. Never liked it much myself but the originality is unquestionable, I mean who doesn´t instantly recognize this one? It very strongly represents the 90`s for me as it was extremely popular in my country during this decade. Killer sillage and over potency.
Boss Elements Aqua (1996): Always been a personal favoutite of mine, but not aquatic at all. This is a very warm and spicy affair ith strong juniper presence and a lovely wermouth accord- Strong personality & always a mega sucess on the dancefloor thanks to the massive, sweet & pleasant trail it leaves. Some of the best supporting products on the market to IMO. A standout for me.
Boss Bottled (1998): I don´t care about the haters, this is one of few scents where I actually have finished 2 whole bottles. Infintely pleasant to wear this apple/vanilla combo, very popular office scent. Easy going and with great strength to - still a worthy brand.
Hugo Dark Blue (1999): Now this is where the first signs of warning start to appear. Dark Blue is mediocre at best and above all much more synthetic smelling than any of it´s predecessors. 2,5/5 - not a promising launch.
Baldessarini (2002): So what a welcome return to form this was! Werner Baldessarini restored quality to things with this updated cologne. Somewhat overpriced this zesty, sugar-frosted orange peel juice was representative of the fine clothing issued under this prestige label. Things were looking hunky dory again.
Boss in motion (2002): Just the fact that there very several releases a year now was a little discouraging, and Boss in Motion unfortunately did nothing to restore my hope in the brand. Slightly powdery vanilla fragrance with a pez-orange candy vibe in a ridiculuos gimmick-y bottle - pathetic. Perhaps a bit better qualitywise than Dark Blue, but still... Won´t even mention all the silly colour variations that came out later, one more of an artificial mess than the other.
Baldessarini del Mar (2005): Released just shortly before the news of the cancelation of the label, this fragrance really oozes of poor engagement from it´s makers. It´s not awful, but for the price and considering it´s great predecessor a major letdown nevertheless. At this point I was really disillusioned.
Boss Soul (2005): Then came Boss Soul (note that we´re at about 3-4 releases a year at this point) which was your standard tonka/woods combo, in no way improving over stuff like Allure pour homme or even the dirt cheap Hoggar by Yves Rocher. Even the bottle looked cheap and bored.
Hugo Energize (2005): When stuff couldn´t get any worse (I thought - silly me) they slap us in the face with this, what the fuck is this anyway - a Duracell battery cologne??? Come on please... Unfortunately the content sucks as bad as the concept and packaging, just a mess with no direction, evolution or anything + it honestly nauseates me. By now I realized not to expect anything from this house. EVER again.
Boss selection (2006): But you know how we work. Saw this one in the store and thought, what the hell. perhaps they´ve realized themselves that all the recent stuff was just too cheap and boring even for the ignorant masses? Maybe this was their launch saying sorry for all the crap and the welcome return to from that I guess still was in my hopes. Well how should I put it... Upon sampling it I felt like joining the local communist party. It was like the liquid epitomy of everything that is wrong with the quarter-capitalism of today where numbers overshadow quality, handcraft, and REAL values et etc etc. Ihonestly felt disgusted. I would like to participate in the meetings at Procter & Gamble where the decisions are take to launch this type of bullshit. I can promise you they really go on about how we can create the most appealing, characterless, run of the mill stuff to fit into the pc-mindset that is the ew plague of the western civilization.
This is just terrible, I hope no one buys this, but it´s probaly already on the top 10. I don´t know what to add here, it just feels sad that this is the obvious raod that the major brands seem to have taken. I guess YSL & Chanel are next.
Monkeyman out.
