Stop and smell the roses and cedar, bergamot and gardenia too, at Macy’s Scent Event
Ageneration ago if you wore a fragrance you picked a signature scent and wore it every day, for every occasion, through all seasons. Think of your grandmother or grandfather, a specific perfume or aftershave likely comes to mind.
Modern consumers have changed their approach to fragrance says Linda Levy, Macy’s Omni Group Vice President – Fragrances. “In this day and age consumers are interested in having a collection,” she says. “Young men and women want to wear fragrance that’s appropriate to the environment. They might pick a different fragrance for the workplace versus a date or a social event. They might change their scent by mood, or season, wearing something heavier in winter. Consumers want a collection so they can wear different scents at different times.”
Macy’s Scent Event, which launches on Wednesday, March 29 on the main floor of Macy’s Herald Square, was designed with this trend in mind. RPG, a global firm with headquarters in New York City, created this entirely new and innovative retail fragrance experience. Fragrance aficionados can explore scents by mood, learn how perfumes are made, and meet some of the masterminds behind the world’s most iconic fragrances.
“We know that our customers are very interested in learning more about the art, the ingredients and the storytelling” says Levy. “Who creates fragrance and why.”
There are three main sections to the Scent Event, which runs through April 9, and is staffed by student docents from the cosmetics and fragrance department at the Fashion Institute of Technology. While the exhibit is self-guided, the docents are there to answer any questions that arise.
Working with The Fragrance Foundation and fragrance houses Firmenich, Givaudan, Symrise and International Flavors & Fragrances, Levy and her team created Match Your Mood, an installation that explores scents by feeling and attitude. You step into one of six different pods: Powerful and Masculine, Fresh and Flirty, Fresh and Understated, Sexy and Glamorous, Romantic and Feminine, and Confident and Sophisticated.
Interactive panels will surround you with video, sounds and, most importantly, scent. “You touch a panel that matches your mood and you get a poof,” says Levy.
While the Powerful and Masculine, and Fresh and Understated pods are designed with men in mind, Levy says that another modern trend in the fragrance world is gender neutral scents, that again, are created with a mood, not a specific type of person, in mind. “There have been scents that I have brought home for my husband that I have ended up wearing,” she says.
Scent and the Senses is an interactive passageway that brings to life the way that essential scents are blended together to create an altogether new olfactory experience. You may have heard the terms top, heart and base notes before, as a way to describe the structure of a fragrance. Scent and the Senses explores that using poofs of scent as a teaching tool. There is also a world map of where different common components in fragrance, like bergamot, vetiver and lilac, come from.
Finally, Perfumer as Artist uses video to share stories from some of the world’s top perfumers. “These are people who try to exude a mood or a feeling through fragrance,” says Levy. “Like a musician writes music or an artist creates a sculpture, I’d put them in the same world of creativity. Where others hear music or see a picture, they are inspired to create fragrances.”
On Thursday and Friday evenings throughout the show, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., perfumers from Firmenich, Givaudan, Symrise and International Flavors & Fragrances will be at Macy’s Herald Square to talk about their inspiration and to share the stories behind their scents.
Whether you want to know more about how fragrances are made, or you’re looking for a new scent to match your springtime mood, visit the Scent Event in all stores and onlinefrom March 29 through April 9, or at the Herald Square Scent Event Pop-Up through April 22..
“It’s so exciting,” says Levy. “We’re right in the middle of the main floor, just north of the Apple Shop [and just west of the Flower Show’s stunning carousel centerpiece]. It’s the greatest space in the greatest department store. Even if you come by yourself, share it with your friends on social media with the hashtag #MacysLove.”
For more information about the scent event, as well as videos from top perfumers and scent tips and tricks, visit, www.macys. com/scentevent.