Giorgio by Giorgio of Beverly Hills (1981)

It was the decade of Dynasty (1981- 1989), Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous (1984 - 1995), Falcon Crest (1981 - 1990) and other rich-people porn for aspirational types. And it got off to one hell of a smelly start.

 

You know it. You may love it. But once you put it on, you won't be able to get away from it, and those around you may hate you forever. That's right — I'm talking about Giorgio. Giorgio of Beverly Hills. 

 

In the late '70s, Gale and Fred Hayman* decided they needed an exclusive fragrance for their clothing boutique on Rodeo Drive. This exclusive fragrance, ironically (or, more likely, intentionally), ended up scenting every magazine, mall, big-haired salad eater, and Gucci bag-carrying Texas** debutante in the 80s like the "airborne toxic event" that threatens the characters in Don DeLillo's surreal fantasia on consumerism and suburbia in White Noise.

 

This airborne toxic event Giorgio starts off with a bright hit of green, followed by a massive synthetic-smelling accord of fruit notes + orange blossom + every cloyingly sweet facet that could be wrenched from Giorgio's florals: tuberose, gardenia, ylang-ylang, and jasmine. There's something kind of pleasant*** about the powdery and slightly rich (amber/vanilla), musky and sandalwood dry down, but you can't really experience it because the  tuberose-gardenia-fruit monster stuns your nose into submission.

 

Top notes: Green note, bergamot, fruit note, orange blossom, aldehyde

Heart notes: Tuberose, gardenia, ylang-ylang, orchid

Base notes: Sandalwood, cedarwood, musk, amber, moss, vanilla

 

Giorgio doesn't really develop so much as Enter the Building and stage a sit-in demanding to be noticed: inert, bright, soapy, floral, and in-your-face sweet. It’s sunny and pretty in the way an immaculately made-up face photoshopped within an inch of its life in a magazine is pretty, or the way a bubble-headed beauty who will not stop smiling but who has absolutely nothing interesting to say is pretty. There is no movement, multidimensionality, or life inside.

 

Giorgio is always described as a "big" scent, like many 80s scent bombs, but it's not Giorgio's bigness or boldness that bothers me. I like the perverse Poison (in small doses). And what some say is Giorgio's reference scent, Fracas, is as alive as a carnivorous plant. It’s Giorgio's inorganic obtrusiveness that offends. And it gives me an almost instant headache.

 

I may just be unable to objectively assess Giorgio’s aesthetic merits because there was a time growing up in Texas that I simply could not get away from it. It arrived with every fashion magazine that came in the mail in scent-strip form. (It was, in fact, the first perfume that advertised itself not only through an image and a tagline, but also by actually smelling up the room.) You couldn't go to the mall without being inadvertantly sprayed with it. And on top of everything, its celebration of "exclusivity" (it's from Rodeo Drive!) turns me off, and its name makes me chuckle. (If you've ever watched soap operas, it's as if Giorgio is being positioned as the "exotic" European dude who ends up stirring up trouble for the townsfolk in Port Charles.)

 

Giorgio set the volume way up (hence all the references to "loud" scents), and other scents followed suit (among them Obsession, the aforementioned Poison, Amarige, et al). It actually makes sense that by the 90s, our exhausted noses were proffered androgynous office scents that had wiped off all their fuschia lipstick and purple eye shadow and retired their sequined evening gowns.

 

Improbably, Giorgio is still available, but to me, it smells as dated as Robin Leach's sign-off sounds: "Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams!"

 

*Apparently, Giorgio's phenomenal success coincided with the breakup of the Gale and Fred Hayman marriage.

** Apologies to Texas, but this is where I grew up.

*** I wanted to say something nice, and this is all I could come up with.

****Perfumes got so strong/loud in the 80s that New York restaurant owners were putting signs in their windows that said, "Please no wearers of Passion, Giorgio or Poison." Ha! (This tidbit from Susan Irvine's Perfume: The Creation and Allure of Classic Fragrances.)

Comments

[Carrie Meredith]

Okay, first of all, you get props for the General Hospital reference (you actually get an e-hug for that one).

I haven't smelled Giorgio in decades, but I can conjure it up in my mind (and sinuses) immediately. I was one of the masses who wore it (for a short time). I was very young, and it would be several years before I went to the department store and took home my first bottle of Guerlain.

I happen to think that it was a lot of fun growing up in the 80s, there are a lot of things I look back on fondly, and some embarrassments. Giorgio definitely fits into the latter category.

