For Lubov Azria, chief creative officer of BCBG Max Azria, beauty is an integral part of the brand’s overall DNA “BCBG Max Azria is a lifestyle brand and fragrance is an important part of that,” said Azria. “It started with a dress, and for 25 years, we have been known for dresses, especially for occasions and special moments.
Our brand mission is to make women look beautiful and feel confident. Fragrance is the final touch.” It’s a sentiment with which Sophie Rietdyk, president of licensing and international for BCBG Max Azria, wholeheartedly agrees “Dresses are our most successful category and we are very present in terms of special occasions,” said Rietdyk. “You wear perfume with those dresses. It’s very important in the overall concept.
Fragrance is a way of expressing your mood and your emotions.” The company expanded its beauty offering with a quartet of fragrances launched under the BCBG Girls moniker, on Sept. 4, 2001, with Unilever. The scents — Nature, Star, Metro and Sexy — were intended to appeal to every facet of the personality, the company noted at the time The license subsequently passed to New Wave Fragrances LLC, and in 2012, after New Wave was acquired by Elizabeth Arden Inc.
Arden inherited the BCBG fragrance license BCBG dipped its toe back into fragrance in 2009 with the November launch of a limited-edition evening fragrance called Within. The limited distribution scent was developed by Lubov Azria and California-based perfumer Sarah Horowitz-Thran In 2011, the BCBG Max Azria signature Women Scent, meant to personify elegance, was introduced “It’s a juice that appeals to a chic, sophisticated woman,” noted Rietdyk.
Its top notes are of kir royal, wild strawberry and black cherry, while the heart is jasmine, lily, rose and violet The drydown contains orris, musk and sandalwood Its pink bottle is capped off with the brand’s butterfly logo blossoming into a flower BCBG Max Azria Bon Chic, intended to be the playful scent in the lineup, launched in September 2012 and has top notes of black raspberry, Asian pear and mango; middle notes of pink peony, violet and orange blossom, and base notes of soft woods, vanilla and cashmere musk.
“It’s a juice we believe appeals to a glamorous, confident woman,” said Rietdyk. Bon Chic shares the 2011 scent’s bottle, but is rendered in gold. Both juices were created by Givaudan’s Stephen Nilsen BCBG Max Azria Bon Genre launched in 2013 And is intended as the “mysterious, seductive” scent of the lineup, according to Rietdyk Top notes are of lychee, red berries, bergamot and black pepper orpur, with a heart of jasmine noir, tuberose, tiger lily and cardamom, and a drydown of Australian sandalwood, golden amber, black vanilla and patchouli.
It shares its bottle shape with the signature and Bon Chic scents, but Bon Genre’s version is in a regal purple All Fragrances transition seamlessly from day to night, “just like our consumers,” said Rietdyk Besides fragrances, color cosmetics could one day join the line, said Rietdyk “Nothing is currently planned, but it would be a natural addition to our beauty lineup,” she said.