Am I irrational for finding the backround of this scent disturbing?

I don't think you're irrational. The intent behind any piece of art is always brought to mind when experiencing it, otherwise it wouldn't be art in the sense that we know it.

That description is enough to put me off the fragrance, and I consider myself a very rational person.

Unfortunately, fragrance has strong links to the wasteful traditional upper class, partly because of history and partly because of the inflated price tags that some fragrances carry.

If a particular scent's advertising campaign is based on it being seem as an "aspirational brand" item, or a "prestige product", then I usually ignore that fragrance on ideological grounds. The world doesn't need anymore products catering to aristocratic gits. I prefer to think that sophistication is a state of mind, not something that someone obtains once they've killed enough tigers and foxes with the ol' boys.

One of the ways I'm able to stay sane in this brutal world is to take things out of context. I have no interests in fox hunting and yet I love Habit Rouge. When I wear Habit Rouge I don't feel like I'm on a fox hunt.
The AD images for the new Tom Ford for Men present Tom Ford as a straight man who enjoys getting jerked off by a woman/transexual, I find it mildly amusing. We all know he's gay, so again, he's taking himself out of context.
The trick is to insert your own fantasy on outside things, sort of like being a psychotic.

I see where you're coming from, but you know that many of the beautiful things in the world were created on behalf of "slimy upper class men" who lived off of the blood, sweat and tears of the downtrodden. Can one cherish Wagner's music, though he was a vile antisemite? Dare one enjoy Coty's classic perfumes, although he was a faschist? Every great British perfume was probably worn predominantly by upper class twits (cf. Monty Python) mangling foxes (and worse). In your case it is part of the story built around the perfume, which makes it harder to displace, but, hey, in the end it's only chemicals solved in acohol that smell good.

No. Being true to yourself and your principles can hardly be construed as childish or irrational. Congruence between personal ideals and action are admirable qualities.

I think I prefer this description:-

Inspired by the Bengal part of the Ancient Mongol Empire, the warm and animalic notes of Fougere Bengale recount the famous Bengalese tiger hunts in the heart of the Assam jungle where the humidity is permeated with the odor of hay. With Fougere Bengale, Parfum d’Empire also reinterpret the fougere genre by adding to the traditional blend of lavender, tonka bean and oakmoss a sensual and honeyed tobacco accord and a mouthwatering gingerbread note. Is it a fougere? For sure! But the sophisticated, subtle gourmand-ness adds a surprising and extremely enchanting twist to the classic composition. The fragrance opens with the freshness of lavender, so popular with the English dandies. Then, the dry warm notes of hay take us to Bengal, to the Assam tea plantations. The mild tobacco, a glimpse of the British officers’ cigarettes, mingles with the animalic scents of the Indian brushlands. Finally Fougere Bengale welcomes us to an oriental palace where the enigmatic patchouli, vanilla and tonka bean evoke silk and cashmere. This suave, mysterious scent with animal sensuality, a blend of traditional and modern, will be equally adored by lovers of the impeccably classic perfumes and the offbeat, unusual contemporary creations.

how can you presume to judge with your heartless handle?

It all depends on the perspective you choose. If you are a western citizen in a modern city, seeing animals only harmlessly served on your plate, you are right.
However, if you choose at least in your imagination the perspective of those for whom there were two possibilities: either they or the tiger will survive - wel, then at perhaps you will not find devilish morons those who wrote those sentences.
The daily lives of billions of people on earth is struggle against elements and predators.
I hope that my intension will not be shaded by my poor english

Interesting question.

I pitty animals in circusses, so I can't wear Dzing?

First of all I respect your thoughts , but honestly,I think you're being too hard on yourself. I think the perfumer wanted the wearer of the perfumes to be tranported back in history , to the smells of those differend cultures back then in longforgotten times.
Maybe tigers weren't that thin populated back then,I wouldn't know to be honest.
History learns us that every culture had it's unpleasant rituals to other cultures.
Whale hunts, fox hunts, tiger hunts, unpleasant to us now, but unfortunately it's part of human history. I don't think he tries to promote tiger hunts in 2007 with his perfume.

Let the scent speak I'd say, and screw the story behind it.

(Man! I really should get paid, for this stupid , free promotion of Parfum d'Empire. I haven't even smelled Fougere Bengale, but I'd love to know how it is.)