Thanks for this well-done and hilarious review. :)

[Tarleisio]

Woman, your courage knows no bounds and for that reason alone, I applaud you! I have to say it, no other perfume from the Eighties - and I wore quite a few of the Big, Bold and Unapologetically Brash - sums up that decade like Giorgio, and I absolutely, completely, utterly detest, hate and loathe it with a fury to this day! I don't even have to smell it to conjure it up - that's how powerful it was, and how ubiquitous! It may still be around, in some galaxy far, far away from me, but I am pathetically grateful I will never, ever have to smell it again! ;)

This put an enormous smile on my face this morning - as well as a few belly laughs! What were we thinking?

We weren't. We were too busy being Big, Bold and Brash...purple eyeshadow, shoulder pads and all! ;)

[Perfumaniac]

Haha. So glad you recognized Port Charles, Carrie. I couldn't remember if it was "General Hospital" or "All My Children." In some ways, it doesn't matter, because at a certain point, they all had at least one European, and then for a while, they were all Australian! Ah, the good ol' days. But yes, I view the 80s with affection, and apparently all the youngins do too. I was in Urban Outfitters the other day, and as a brilliant friend remarked of all the high-waisted, floral print jumper thingees: "What in the Dexy's Midnighter Runners hell is going on?!" Amazing.

[Perfumaniac]

Glad you enjoyed it, Tarleisio! It was a fun writeup, but not fun to sniff, I'm afraid. I'm dying to hear from the folks who love it. I mean — I love Poison, so maybe they, too, put on a toothpick tip's worth of Giorgio and it smells amazing.

The interesting thing is when a scent like this comes out at the beginning of a decade and really does help define it — the aspirational name, the intrusiveness, the shamelessness...it kind of sums up the 80s.

I guess that means you don't want me to send you a vial (vile)?

[Anne]

Whereas I, who came of age in the 80s, have never smelled Giorgio. I love this witty post by Olfactoria tho':
http://perfumesmellinthings.blogspot.com/2011/04/great-balls-of-fire-reunited-with-le.html

[Nancy]

Is this the first "I really hate it" review here? Wow! That said, Giorgio is a friend's "signature" scent, and she stocks up every year when the Christmas gift cards start rolling in. She discovered that around the time I was always wearing Magie Noire (which unfortunately is my "signature-first-marriage-scent", so it feels weird wearing it now). She lives life as large as possible, champaign dreams and soap opera drama reality included, so I guess it fits her style. Although she has been wearing it daily for so many years it is practically unnoticeable when in her company (seriously!). She did recently comment that perhaps it is time for a change, but to what? Poison? What would be more contemporary?

[Perfumaniac]

Nancy, I know there have to be some negative reviews! (Trust me, I aint all that positive!) Aside from your friend's choice of signature scent, I've always found the idea of a signature scent so interesting. There are way too many perfumes out there. How could you ever stick to just one? (And then there's the issue, as you said, of associating a perfume with someone you don't want to.)

As for your question, "She did recently comment that perhaps it is time for a change, but to what? Poison? What would be more contemporary?" Dear god, don't recommend Poison as her fallback! Maybe Gucci Rush (very feminine, modern, not so expensive) or Carnal Flower?

[Perfumaniac]

Anne, it's nice when you're "Reunited and it feels so goooood!" (I can't wait to read Olfactoria's post A) I love Le Feu d'Issey, B) She's hilarious and C) Great Balls of Fire is one fantastic title!

Maybe the Giorgio thing can be remedied. ;-)

[Nancy]

Perhaps the habit of a 'signature" scent is a generational habit. My bottles of scents are slowly taking over the house, but grandmother always wore Madame Rochas, and my Mom usually wore just one but changed that every few years. The 1960's for her was Tigress, the 80's were Krystal (that Dynasty effect), and so on till the end when it was Estee Pleasures. Those scents ARE those individuals in my memory, and very time stamped to me. As to why they didn't much vary it; no clue. The effects of living thorough the Great Depression, WWII rationing, or just how people used to do things?
Thank you for the suggestions for my friend. Her birthday is soon, so I will message her Australian boyfriend (seriously!)the info. There really are a few "Erica Kanes" somewhere in this world.

[Perfumaniac]

Nancy,

Good call. It very well might be generational, and there's something very sweet about it. Like choosing one person to marry for life, or never moving anywhere, there's probably this idea, "Why should I change things around so much? I like this one."

I don't know Krystal or Pleasures, but I do know Tigress and Madame Rochas, and like them both a lot.

I just love your idea, too, that when you think of one person, you think of one scent, or vice versa: "Those scents ARE those individuals in my memory, and very time stamped to me." Maybe were messing with something when we don't have a signature scent!

