Authors: Lulu Taylor
‘She loved being the boss,’ Jemima added. ‘Nothing thrilled her quite as much as dressing up for board meetings, do you remember? She’d become even more ram-rod straight and terrifying, issuing orders all over the place. At the time, I thought it was rather funny.’
‘If only she’d seen that what she was doing was having exactly the opposite effect of what she wanted,’ Tara said grimly. ‘She must have realised that if she tampered with the scent, people would notice, that she would take away the only thing that mattered about Trevellyan – its quality.’
‘She probably thought no one would notice.’ Poppy’s good mood seemed to have melted away and she looked glum.
‘They probably didn’t at first. Perhaps they just thought they’d gone off it. But in the end, they clocked that something wasn’t right and that something they’d once loved no longer spoke to their senses, no longer ignited the nostalgic feelings it once had. It didn’t speak of rich tea roses flowering in an English garden on a summer’s day. It spoke of cheap flowers farmed in a field in some foreign country, and a perfume conjured out of synthetic notes.’
‘So what do we do?’ Jemima looked at her sister. ‘What’s the answer?’
‘To be brutally frank, there aren’t many options open to us. We’re going to face an uphill struggle – the perfume’s been debased and degraded. Its most loyal fans have abandoned it. Everything about it has been compromised in order to cut costs and keep margins as high as possible. If we want to save Trevellyan, our
best
option is to recreate the original perfume. To relaunch it. To create a new, exciting story around it and make it explode back on the perfume world like a shower of stars. But that’s going to take a huge amount of work – and a huge amount of money. Which we haven’t got.’
‘What are the other options?’ Poppy asked.
‘There’s only one other option.’ Tara looked down at her screen, holding in a shudder as she remembered Gerald ordering her to sell Trevellyan. It was hard not to flinch at the memory of what had happened next. ‘I don’t think it’s what any of us want, but I have to put all the choices in front of you. We sell the company. We sell up to someone who’s got the money to invest in it, or to someone who’ll simply break it up and sell off the assets, piece by piece.’
‘And that will be the end of that,’ Jemima said softly. She thought for a minute, examining her perfectly manicured nails, painted in a shade of softest shell-pink. ‘Oh God. I didn’t think I’d care. But I do.’ She looked up. ‘Can’t we somehow find the money for the redevelopment? For a proper relaunch?’
‘There’s the Loxton money,’ Poppy put in. ‘Don’t forget that.’
‘We’ll need it, Pops, but God knows how long it will take before we’re in a position to empty the house and sell the contents, it could take months for probate to be granted. And anyway, the problem is, that could all just be a drop in the ocean.‘ Tara smiled, relieved that Poppy and Jemima weren’t willing to surrender yet. ‘I want to give this our best shot, and I think you
do
too. To that end, I’ve asked someone else to meet us. My hope is that we can persuade her to come on board.’
‘Other than Claudine?’ Poppy frowned.
‘Yes. Claudine is a perfume expert, a nose. She’s going to help us discover the old formula for
Tea Rose
, perhaps even rework it. She has plenty of experience in the fragrance world and I intend to draw on that as much as I can. But she’s not a businesswoman. We need someone who can tell us what’s going on. Someone who knows this world inside out. So I’ve recruited some help from the top.’ Tara stood up, walked gracefully to the boardroom phone and dialled reception. ‘Hi. Could you send Ms Asuquo in please? Thanks.’
Jemima and Poppy looked at each other and then at Tara, who smiled at them. ‘Trust me. I know what I’m doing.’
A moment later, the boardroom door opened and the receptionist stood there. ‘Ms Asuquo,’ she said, and stepped back to allow the guest to come forward. In the doorway stood a tall figure in a bright red suit. She was stunning; at a glance she could be mistaken for Naomi Campbell, although her skin was darker and her physique more athletic. Her hair was pulled back, a tuft of afro curls bursting from the red silk ribbon tied into it, and her make-up was flawless.
‘I hope I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life,’ she purred.
Tara got to her feet. ‘You’re not. I guarantee it. Hi, Donna. Welcome.’
‘Thanks.’ She stepped forward and looked around the boardroom. ‘I hate to break it to you, ladies, but this place has nothing on Erin de Cristo’s digs. Where are the freshly picked white lilies? Where is the air-conditioning wafting your signature scent all about? I’m used to seeing trays of sushi and miniature French pastries when I go in for meetings.’ She glared at them all, then suddenly broke into a charming smile. ‘Hey, I’m kidding. Erin’s great but she’s very spoiled. So, am I right in thinking you need my help?’
