Bond No. 9

This has made me incredibly angry. I hope I did my part in spreading the word:
http://thenonblonde.blogspot.com/200...saved-230.html

More proof that Bond no.9 is not really concerned with making quality product - just making money.

I've always viewed Bond as an overhyped line "produced" by a bunch of snooty rich women that have their heads so far up their asses that they can't see that their company and products suck.

They've released 32 fragrances in four years, all of which try and capitalize on some aspect of the glitz and glamour of New York city. The bottles look like cheap carnival prizes and just about every blend is an annoying mess.

Hey Bond - Fuck you.
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I'm getting more and more fired up over this by the minute.

Hey, Laurice - If you're worth half the bag of vomit your scents seem to be inspired by, then you're reading this post, as the fragrance afficionado you are...but I highly doubt it. But if you are, then you should be coming after ME instead, because from now on, I'm going to do my absolute best to slander your company's reputation - not that I could do much better at this than YOU already are. You and your fragrances are a wothless, uninspired byproduct of the industry, and represent all that is soulless and wrong about modern culture.
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Just in case anyone else feels as strongly as I do about this, I'm going to post (relay) this telephone number here, so that you may share your feelings with the people responsible for this ridiculous mess.

1-877-273-3369

Laurice Rahme's extension is 12.

I just hung up from leaving a message for her about what uninspired crap her fragrances are and how pathetic her company is for going after the little guy like this. I told her that she's got her head up her ass and I hope she goes out of business.

Sorry. Sometimes the wrong button gets pushed, and this "ugly side" of me can come out.

Wow, totally ridiculous.

Peace is such a generic word. Considering most of Bond's line is named after places, streets, neighborhoods, and popular culture of NYC they have no business going after anyone for originality of a name.

Count me in amongst the Bond-hating band. Utterly offensive behaviour. A bully, quite obviously.

Gross and detestable behavior on the part of a company that has not had an original idea since its inception.

Should NYC and the UN get in touch with Laurice Rahme and get some kind of a guarantee that their continued use of these names and phrases will be litigation free?

This sort of lunacy is contemptible.

Hopefully her next release will be called "Bellvue" after a few weeks stay at their behavioral health unit.

Honest to God, I woke up this morning and this was THE very first thing that went through my mind!

I'm cooling off a bit now, but I'm still extremely disturbed and upset about this. It is a perfect example of the mindset that I believe to be cheapening society.

The nerve of an outfit built on xeroxing Creeds etc....
Never has interested me and now it never ever will.
Bad PR move, too. Really really bad.

I would totally contact the media, tell them what a bunch of cunts Bond No 9 are! They don't own 'Peace'.

LMAO now!

It's all a bit cheeky coming from a company that ripped off several Creed scents. Can't say it surprises me the way these companies bully the smaller outfits though as you read about cases like this in all sorts of places (eg. the ebay vs perfume bay case). So did they buy the rights to use the word peace in fragrance marketing from Kenzo then (thinking of Time For Peace here)?
On a lighter note - I think you should tell them to Peace Off

Andy

Wow... What douchebags - incredible. And yes it is hardly surprising
that it´s a company like Bond no 9 that pursues this type of behaviour.

Last time I checked they based about 75% of their portfolio n Creed scents.
Funny how they´re taking legal action in against copying...
Pathetic. Was never impressed by most of their stuff and count me in
as well in never purchasing any of it in the future.

//mmm
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Here´s their contact:
contactus@bondno9.com

I really think people should e-mail them and explain that this type
of behaviour is far from okay.


//mmm

Sometimes the best way to deal with overweening hubris like this is not to preach in righteous indignation.

Often it's best to just open open a big ole can of Campbells Mockity-Mock with Beans. Seriously, let the media outlets you know of know about it - wherever the NYC retail or social "scene" is covered. What of the more sophisticated outlets isn't going to at least get a good staff laugh over the thing - if not disseminating the information in suitably snarky tones to a greater audience? Will Mme Rahme be able to hold her head up walking down the street if whoever has the contacts or resources to marshal it up, can actually push the point'n'laugh train out of the station?

