September is when we slowly start to say goodbye to summer days and welcome the beautiful golden season of fall. When everyone is going back to school and work, for me this month starts with a lot of work appointments, events, new projects and new travel destinations. On September 2nd, The Fragrance Foundation Austria honoured me to be one of the expert jury members of this year’s DUFTSTARS 2021.
Outstanding perfume creations were awarded at the DUFTSTARS Gala 2021, with the highest award in the perfume and cosmetics industry.
AND THE WINNERS ARE
In a total of eight categories, the experts jury choose the candidates for the “Fragrance Oscars”. The evening started with the Best Bottle Design, and this year’s winner of this prize is Hermès “L’Ombre des Merveilles EDP”.
The women’s perfume house Chanel took home awards in the “Classic” category with “Chane Eau Tendre EDT”. The two men’s fragrance creations from Acqua di Parma, “Arancia de Capri EDT” and Creed “Aventus EDP”, achieved a double placement in this category.
There were also two winners in the Prestige women’s fragrances— Guerlain with “Aqua Allegoria Orange Soleia EDT” and Hermès with “L’Ombre des Merveilles EDP”. Giorgio Armani celebrates most of the votes in the prestige segment with the men’s fragrance “Acqua di Giò Profondo EDP”. Also this year Hermès enchanted the professionals with its bottle design, with “L’Ombre des Merveilles EDP”. Chanel could celebrate another trophy with its “Le Lion de Chanel EDP” fragrance in the “Ultra-selective women” category. The most voted men’s fragrance in this class is By Kilian with “Angel’s Share EDP”.
This year’s winners of the audience awards are, Chanel with the fragrance “Coco Mademoiselle L’Eau Privée”, as well as for men’s fragrances “Boss Bottled EDT”.
The big winners at the Media Awards are Dior with “J’adore Infinissime” for the best print advertisement and Chanel with “N° 5 Eau de Parfum” for the most outstanding video clip image. Paco Rabanne’s “1 Million” and “Lady Million” won the prize for the “Special Form of Advertising” category.
The winners of the trade award, in which the voice of the consumer also counts, were eagerly awaited this year. In this new category, the Douglas store at Kärntner Straße 17 in Vienna was voted for the most popular perfumery in the country. Douglas also took second place home with them— the team at the Pluscity store in Upper Austria’s Pasching is happy about the award. The Grazer Kastner & Öhler store in Sackstraße 7-13 also climbed onto the winners’ stage as third place.
THE GALA
If I could describe the gala with one word it would be— magical. It felt so surreal to attend a black-tie event after such a long time, where I could wear this gorgeous gown by my talented friend Flutura Dedinja.
The event started with a red-carpet walk and an aperitif, then everyone was led into the hall where the awards were given to the nominated candidates. After two and a half hours, the guests were led to the seated dinner. The tables were beautifully decorated with flowers and tropical fruits; the music, the dancers, the atmosphere was just unforgettable. A night to remember forever!
Photography (c) Ksenia Kogler
*This post is not sponsored