"...The warm and animalic notes of Fougère Bengale narrate the famous Bengalese pigeon hunts. In Bengal the pigeon is a fearful predator that decimated the Indian population. During these traditional awe-inspiring sports events in honour of important guests, the beaters, perched on the elephants' backs, lead the pigeons towards the hunters. The maharadjah, dressed in all his glory, appears on the scene and invites his guests to follow him. The hunt begins in the heart of the Assam jungle where the humidity is permeated with the odour of hay. The pigeon is trapped at the hottest moment of the day when it seeks water to bathe in a and to quench its thirst. The tension only ceases when the pigeon, the man-eater, is killed..."

better?

Good things come with sacrifice.

Oh, the irony...

TNMA

I think you know that this was only in the past. They do not hunt any tigers anymore for pleasure because they are protected. The only one that could be killed is the men-eater.

Its just a backstory. Its not like the perfume company is extracting natural civet from cats via painful deadly methods or anything ...

I find your concern a little strange. Thegoodlife sagely paraphrases Raymond Williams (via Marx) - culture is generally built upon the 'blood, sweat and tears' of the masses - suffering is written into most cultural products from the clothes we wear, made in sweatshops by pre-teen children, to our financial capacity to buy frivolities such as perfume.

Parfum d'Empire wilfully foregrounds this fact in its perfumes - they are all representative of some mighty power that, at some stage in its development, would've massacred animals alongside people, willynilly. Sometimes, the scents represent individuals - Alexander, Napoleon, Josephine; other times, great empire states themselves - Tsarist Russia, the Ottoman Empire, the Raj. These are all 'stories' to add colour to the perfumes' ingredients, as well as shape their manufacture. I'm not sure the perfume itself - product or company - supports the idea of a tiger hunt; it uses this as a trope to symbolise the cultural melange of India under Moghul and British rule, is all. It's a convenient handle - and yes, for some, a romantic reconstruction of the past. For others, it seems, a trope too far.

But then, many perfumes are a romantic reconstruction of the past, and the world of perfume is consistently indebted to dubiously romantic and racist history. Look at orientals for example - their very names a leap into inauthentic exoticism from a European standpoint. And this isn't over - Idole de Lubin for example conflates Francophone Africanism and South Seas otherworldliness in its packaging and story. It doesn't stop me loving the smell of the product, even as I remain wary of its sales pitch. Same with many of the greats - Mitsouko most obviously.

I'm sorry the tiger hunt story disturbs you. What disturbs me more is stores like luckyscent who have confused the Islamic Moghul empire with the Mongols in their translations. Get your history right, guys!

[quote=Bytebuster;1068596]They do not hunt any tigers anymore for pleasure because they are protected. [quote]


Protected? Far from it my friend. And I won't name the staggering numbers of politicians and other profoundly disconnected people involved in these sorts of activities. I've been hunting wild game (in the wild, and usually by myself) since I was a kid, but you'd sure as hell never catch me doing any of this. I also ate damn near everything I killed. The only thing I want to hunt now is p_ssy.

The story behind this perfume is also entirely f*cked. Lame is a better way to describe it.

What you can read in the articles below is just the tip of the iceberg. It goes on with all kinds of endangered species. Killing grizzly bears for no reason, mountain gorillas just for their hands and feet, etc.

Check it out. And have fun.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/stop_canned_hunts.htm

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artm...w.cgi/34/17903


---------------------------------------


Your beasts are here for the purpose of adding balance to the Universe. They are here to enhance your experience. Their greatest value is not the food that they offer you while that is the way man would look at it. Their greatest value is that they emanate predominantly (it is not always true but it is usually true) they emanate positive Energy. They focus in the moment. They are eternally looking for the positive aspects and they are gloriously oozing positive emotion, which adds to the balance of your Universe.

"Inauthentic exoticism from a European standpoint" - "South Seas otherworldliness" I call it KITSCH. The Idole de Lubin bottle looks like a prop from an Joseph von Sternberg/Marlene Dietrich film. It's so easy to lose your sense of humor these days, but then you miss the joy of pop-culture's camp silliness. Cafe Noir, anyone?

My sense of humour is pretty loose, but I've never lost it. Just cos I'm intelligent, doesn't mean I'm without irony. Just cos I don't like some aspects of appropriation, doesn't mean I can't enjoy it on another level. I stand by what I said.

[QUOTE=pluran;1068916][quote=Bytebuster;1068596]They do not hunt any tigers anymore for pleasure because they are protected.
Right on Pluran.