There are some things best served up nicely chilled with snark-cubes.

I've tipped racked.com (covers the NYC retail scene) as well as Jezebel.com (snarkaliciously covers fashion/celebrity/etc) already. We'll see if they decide to pick it up. I'd also like to see more of the mainstream fragrance bloggers say something as well. Everyone but everyone spoke up when the decant banhammer fell on ebay..... just sayin' .......

Snark cubes? Mockity-mock? Overweening Hubris? Laugh train? Banhammer?

Are you Dr. Seuss?

No.... but let it be a warning that this is what happens when one attempts to post after dousing oneself in Eau de Vicodin because it feels like all the Whos in Whoville are taking jackhammers to ones spine.

Buddhist monks and Nirvana-seekers beware, "peace" is no longer available to the public to be used. (Laurice Rahmes, please don't sue me for typing those letters in succession!!!!)

Someone alert Hollywood -- for James Bond will have a fit when he realizes his manly name is now the butt of a shitty line of fragrances, whose self-image is so pretentious and ego is so catastrophically huge, that the wallets of its creators have to be protected by bullshit legal threats over a word like "Peace" in a scent. You know, I was seriously going to buy some samples of B#9 fragrances, but now I'm not going to. I don't want to wear the low-class creations of snobby, egotistical bitches. I'll leave them a voicemail too.

I appreciate strong-willed business women but if this is true, then Rahme has gone too far.

I always thought Rahme should go out on a date with Lutens....its a match made in narcissistic heaven.

Someone needs to come out with a fragrance called "Bond Street," which itself would be a copy of one of B#9's facsimiles. Before you know it, you'll have Rahme up your ass with lawyers, but go to trial and contest that it's simply named after the street, just like Bond's products (unless of course, they've already copyrighted every street name and area of NYC). If I had the money, I'd do this myself.

I can't say Bond's fragrances are all bad, in fact, I quite like New Haarlem and a few others. The problem is, nothing about these fragrances scream "quality" besides their slightly longer longevity. I simply can't justify $200 on a bottle of New Haarlem, but I have no problem spending that on Creed's Acier Aluminum (okay, I can get that a bit cheaper) or Malle's Musc Ravageur. Both of those scents have quality and originality in spades. Bond is alright, but it's got neither of those qualities.

But after this, I'd only have Bond in my collection if it were given to me.
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Or better yet: Peace on Bond St.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Anya.

I've tried some of the Bond scents at Saks since they first arrived, and each time I've concluded that they're poorly blended and hastily conceived (fine oils notwithstanding). Nonetheless, I always kept an open mind that maybe someday there'd be one I'd get excited about. But over time, I've found more and more qualities about Ms. Rahme that have lessened by interest in Bond - the rip-offs of Creed fragrances, the sales of grey market Creeds to make Creed appear cheap, the frequent, endless releases and counter clutter at Saks, and the increasingly garish bottles. The presence of Bond at Saks, in fact, is the main reason Creed does not offer their LEs (Fleurs de Gardenia, Amalfi Flowers) to most Saks stores, which is a great disappointment to those of us who'd love to smell them. This legal claim is finally enough to make me ignore the Bond line forever. Besides, it's disgusting how many fine fragrance lines Saks discontinued to make room for the tacky and gimmicky Bond. I'm probably going to ignore Saks too, while I'm at it, until they choose to be the quality, discerning department store they once were.

well, I am not one of the mainstream bloggers but I got a response (as did Gaia) to my blog about it..



http://pansysrants.blogspot.com/2008...ou-to-die.html

If those stinkin ass monkey hunchin twatlers were male, I'd kick there f**king
derriere's so bad their dogs would bark all night long

As we speak Laurice Rahme is going to sue all of us and all bloggers and mainstream media types who dare mention her and the word sue in the same sentence. Use it twice and your children will be sued.

seriously though

Janit's Attar blog
http://janitasattars.blogspot.com/20...und-bully.html

which refers to other blogs

Andy Tauers blog mentioned it yesterday

LMAO

Send lawyers, guns, and money..the shit has hit the fan. "Warren Zevon"

Tsssk, going to war for making use of the word 'peace', how sick is this world anyway..?

