Black Pearls by Elizabeth Taylor: launched in 1996 in association with Elizabeth Arden (the Elizabeth Taylor fragrance licensing was owned by Parfums International, Ltd). Created by Sophia Grosjman of IFF.
The Inspiration:
According to the press kit, Elizabeth Taylor's 16th century black pearl, La Peregrina, was once the property of Mary, Queen of Scots and Philip I of Spain. This precious jewel now serves as the inspiration behind Elizabeth Taylor's Black Pearls perfume.
Richard Burton bought the pearl for $37,000 at Sotheby’s in 1969 as a Valentine Day's gift for Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor commissioned Al Durante of Cartier in 1972 to design a one of a kind ruby and diamond necklace mount for the pearl.
Elizabeth Taylor's book, "My Love Affair with Jewelry," published by Simon & Simon, details some of her story.
"I had just received La Peregrina from New York on a delicate little chain [note:Elizabeth has redesigned the necklace for La Peregrina. When she received La Peregrina it hung from a long chain with spaced natural pearls.] and I was touching it like a talisman and sort of walking back and forth through our room at Caesar's Palace--we had the whole top floor and the crew had 1/2 of it. So I was dreaming and glowing and wanting to scream with joy, but Richard was in one of his Welsh moods, and his joy...well his was a Welshman, so sometimes his joy was perverse and he would become dark. But when I'm happy I shout and scream it and yell it and I wanted to throw myself at him and kiss him all over. But because I knew Richard very well, I had to play it by ear, and I knew that this was not the moment to become too demonstrative. Just the same, there was no one to talk to and no one to show the jewel to, and I was going out of my mind! At one point I reached down to touch La Peregrina and it wasn't there! I glanced over at Richard and thank God he wasn't looking at me, and I went into the bedroom and threw myself on the bed, buried my head into the pillow and screamed."
"Very slowly and very carefully, I retraced all my steps in the bedroom. I took my slippers off, took my socks off, and got down on my hands and knees, looking everywhere for the pearl. Nothing. I thought, "It's got to be in the living room in front of Richard. What am I going to do. He'll kill me!
"Because he loved the piece. Anything historical was important to him. La Peregrina is unique in the world of gems. It's one of the most extraordinary pieces there is. And I knew that he was proud inside, which was why he was being like this cartoon with a black cloud over his head and raindrops falling.
"So I went out and sort of started humming lalalala, and I was walking back and forth in my bare feet, seeing if I would feel anything in the carpet. I was trying to be composed and look as if I had a purpose, because inside I was practically heaving I was so upset. I looked over and saw the white Pekingese, which was mine, and the orangy-brown Pekingese, which was Richard's. That dog worshiped him. All the puppies--it was their feeding time--were around the bowls munching. So I looked at the dogs, saying, "Hi babies, such sweet babies." And I saw one chewing on a bone. And I did the longest, slowest double take in my head. I thought, "Wait a minute, we don't give our dogs, especially the puppies bones! What is he chewing on? And I just wanted to put my hand over my mouth and scream again. But no, I just casually opened the puppy's mouth and inside his mouth was the most perfect pearl in the world. It was--thank God--not scratched."
"I did finally tell Richard. But I had to wait at least a week."
When Elizabeth Taylor died, the La Peregrina, mounted on the diamond Cartier necklace, was sold at auction by Christies in 2011 to raise funds for the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, which was established by Taylor to help provide direct services throughout the world for people living with AIDS. Christies estimated the value of La Peregrina to be between $2 million and $3 million, making Lot 12 the second highest valued lot of the auction. The only piece of her jewelry with a higher estimate is her famous diamond ring with an estimate of $2,5000,000 - $3,500,000. In a fitting tribute to the memory of Elizabeth Taylor, the auction of legendary jewels surpassed all expectations, with the sale of La Peregrina for $11,842,500 creating two new world auction records for a historic pearl and for a pearl jewel. The jewel is now in private ownership.
The Launch:
The fragrance was originally slated to be launched in September 1995, by mid-Spring, press kits and advertisements were sent out.
"In the beginning of the summer, I will be be announcing another exciting project for the fall," Taylor said in a prepared statement, "in celebration of the five year anniversary of White Diamonds."