[breathe31]

I fell in love with Giorgio in high school when a classmate of mine,who was a professional model, began wearing it. At that time there was only one elite department store in NYC that had the exclusive rights to sell it. It was my first expensive perfume purchase (prior to that my mother supported my perfume addiction)and I wore it sparingly so as not to use it up so quickly. No one knew what it was and it was never offensive to myself or anyone else (perhaps due to my sparse application). However,once it made its way into the masses and women began dousing their bodies in it Giorgio, just like Poison (which I also initially liked and wore) became extremely offensive to me, so much so that I gave away my 1/3 full bottle to a girlfriend who wanted it because of its popularity. I am sure that if I took a whiff of it now it would transport me to my senior year in high school and, perhaps, would not be met with such disdain by my nose.

[Perfumaniac]

Breathe31: I was pleasantly surprised for about 2 seconds, and then the worse headache came on. Maybe youre right, that in a tiny dose, on someone else, this might smell wonderful. Up close and personal now, after years of not smelling it, it was waaaay too much!

[breathe31]

I would LOVE to have a signature scent and have been on the elusive quest for one for many, many years. I agree with Barbara that there is something beautiful about being connected with one particular scent, so much so that at one whiff of that fragrance, your image is conjured up in that person's mind. There are certain fragrances that remind me of individuals and times in my life and I guess the ones I have listed on my huffer list are the closest I have come to having a "signature" as I have purchased numerous bottles of each,but,alas, I cannot commit to just one! I feel that we evolve as individuals over the course of our lives and as we change so do our tastes and how we want to be perceived. Therefore, the scent I wore in my 20s would not necessarily align with who I am now in my 40s.

[Mals86]

I reviewed a modern miniature edt of Giorgio last year - I'd bought it at WAL-MART, of all places! - and although I had remembered liking it in small doses, I couldn't take it now.

I didn't wear it in the 80s because it was too expensive, but the halls of my high school reeked of it because the Popular Girls wore it.

I think it's been messed with. It smells far more synthetic than it used to (grape Kool-aid, anyone?) but just as loud. Hideous.

[Perfumaniac]

Hideous is right, Mals! I'll have to link to your review. And boo to the Popular Girls! (Why is it so fun to diss stinky perfumes? I need to write more bad reviews.)

[Richard]

Side note: If I remember correctly, Giorgio inspired the first great wave of "impostor" fragrances. (In fact, I think the first company to market them actually called itself "Impostor Fragrances" or some such.) Until that time, knock-offs of high-end scent were just that -- derivative knock-offs, but with no overt mention of the original. In the 80s, though, companies dropped the pretense and things got REAL.

So, I suppose we have Giorgio to thank/blame for all that.

[50_Roses]

I came of age in the 80's, and I never wore Giorgio. Even at the time, it seemed loud and harsh to me. My favorite perfume then, and the closest I ever came to a signature scent, was Poison. I LOVED Poison then, but when I put some on now, I can't stand it. It's too sweet, too thick, to suffocating. I hope I wasn't offending everyone around me. I like to think I didn't go overboard on the application, as I wore it frequently (though not daily) for several years, and didn't even finish the bottle.

I myself have never been able to stick to just one "signature scent". Even in my Poison days, I had a half dozen or so other perfumes that I wore: Chanel no. 5, Arpege, Pheromone (have you ever considered reviewing this one?), Emeraude, Tabu, Muguet des Bois, and probably other things I have forgotten. I just didn't feel like wearing the same perfume every day, any more than I would wear the same outfit every day. My mother, who is from the signature scent generation (born in the late 1920's), had perhaps 15 or 20 different perfumes on her vanity tray when I was a little girl. The funny thing is that she had so many perfumes, but didn't actually wear perfume terribly often. Some of my fondest childhood memories are of inhaling the wonderful scents from those bottles.

[Barbara]

Hello, I've been lurking here for a while now and must tell you how much I enjoy it. This review was just hilarious!!
And to Richard - thanks for a great memory. My best friend had the "Designer Impostors" or whatever it was called and carried that yellow striped metal container everywhere and kept reapplying it! She used to say it smelled better than the actual Giorgio and I would just get a migraine!!

[Barbara]

I MEANT I enjoy your blog(not the lurking!!). It is almost 1am here in MI and time to go to bed!!

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Richard! I don't know what fragrance inspired Imposter Fragrances (I remember it as Parfums de Coeur and apparently it's both: http://www.parfumsdecoeur.com/Catalog.aspx?SC=652), but it sounds about right that Giorgio would be responsible for unleashing even more stink onto the unsuspecting public.

What I do remember is the advertising: "If you like Giorgio, you'll love our Emilio..!"

And they're still at it:

"If you like Calvin Klein Escape, you'll love our Fly With Me!"
"If you like Clinique's Happy, you'll love our Wanna Play?"

My favorite, though, is that they have imposters for their own creations!

"If you love Parfums de Coeur Original, youll love our Malibu Musk!" Bizarre. They can't stop the simulacra machine.