Bond's PR is trying to do some damage control, but instead they're digging themselves a deeper hole:
http://thenonblonde.blogspot.com/200...bond-no-9.html

Collectors of Colt Peacemaker revolvers which were produced \t between 1873 and 1941 should expect instructions on where to bring their weapons so that a bulldozer may roll them back into sheets and not sully the name Peace on Earth. Did someone mention Bing Crosby's estate? \t \t \t

I would not be surprised if this whole Bond no. 9 bizz is based on some clever use of gas chromatography techniques.

oh my GOD! This is ridiculous though it makes me a little happy because I really did like ONLY TWO of their fragrances (Fire Island and Silver Factory) and now I am SURE to not waste my money... and my original OH MY GOD refers to the response found in the link above... Zorn SIMPLY stated the facts... any repercussions are not her responsibility! And she was in her right to do so! I can't believe this... I really hope those who have the power to do something about this do (perhaps basenoters who are journalists or who live near their stores and can pass out information.) I know that my thinking about retribution is a bit immature but attacking perfumers and artists, doing something I can only dream of, is cold and, in a way, insane. I'll do what I can as well, whatever little it may be (telling my friends and family, etc not to buy any Bond No.9 products).

I know thanks sound strange in a situation like this, but thank you for bringing this to our attention.

You know, and just today i thought i'd like to get my gf and me into some of Bond's stuff, to sort of broaden our frag horizons.

I'm so glad i read this post. This kind of corporate bullying and imperial enterprising must stop. And the only way to make a tangible impact is to refuse to endorse it by buying from ruthless and money-hungry companies like Bond.

Peep this, Laurice Rahme: You just lost a potential customer over your greedy BS. Do us all a favour and PEACE THE FUCK OUT.

Creed's better anyway. Sue me.

Any time I ever speak to someone about Bond from now on, it will be unfavorable review.

Ahh Bond No. 9, they were the house i loved to hate even before this nonsense!

Still, I really do like Aurelien Guichard's Chinatown and Michel Almairac's Fire Island... and the fact I can pick up Creed at 50% off at one of Bond's Madison Avenue shops. how long are they going to keep up the "Creed Liquidation", as the sign in the window states? it's been YEARS! Laurice seems to be in permanent liquidation mode of anyone who doesn't see things her way.

So she’s aspiring for the heights of litigious idiocy, and achieving a level near McDonald’s notion that an entire country north of England stole their prefix. At least she’s not likely to be as well armed as the Micky Mafia. Nobody messes with the mouse!

Ms. Rahme must have little confidence in the quality of her product, if she has to resort to this.

From the follow-up response from the Bond Guys:


Yes, she came up with the idea all on her own. I'm sure it had nothing to do with Creed's Love in White and it's whole charity thing. Go ahead, Laurice, keep telling everyone how it's important to protect your "original" ideas when they are nearly all clones.

I am just plain baad.
I own Anya's Riverside, and just bought me a big ole bottle of P@%&E...

That's right , folks.
We must ALL live in fear of an iconoclastic Midwestern organic garlic farmer's wife....
She's PURE EVIL.

[I love you gals]

Laurice is a SKANK.

We get it. You don't like Bond. I understand this as I don't care for them either. However this is getting personal and needs to stop. It's unnecessary and subsequent posts of this ilk are going to be removed.

I would personally like to take a vow to NOT support the above mentioned company. Hey, I live in Mexico, so I think I can say...Bond No.9 without fear of being sued.

