The Oscars of Fragrance: The Perfumed Envelope, Please

“This carpet is garbage,” muttered one of 20-odd photographers last week at the ceremonial entrance to the Fragrance Foundation Awards (long known as the FiFis, like a disobedient poodle, though that nickname is now discouraged by its public-relations team, in the interest of gravitas). Many famous people have represented scents in one capacity or another. But only a smattering can be persuaded to attend the perfume industry’s most important annual event, its ultimate prize, its Oscars.

This is a world where “juice” is not the stuff of an overpriced diet plan, or something your phone is running out of, but an elaborately packaged potion of seduction and gateway drug to many brands, be they Maison Martin Margiela or Taylor Swift.

Ms. Swift, a nominee for Incredible Things, a collaboration with Elizabeth Arden, didn’t show. But inside Alice Tully Hall, Behati Prinsloo, a golden-haired Victoria’s Secret Angel from Namibia, was interrupted during the cocktail hour while eating a miniature hamburger.

“I can’t really talk about any fragrances,” she said, alluding vaguely to business negotiations. “I’m just in the midst of stuff, so it’s hard. Listen, my first fragrance was Charlie, I know that! My favorite smell is my grandmother’s home-cooked food.” Appearing to receive instructions over his headset, a nearby publicist made cut-it-off motions.

On to a friendlier subject. Johnny Weir, the asymmetrically coifed Olympic figure skater, dressed in a rubber-topped white ensemble by Moto Guo, a Malaysian designer: froth in a sea of little black dresses. “You know why that is?” he said of the generally conservative attire. “It’s Wednesday night.”

But to Mr. Weir it felt like the splashiest of Saturdays. “I’ve been a fan of fragrance since I was little,” he said. “My first cologne was Obsession by Calvin Klein. When I was 13, I was obsessed with it.”

While singular perfumes like Obsession used to dominate, with their memorable TV ads, according to the foundation’s president, Elizabeth Musmanno, the business is increasingly … atomized? Diffused? Still, ”it’s a nice pillar that can hold up a house,” she said.

Though he was a “face” of MAC Cosmetics, Mr. Weir does not yet have a ’fume of his own. “I would be a disaster in those meetings,” he said. “I would just say: ‘I want something powdery!’ ”

When pressed, he suggested: “It would be unisex, it would be clean, with just a hint of a clean man’s scent.” What about a name? “Probably Ice.”

Spritz! Sniff!

The actor Zachary Quinto, of “Star Trek,” was poring over notes for his speech to present the fragrance of the year in the men’s luxury category, bouncing on the sneakers he wore with his skinny suit. Asked how the heck he came to be there, he answered a little defensively, “I wear fragrance.” In high school, patchouli oil; currently, Frédéric Malle, Comme des Garçons Blue Santal and a woman’s one that he preferred to keep private.

“I think it’s an important part of the creative process, certainly,” Mr. Quinto said of smell. “It’s one of our strongest senses, the most evocative of memory. I just remember those Elizabeth Taylor fragrances. Was it Passion? White Diamonds. Real mom, grandma, teacher stuff.”

There was a sudden surge into the auditorium: Kendall Jenner, who models for Estée Lauder, had arrived, and Alec Baldwin, the master of ceremonies.

Mr. Baldwin began by announcing that his wife, Hilaria Thomas Baldwin, a yoga teacher, had given birth to their son, Rafael, at 1:30 that morning. “And when you think about it, a fragrance is probably responsible for that baby, wouldn’t you say so?” he said. “My wife was wearing some kind of special fragrance and whoa, watch out.”

The blessed occasion did not diminish Mr. Baldwin’s profanity. He made jokes about “President Trump”; about being thrown into Mecox Bay while flying to the Hamptons on Tommy Hilfiger’s private plane; about how Linda Evangelista’s well-known statement that she wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $10,000 needed to be adjusted for inflation.

Ms. Evangelista, a chairwoman of the event, presented the fragrance of the year in the men’s and women’s prestige categories: Dior Homme, for men, and Giorgio Armani, for women.

Dior also cleaned up the media-campaign awards for both sexes, thanks in part to footage of a fierce-looking Charlize Theron scaling a silk scarf. The perfume it advertised, J’adore, was also welcomed to the organization’s hall of fame.

“Kendall, I just want some of your 48 million followers,” Mr. Baldwin said, venturing into the audience and taking a selfie with Ms. Jenner, Ellen DeGeneres-style.

Hermès, Marc Jacobs and Tom Ford (who beamed in from the London men’s fashion shows to honor his mentor, John Demsey, the group president of the Estée Lauder Companies) also won multiple awards, along with the independent perfumer By Kilian.

Annie Buzantian, who has created scents for corporations including Armani and Victoria’s Secret and (lest you think this is all crass consumerism) cited Paganini and Tennyson as inspirations, was honored for lifetime achievement. “Her nose is so good she can smell Donald Trump’s hair from here,” Mr. Baldwin said, relentless.

There were 22 categories in total, causing at least one tuxedoed company man to shift in his seat and say he wished he were home watching “Real Housewives.”

After most of the sinuous abstract statuettes had been handed out, the singer Bryan Adams arrived onstage to belt out “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?” and “Summer of ’69.”

The audience then filed back into the lobby for a dinner of asparagus, quail eggs, shavings of truffle, filet mignon and lobster potpie. Cooling herself Karl Lagerfeld-ishly with a paper fan, Ms. Evangelista said she is a big fan of white flowers. “I want to be an old lady,” she said a little wistfully.

“Smell her!” the hairdresser Sally Hershberger commanded, standing on tiptoe and thrusting her nose into the crook of Ms. Evangelista’s neck.

At an adjacent table, the designer Prabal Gurung was sitting with the junior miss Kiernan Shipka, late of “Mad Men,” in one of his pretty embroidered dresses. And what fragrance was she wearing?

“Nothing!” Ms. Shipka exclaimed, faintly surprised. “I’m not wearing any perfume at all.”

Mr. Gurung said, “It’s just our auras.”

Correction: July 2, 2015

An article last Thursday about the Fragrance Foundation Awards misidentified the people who presented an award to J’Adore. It was given by Kellan Lutz and Emma Heming Willis, not by Kendall Jenner. And the article misstated the timing of a performance by Bryan Adams. He performed near the end of the ceremony, not at the end.

SOURCE:http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/fashion/the-fragrance-foundation-awards-the-oscars-of-the-fragrance-world.html