[Perfumaniac]

Hi 50_Roses, as you know, I'm a Poison-lover too. I can still enjoy it, but I can't say I've worn it out since I was in my 20s. I do have Pheromone and have been meaning to review it. Maybe Ill bump it up soon. ;-)

My mother was a serial monogamist with perfume, and what I remember is Charlie, Femme, Diva, and Angel. (I'm sure there were others, but you get the drift. Not a wilting flower type!) I wonder if you can even get into perfume if your mother never wore any...

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Barbara. We share the same name. :-)

So glad you've come from out of the shadows to respond. And I'm sorry you have seared in your olfactory memory not only Giorgio, but a Giorgio imposter! I can only imagine what that smelled like. I love that your friend kept reapplying it! Sounds like pure torture...I'm afraid I was probably that friend in high school. I loved trying on 10 different things at once at the mall.

[Ms Belsey]

Ha!  I was just talking about/writing about Giorgio and Imposter Fragrances in my comments today, and I come to have a look and here you are talking about Giorgio too a few days before.  There must be something in the air.

If life had a scented soundtrack (a scent-track?) Giorgio would be the scent of a power-suited businesswoman ballbreaking her way through an 80s montage sequence.

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Ms. Belsey. That "something in the air" is the stench of Giorgio, wafting all the way from 1981! And yes, that power-suited ball-buster is REEKING havoc with Giorgio, no doubt. Could you think of a more effective weapon, really? ;-)

[מכשיר שמיעה אודיקול]

There are certain scents that point out to me of people and moments in my lifestyle and I think the ones mentioned on my listing are the nearest I have come to having a signature as I have obtained several containers of each.

[Rita Russo]

I have used Giorgio for many years and I love it.The currant bottle I have was a gift and there is half left in the bottle.Each time I try to spry it leaks out all over my hand. I tried taking it back to Macy's but I was told they couldn't help me as it is no longer on the market. I also have the smaller bottle that hasn't been open as of yet. Where can I get a replacement for my bottle? an answer would be appreciated, thank you.
Rita Russo

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Rita,

I'm having trouble posting under my handle, so I thought I'd respond this way: A leaking Giorgio bottle, as much as you love Giorgio, is definitely a crisis of epic proportions! My suggestion is to decant your perfume into a new bottle or bottles that won't leak. Perfumer's Apprentice and eBay sells 1ml, 4ml, and even 15 ml bottles that should be able to hold what you have left. You may need one of those little funnels so that you don't spray it all over the place. Good luck! http://shop.perfumersapprentice.com/p-6677-perfume-spray-atomizer-15ml.aspx

[Maggie St.Aubin]

I still love this but feel that the perfume has changed is that so or maybe in Australia I have purchased a fake?

[Perfumaniac]

Maggie, More than likely, what you purchased has been reformulated. The perfume industry spokespeople used to deny that this happens, but everyone knows it happens. Perfumer Jean Guichard recently said so publicly. They do it for several reasons: cost, difference in source of florals, or industry bans on certain ingredients that need to be replaced. The vintage version is easily found for cheap on eBay and miniatureperfumeshoppe.com

[Mary]

Well I love love love this perfume. My dearest friend bought it for me in the 80s and I have worn it every day since. I still get compliments about it after 27 years.

[Atty Tude]

I wore this perfume and so did my sister. I smelled it some time ago and it brought back so many memories. I don't know if I'd wear it again, but I will not bash this classic. Then again, I'm not a 80s basher (yes, I know; this makes me the anti-Christ to some). I was young in those days and I had the most fun I ever had in my life. Yes, the fashion was outrageous, but how, pray, is today's fashion any better? The only difference is that today's fashion is, well, today's fashion. Let's wait a decade and see how we like it.

Anyway, the best thing about Giorgio is that it was so unique (the best compliment I can pay a scent ... or a person, for that matter). Nothing smelled like it. Yes, it was all over the place. So is Juicy Couture today, and I absolutely detest that scent. But it's trendy so what can I do?

As I said, this is the one vintage I don't know if I would wear again. But it is NOT a bad perfume. Not at all.

[Mark S. Alexander]

As a man, Giorgio was my favorite ladies perfume...probably still is though I haven't had any for well over a decade. I loved the scent so much that I would buy bottles of it to aerate my car as I used to cross the desert a lot and Giorgio Beverly Hills Perfume for Ladies would freshen up the stale smell of the dusty desert lingering in my car. It was great to spray the vehicle in the morning as I'd hit the road for the day. And, I used to enjoy going into the Beverly Hills Giorgio Boutique. --- M.S.A.

[Perfumaniac]

I love this anecdote. More power to you for being bold, and owning it!

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