We can correct this with out wallets. Let's support real "Peace" lovers (like Liz Zorn) and not support those that don't deserve our money.

Anyone else want to take the vow?

I'm sure many of you have noticed that Bond No. 9 is guilty for "remixing" fragrances that already exist and releasing them as their own. In fact, the word "remixing" is rather conservative - I'd go as far as to call it plagiarism. At least they were smart about it: most of Bond No. 9's "unoriginal" fragrances are based on top sellers or fragrances with cult followings...

Some Bond No. 9 fragrances that I've noticed have ripped off other fragrances:

Scent of Peace: Light Blue by D & G
Wall Street: Erolfa/Millesime Imperial by Creed
Chez Bond: Green Irish Tweed by Creed
New Haarlem: Rochas Man (and by the same perfumer too! ie. Maurice Roucel)
Nuits de Noho: Angel by Thierry Mugler
Hamptons: Silver Mountain Water by Creed

On the other hand, some fragrances by Bond No. 9, like West Side, Coney Island and Chinatown are pretty unique and original. Or am I wrong? Are these fragrances (or others from Bond No. 9) also just rip-offs of other previous releases I haven't had the chance to smell?

If there's one thing that sours me to a house, it is blatant plagiarism.

Montale has done it, although theirs seem to have at least enough tweaks to make it slightly different or worth investigating to fans of the original. Bond has (supposedly) done it, as you mentioned in all the examples above, although I am not familiar enough to say for certain. It seems that Gianni Campagna did it as well with their eponymous EDT, another riff on TdH. Xerjoff has done it, too, with their Oesel being 95% identical to Fleur du Male (I skin tested these side by side) and Mefisto about 85% identical to SMW (or maybe Hamptons, too?)

I won't disagree that there are similarities in the pairings you mention, but to my mind (and nose) they are different enough to beat a plagiarism rap on all pairs mentioned. Similar styles, yes, but no more than that. I wouldn't even say unoriginal. Maybe just following a well-worn path on some. And I find a few, like Riverside Drive, very original. I agree that the New Haarlem / Rochas Man pair is pretty blatant similarity, but coffee is coffee is coffee, and you pretty much can't do a coffee gourmand any more without ripping off Starbucks one way or another.

Still, you have a valid point that Bond plays it safe or somewhat forgettable on many frags, and rarely takes big chances, IMO. You can almost always find a prior success story which points the same way. Is that smart or crass? I would say smart, but sometimes I wish they would take more risks.

You forgot: Bleecker Street: Ralph Lauren Purple Label
Nouveau Bowery: Jo Malone Lime, Basil & Mandarin

But I get what you're saying...

remember guys the president of bond was the former president of creed

I have been thinking about this. Several economic crisis had an impact on purchasing power thus the market is full of knock offs and, surprise, some of them are darn good, sometimes I would say even better than the original ones. Take Paco Rabanne pour Homme: the present-day version of the original PRpH can't be compared to the old one for this one is quite lame. Well, some local knock offs are in some way reminiscent of the original formula for they can reproduce quite faithfully the dirty / sexy note so prevalent in the original one. This means that my knock - off version of PRpH is quite good, albeit less complex though. I found some of them diverge distinctly from the original ones in a good way. Or better still, some that are not sold as knock offs are made according to a reference that you can identify in any other stage of the scent's evolution - I guess the principle that states that imitation is the best way of flattering is alive and kicking in the perfume industry on a global basis.

So, the point would be: making a knock-off, twicking it for the better and selling it under a high - end marketing mix (claim a superior product, sell it in exclusive stores, charge a very high price, and if resources are available, advertise in media targetted to the rich) would make an excellent business. I frankly think that some niche houses are working under this scheme - months ago, when trying Creed's Himalaya and Green Irish Tweed I realized they were very similar to Paco Rabanne's XS and Davidoff's Cool Water. I would not be surprised if Bond does the same.

