Philipp Plein debuts women's fragrance; toasts new sunglass NFT collab, watch model

By

Roxanne Robinson

Published
Oct 7, 2022

​Despite the glittering extravagance of his brand and lifestyle, Philipp Plein is a practical man. On the occasion of his first women's fragrance launch, a new sunglass style with its own NFT, and the new Skeleton watch model in partnership with Timex, the designer hosted a lavish bash.

Plein leveraged the moment which drew buyers from across the globe to Cannes for TFWA, the Duty-Free and Travel Retail Global Summit, to spotlight the three initiatives of the Milan-based brand and invited guests to his private home, aka "La Jungle du Roi" for a black-tie evening of live music, champagne, seafood, and dessert feast in Plein style with plenty of glitter.

"Philipp Plein is entering the world of licenses in a big way as the first step to leverage the brand we created 24 years ago," Plein said. He counts 12 licenses to include an upcoming hotel currently being built in Milan. As by example, he led guests and the press through the floral-strewn and neon-lit French neoclassical villa brimming with life-size artworks by Orlinski Koons, pricey cars, and enough floating pool cabanas loungers to host a Miami-style pool rave.

Like a rocket ship about to plunge into the pool while spewing a mountain of flowers from its spigot, a giant facsimile of the new perfume 'Plein Fatale' appeared to suspend above the water magically. Surprisingly, it's the brand's first female fragrance; there are currently three men's fragrances.

"I have to make things right; it's not easy to please a woman; women are complicated, not like men. Men are a different species, so we must work really hard to make women happy," explained Plein, as he eagerly spritzed anyone within arm's length with the new perfume.

​He enlisted another man known for an array of complex fragrances, Alberto Morillas, master perfumer.

"I was honored to work with Alberto on Pein Fatale. He had many successes such as CK Calvin Klein, Opium by Yves St. Laurent, and Acqua di Gio which is still Armani's best-selling fragrance," the designer continued. The perfumer, whom Plein calls a friend, modeled the bottle on a champagne bottle because "all women love champagne," Plein added. 

The fragrance will come in three varieties, presumably to address all sorts of feminine complexities; Sparkling Gloss with black currant, pink pepper, bergamot, and ambrox; Plein Bloom with ylang-ylang, tuberose, jasmine, and rose petals; and Fatale Fitted Dress with patchouli, sandalwood, praline, sensual masks, amber, and vanilla. It's made in partnership with the New York-based Give Back Beauty group.

Also on display was a new sunglass style recently unveiled at SILMO that Plein attests is the first sunglass NFT collaboration, The Crypto King$ Limited Edition, in partnership with the De Rigo Group. It also solidifies the brand mogul's belief in the new online currency.

"We sold out 1,200 pairs in two days at SILMO," Plein said, referring to the Parisian eyewear trade show that had just taken place in late September. The pairs refer to the shield style-sunglass, the SPP008 phygital model, and the limited-edition digital artwork made in collaboration with NFT artist, Antoni Tudisco.

Despite what the headlines say, Plein is fully committed to crypto.

"Philipp Plein was the first luxury company to accept crypto starting in-store and online in August 2021," he recalled adding, "Crypto is here to stay; it just needs time to develop. Of course, it's affected when the Dow Jones and Nasdaq went down, but we believe it has a big future."

He continued by explaining there are two types of crypto folks.

"There are two types of people: users and abusers. My mother is an abuser. She buys it and waits for the price to go up and sells," he described. "Users are buying it and using it to make purchases, trades, etc. We accept crypto in over 100 stores and online, the latter of which is over 100 million euros this year. Three percent is done in crypto, so that's three million," he said of what he referred to as daily users who use despite its dips.

"It comes with many advantages and something that, in my opinion, is unstoppable because people are already committed to this new technology and payment method. They made the investment, and people, especially young ones, are using it," he said.

The new timepiece is based on the Skeleton sneaker collection featuring a skull motif. Three versions were displayed in cases next to a car shrink-wrapped in a print made from the watch design.

"We linked the watch to the car because we think watches and cars have something in common; both are machines that utilize technology and pay attention to detail," he said, noting that in total, he and partner Timex plan on doing 25 million euros on the new Skeleton model which bears a skull on the watch face.

As guests arrived at the party held mainly in the property's courtyard, or what Plein called his "driveway," they also got to enjoy his private screening room where he played three films dedicated to each product, shot in Paris, New York, and the metaverse to cement his commitment to the new products.

A fantastic traveling troupe of a band, The Gypsy Queens, entertained guests who danced, sang, and lingered under the crisp night air and palm tree-dotted sky well past the event end time. Plein had assured all who attended that "mi casa es su casa," as guests still enjoyed the music.

He was content his five-month-old son was sleeping through the noise, but according to his life partner and mother of the baby, Lucia Bartoli, maybe not so much Plein's aura. The designer had remarked upon his sparkling well-lit Milan headquarters, which came up in conversation.

"Everything is shiny; I'm shiny. I'm shining when you turn off the light. Lucia says the baby can't sleep because I’m too shiny," he joked as he retreated into his crystal crib.