Telegraph UK
08/05/2006

"The co-founder of the Italian Blumarine fashion house has been trampled to death by an elephant while on a hunting trip in Zimbabwe, Italian media reported yesterday.
Gianpaolo Tarabini, 67, was on safari with Claudio Chiarelli, a professional hunter, and Aldo Castoldi, a photographer, when they were charged by two elephants. His two friends escaped. Mr Tarabini co-founded Blumarine with his wife, the fashion designer Anna Molinari in 1977."
The Blumarine fragrance range includes the following:
Blumarine, Blu Blumarine, Blumarine II, Vintage Blumarine, Je - all classified as feminine fragrances.

Serve him right.

As you should!

[QUOTE=pluran;1068916][quote=Bytebuster;1068596]They do not hunt any tigers anymore for pleasure because they are protected. [quote]


Protected? Far from it my friend. And I won't name the staggering numbers of politicians and other profoundly disconnected people involved in these sorts of activities. I've been hunting wild game (in the wild, and usually by myself) since I was a kid, but you'd sure as hell never catch me doing any of this. I also ate damn near everything I killed. The only thing I want to hunt now is p_ssy.

The story behind this perfume is also entirely f*cked. Lame is a better way to describe it.

What you can read in the articles below is just the tip of the iceberg. It goes on with all kinds of endangered species. Killing grizzly bears for no reason, mountain gorillas just for their hands and feet, etc.

Check it out. And have fun.

http://www.bigcatrescue.org/stop_canned_hunts.htm

http://www.truthout.org/cgi-bin/artm...w.cgi/34/17903QUOTE]

I'm just talking about the tigers in India. I have been there three times. Luckly I was in the region where they had the tigers and I made some very nice photos of them from very close. As far as I know they are trying to protect them as good as they can do. Hunting them is not allowed except the man-eater, because once they taste the human flesh then they get addicted to it. They begin to attack the villagers and any other humans around. Then they go hunt for the man-eater, but to be able to sure of it, the man-eater one should attack to one of the hunters. As long as it does not attack, then they are not allowed to shoot any tiger. What I have noticed on tigers and most of the other animals that they are not attacking everything like crazy. As long as they are not very hungry and you are not becoming a threat for them, then they just let you. Thus the hunters are waiting for the man-eater to attack one of them, then they know almost for sure that it is the man-eater and then they shoot him/her. But this is a very risky thing, because I have seen some terrible pohotos of the hunters who were to late or not good at aiming. Actually they are not hunters, but just the guys who are taking care of the national park. But of course, despite all these protections, there are still illegal hunts, especially for the Chinese market. Or some royals, like in The Netherlands, on one side prince Bernhard of Holland and prince Philip of England were the founder of WWF, but on the other side they were the number one hunters and hunting various animals like Rhinos, Elephannts, Lions and many others.

What, seriously? They decimated the Indian population? Not likely. With a population of over 1 billion, the Indians have always found a way to populate their country, and not even a bunch of Bengal freakin' Tigers. DECIMATED MY ASS. I mean, YOUR ASS! Hahahahahahahahaha!
- Rich

What are you talking about; "Addicted to human blood"?

Have you ever tasted a human, we are NASTY.

What happens is a starving animal is startled by a human, and in desperation, kills said human. After eating the remains, he realizes what easy game humans are. Next time he is hungry, and he finds a human, he attacks it, and reaffirms his belief that we are easy game. From then on, it is much easier for the tiger to get a full belly by hunting humans rather than hunting gazelles or whatever they have in India.

We have done something amazing. We have isolated and extinguished all of mankind's natural enemies. All of the tigers that hunted man were the first ones to be killed, and the ones that only pursued faster game were left alive, and they are the ones repopulating the species.
- Rich

Do i dare ask how you know this?

Oh, plueeeze..., it's not like they shot a tiger to make this perfume.
Let's put things in perspective here.I like cats too ,
And tigers for that matter,....except the ones chasing me. If they do, than I'll pray someone throws me a gun, believe me.

And I don't care about the backstories.

I can't wait to sample the Fougere Bengale or the other new ones.

I agree100%.

you posuers think it easy going into the bush (with all of it's miles of red tape) and doing jobs that other fellows hadn't the stomach for look at this.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LCkFhafk26A

man on on foot = tiger strong

man on elepunt with 60 caliber knock your ass off an ellyffunt = tiger weak

man lying on ground dazed by recoil action of 60 cal. ellyfun gun= tiger dragging man away by balls into terribly dense underbrush to feast daintily along with all her little kitties like as long as she so sweetly desires. I mean she put her hide out there to get what she wanted right? and that's a fakt

alegebra ladies

algebra

Yours forevermore Lord Bukley