Luckily, for the discerning perfumista, this, sooner or later, comes to be evident.

I'm with SculptureOfSoul in that I think Bond gets a bad rap for doing something that pretty much everyone in the industry does. Creed has been "remixing" GIT for 25 years now. JC Ellena has been "remixing" Declaration for years now. 90% of the vetiver scents out there "remix" Guerlain's Vetiver, which is supposedly just a "remix" of Givenchy's. Almost every niche house has a green lily/cucumber/aloe fruity floral. And most of them have some sort of cedar incense, too.

To be honest, there are very few original ideas in perfumery, it would seem. To take it a step further, according to Burr, mainstream fragrances are basically required to smell "familiar", meaning that to some extent, every mass release is a "remix" of familiar notes.

For miscellaneous reasons, perfumistas seem to dislike Latrice, the head of Bond, so she gets a lot of crap thrown at her that could easily be applied to the industry as a whole (focus on bottles instead of quality juice, perfume as a commodity instead of art, ridiculous markups, exorbitantly high prices for the sake of luxury marketing, etc)

WORD. All so true. But I take issue with your Freudian slip. "Latrice?" Even the worst Bond-hater would be hard-pressed to come up with that!

I agree with you, and Pollux, that some of this "recycling" of well-known scents is sometimes a necessary evil within the economy, and also a common sight (or smell, for that matter) within the fragrance industry. I actually think Bond No. 9 did a pretty good job creating new scents based on older ones, but I think it's a bit of a sell-out. Selling off artistic integrity and creative evolution for a nice pay check is nothing to be proud of. It's the fragrant equivalent of the Planet of the Apes remake - "enjoyable, but... didn't I see this movie already? And... wasn't it better the first time?"

On the other hand, it's quite an ironic situation, because this constant remixing (or plagiarism!) isn't always the biggest money maker afterall; many of the currently top-selling fragrances around the world are the ones that were risky and revolutionary - the fragrances that smelled like nothing else out there when they were first released (Le Male, Aqua di Gio, Angel, Light Blue, Terre d'Hermes, Cool Water, Narciso Rodriguez for Her, Bulgari au The Vert, etc; athough that doesn't mean the market isn't flooded with imitations now). So even though Bond No. 9 is selling out, it's not making all the money it could have, if it had some creative balls. I think that with time, Bond No. 9 will die out and be exposed for what it is - overpriced juice that's 90% the same as other designer fragrances out there (that are just as good). Furthermore, Bond No. 9 has now released so many fragrances that they seem to have buried themselves in their own shit, so to speak. I haven't seen much enthusiasm at all for most of their recent releases here on BN.

In the end, plagiarism (call it what you want to call it) is just negative in most respects.

Anyway, let's get back to topic here: So what else has Bond No. 9 blatantly copied?

The first Creed store in the US - 9 Bond St, NY

Montale is guilty of self-plagiarism (or just plain laziness..).

whats new about this?!

Guerlain and Creed has done it..so why would it be such a big deal....

I think each or most house should aspire to have its own offering of a chypre, its own fougere offering, its own oriental, its own vetiver, and so on with citrus or floral, animalistic, or lavender, or whatever more standard category, but I too find the copy cat and "plagiarized" scents (for lack of a better term) very distasteful.

L`Aventurier - you talk about perfumery as the art, and Bond #9 just call it business.
That`s the difference.
Nobody blames Toyota, Nissan etc. for taking Jeep idea "car off-road 4x4"

And when some people called it plagiarism - others called it "art-movement"

Actually I`m not a fan of Bond #9, and I never bought it. I believe never will buy.
And that`s is the best way to stop plagiarism - or cheer up the creativity of perfume brands.

I don't think Bond is the lone culprit. For example, there have been numerous ripoffs/clones/variations/versions of Acqua di Gio made by many different houses.