However, the launch was abruptly aborted due to two problems. Taylor was very unhappy at what some might call the mismanagement of her perfume, as were the folks over at Elizabeth Arden. The President of Elizabeth Arden announced her resignation due to the debacle.
It appears that distribution in the fall of 1995 was a problem in getting Black Pearls launched, prompting a six-month delay. The Elizabeth Arden company, owned by parent company Unilever, couldn't seem to pacify a number of leading department store icons such as Federated Department Stores, the parent of Marshall Field's, Dayton's and Hudson's, which wanted first shot at distributing the new fragrance.
The problem was a dispute between Arden and department stores over promotional expenses for in-store personnel involved in giving beauty advice to customers. Arden cut the contribution paid to department store retailers to help cover salaries of retail salespeople to 3% of retail sales from the industry standard of 5%. Arden's refusal to contribute to commission incentives forced the upscale shops such as Macy's and Marshall Field's to decide not to carry Black Pearls. Without distribution through department stores, Black Pearls would be sold only through Sears & Penney's. Arden elected to broaden distribution of Black Pearls beyond upscale department stores such as May Department Stores, Dillard Department Stores and Federated Department Stores and include Sears & JC Penney. Stores. Taylor was very upset that the company planned to sell the fragrance at Sears & JC Penney, rather than the more upscale department stores like Bloomingdales and Jordan Marsh. She wanted her fragrance to be sold at the upmarket while Arden wanted the high volume sales from mass market stores.
Thus, the previous fall's planned introduction of Black Pearls was put on hiatus, even though miniature bottles of the scent were on sale at certain JC Penney stores, where it was to be sold originally. Black Pearls was scheduled for introduction with an elaborate $12 million advertising campaign and media time had already been purchased when the announcement was made. Black Pearls ads ran in a few magazines, even though the product wasn't generally available. Millions of dollars had been wasted on magazine ads and scent strips.
In late August, 1995, Taylor and the company mutually agreed to cancel the launch, which was rescheduled to roll out in March 1996.
A unique way to promote the fragrance was cooked up by the bigwigs at CBS during "sweeps week." The network decided to have Elizabeth Taylor appear on all four of its Monday sitcoms that ran on Feb 26, 1996: "The Nanny," "Can't Hurry Love, "Murphy Brown," and "High Society." Taylor guest-starred as herself in the four comedies on a single night. The storyline is that Taylor is shooting a commercial for her new perfume, Black Pearls, but somehow the priceless black pearl necklace gets lost and found throughout the night. The adventure begins when Fran Drescher on "The Nanny" is supposed to deliver it to the location of the Black Pearls commercial but accidentally left the priceless jewel in a taxi. On "Can't Hurry Love" Nancy McKeon's character Annie finds the necklace, wears it and oops - loses it. Taylor is then interviewed about the missing jewels by tv journalist Candice Bergen on her show "Murphy Brown." The missing necklace caper was finally resolved on the "High Society" show.
Taylor planned to kick off a whirlwind seven city tour in New York City on April 17, 1996, to promote the fragrance.
Elizabeth Arden predicted that Black Pearls should bring in at least a wholesale volume of $20 million to $25 million in the first twelve months of distribution. Black Pearls was generally available by May 1996 in about 1,800 retail outlets around the United States.
Fragrance Composition:
So what does it smell like? It is classified as a fresh fruity floral-oriental fragrance for women. It's a rare and exotic blend of peach, gardenia, bergamot, water lily, rose and lotus, underscored by amber, sandalwood and musk.
- Top notes: peach, gardenia and bergamot
- Middle notes: water lily, white cloud rose and lotus
- Base notes: amber, sandalwood and musk
- Top notes: white honey, pepper, Brazilian rosewood and plum
- Middle notes: magnolia
- Base notes: musk, sandalwood and patchouli
Bottle:
- 0.12 oz Parfum Miniature
- 0.25 oz Parfum
- 1.7 oz Eau de Parfum
- 3.3 oz Eau de Parfum
- Body Lotion
- Bath & Shower Gel
Interesting read on the back story of the fragrance. I bought a bottle from Macy’s when I was visiting New York back in April 1996. My first trip to the Big City from Vancouver, Canada. I wore the fragrance right away and then later that evening attended a performance of The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre. During intermission there was a tap on my shoulder and the gentleman sitting behind me asked how I liked the fragrance. As it turned out, he was one of the creators of Black Pearls.
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