‘Completely,’ Tara said, grinning back and thrilled to have completely blindsided her sisters who were currently sitting, mouths agape. ‘Take a seat and we’ll tell you all about it.’
An hour later Donna Asuquo had heard the entire story.
‘I’m beginning to think that maybe I should get up right now and run,’ she said soberly. ‘You guys are in deep shit.’
‘That’s why we need you. That’s why we want you to leave Erin de Cristo for us.’ Tara looked at her earnestly.
‘OK, I’ll tell you why I’m here. I’m bored at Erin’s, that’s for sure. I’ve learned just about all I’m ever going to learn there, and it’s all about perpetuating the myth. Erin has three or four juices that are always in the top twenty in the list. She’s just bringing out new versions of her classics now and that’s kind of uninspiring …’ She saw the expressions on the women’s faces. ‘OK, juices are perfumes, I think you’ve probably got that.
And
the list is the bestseller list, just like with books. Every week, every month and every year, we find out who’s doing best in this crazy, cut-throat world. Erin’s always paranoid about it but she doesn’t have to worry. She’s got some classics there. To tell you the truth, I’m getting frustrated where I am. Like most designers, Erin has licensed her scents to one of the big fragrance houses. They develop, create and distribute the juice – our role is comparatively small. I’m fascinated by it and I’ve learned an awful lot but now I want a bit of excitement and adventure, the chance to put some of what I’ve learned with her to the test. The only thing is …’ Donna shrugged. ‘I think this might be a challenge too far.’
‘We’re assembling a crack team,’ Tara said hastily. ‘As well as you, we’ve got Claudine Deroulier on board.’
‘Oh?’ Donna raised her eyebrows. ‘Of course I’ve heard of her.’ She reeled off a list of fragrance names, some of which the women knew and some they did not. ‘She created some amazing juices. She’s old-school French, isn’t she?’ Donna adopted a comical French accent. ‘For me, eet is all about ze aart!’
They all laughed.
‘But tell me,’ Donna leaned forward, fixing each of them in turn with her almond-shaped brown eyes, ‘what exactly is it you want to do?’
The sisters spoke over each other in their eagerness to reply, keen to tell Donna their story.
‘We want to recreate our brand, reinvigorate it. We want to launch it so that everybody notices and so that
everyone
in the world recognises and desires our scents,’ Jemima finished. Either side of her Poppy and Tara held their breath, inwardly praying that Donna wouldn’t do the sensible thing and leave.
‘Hmm.’ Donna smiled. ‘So just the moon on a stick then.’ She frowned. ‘How about I tell you some of the realities of this business? For one thing, there are too many perfumes on the market. Hundreds are launched worldwide every year – new fragrances from the top brands, the famous names we all know so well. But not just those. Celebrity perfumes have become the latest big trend. In the industry we might consider them little more than commercial, one-note scents, hardly worth the cost of the bottle, but they’re doing enormous business. It all started with Jennifer Lopez and her first juice,
Glow
. Since then it’s been a crazy rush to bottle that precious celebrity essence. Look at Paris Hilton – before it was even officially launched in the US her perfume sold out twice in Macy’s. Britney Spears might be on the edge but her perfume has made thirteen million dollars. The men aren’t immune either – David Beckham has just launched his fifth scent. And if the celebs aren’t selling their own, they’re becoming the face of other people’s, even the big Hollywood men. Davidoff just this year signed Ewan McGregor, and Dolce & Gabbana have Matthew McConaughey. And of course, we can’t forget the girls – Jean-Paul Gaultier’s snapped up Agyness Deyn, Calvin Klein’s got Eva Mendes and Chanel has just signed Audrey Tautou.’
‘Do you mean we need a celebrity?’ asked Jemima, frowning.
‘What I mean is, the competition is intense. And guess what – the market is flat. Perfume sales aren’t growing much at all. It’s partly because there’s just so much on offer, and it’s hard to retail perfume outside the Christmas and Mother’s Day promotions. A lot of people see it as a gift purchase. Many women don’t buy themselves fragrance or consider themselves to have a signature scent, if you like.’
‘What about the celeb angle then?’ asked Poppy.
Donna looked at her. ‘Traditionally, fine fragrance has brought in a lot more money than commercial, mass-market scents. But that seems to be changing. Boots the chemist is increasing its market share and it tends to be a place where there are fewer premium scents on offer – bar a couple of really big names. The celebrity perfume doesn’t focus on the smell – it focuses on the image of the person who supposedly created it –’ Donna raised her eyes to heaven ‘– yeah, right! Like Paris Hilton got going with her test tubes and essences and started creating a formula. Of course, the premium fragrances have always used beautiful women to sell their perfume, but even their angle is now more along the lines of
Catherine Deneuve wears Chanel – so should you
. It’s a significant market shift, this coming away from what’s in the bottle and focusing instead on who you associate with the brand. It’s hard for everyone to come to terms with.’
Tara looked serious. ‘This can’t be the end of the story. There can’t just be huge designer perfume, like Chanel, Gucci, Dior and so on, famous fragrance
houses
like Guerlain – and celebrity mass-market scents. There’s more to the perfume market than that, isn’t there?’
‘Of course,’ said Donna. ‘There are hundreds of more niche products on offer too. Up-and-coming make-up brands, like Laura Mercier, for example, are putting a lot of effort into launching their scent lines. And there are upmarket perfume houses like Les Parfums de Rosine, the House of Creed and L’Artisan Parfumeur in Paris. Not to mention Parfums Caron, Edmond Coudray and many more. There’s Tocca in New York and Santa Maria Novello, an Italian perfume house very famous to those in the know. Serge Lutens is a great talent. He created his own perfume house after working with Shiseido and he’s won so many awards at the FiFis.’
‘FiFis?’ queried Jemima.
Donna nodded. ‘The fragrance Oscars. A very important deal in our world. So you see, there are very successful lesser known fragrance houses all over the place. Here we have new boutique houses like Miller Harris and Jo Malone. These people believe in quality and innovation. They seek a customer base who knows, appreciates and can afford their product – loyal fans who will return time after time, and also invest in the products that go alongside the juice – soaps, creams, lotions, candles, incense sticks …’
Jemima said excitedly, ‘Perhaps that’s the angle for us!’
‘Perhaps it is.’ Donna grinned at her. ‘Cos if you’re going to start challenging the big boys, you’re going
to
need a hell of a lot of money. You know who the big boys are, the ones who really run the fragrance market? It’s the huge, multinational corporations who develop the biggest perfumes in the world. Most fashion houses go to them to create new perfume, and those corporations have a lot of muscle.’ She picked up the bottle of
Trevellyan’s Tea Rose
that was sitting on the table. ‘I know this stuff, of course – everyone does. That’s priceless and I would say it’s your most important asset. But I don’t know anybody who wears it – and that’s your greatest challenge.’
‘Do you think we can turn this around?’ Poppy asked quietly.
‘I don’t know. You can try. It’s going to be a huge job.’
Tara leaned forward and pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. ‘What we want to know is – will you help us?’
Donna didn’t reply. Instead, she leaned forward, took the bottle of
Tea Rose
that sat on Tara’s desk and squirted some of the original scent on to a tester. She raised to her nose and sniffed it. She closed her eyes for a second and then smiled approvingly. ‘God, it makes me think of going to my first school dance. I wore this to it.’ Then she looked earnestly at each of them in turn.
‘I worked very hard to get where I am. It’s not easy for a black woman to succeed in high fashion and beauty in this country. It’s all very white European – it’s almost exclusively the focus for everything: clothes, make-up, jewellery – and fragrance. My name doesn’t
sound
European and I certainly don’t look it, so it was hard for me even to get my foot in the door. I came in through the PR route, and that’s what I still love doing. I’m a marketer. I look at the business, I try to understand and predict it, I try to sell our product. Erin de Cristo gave me a chance when she took me on. I’m still not even sure I want to leave her company but when you called me, I couldn’t help being interested in what you had to say. The top isn’t always the most exciting place to be.’
When Tara spoke, her voice was so heartfelt, it almost vibrated with passion. ‘Donna – we need you. We need your expertise. We know so little and you know so much. The rewards may be low at first but, if this thing turns round, I promise you it will be very worth your while.’
Donna thought for a minute. A wide smile broke over her face. ‘You know, there’s something about this crazy scheme that appeals to me! It’s virtually hopeless, but … the raw materials are here. It’s a challenge. I want to try my hand at doing something myself. This looks like the perfect opportunity.’ She stopped and looked pensive again. ‘Give me till tomorrow. Then I’ll let you know. OK?’