So, the other day, this whole “Troye Sivan Rabanne fr” thing kept popping up on my feeds. You know how it is, you’re just browsing, not looking for anything in particular, and then bam – something snags your attention. I’ve listened to a fair bit of Troye’s music, and Rabanne, well, they’ve always been one of those interesting fashion houses, even when they were still Paco Rabanne. So, naturally, I got a bit curious. Figured I’d spend a bit of time looking into what it was all about.
My first instinct, seeing “fr,” was fragrance. Seemed like the most obvious fit, right? A celebrity, a fashion house, “fr” usually points to some new scent. So, I started digging. Did the usual stuff, you know, typed it into the search bar, saw what the big news outlets were pushing out. But then, more importantly, I hopped over to places like Twitter and Instagram, even some forums, to see what actual people were saying. You really have to do that to get past the polished PR speak and see what the real buzz is, if there is any.
And yeah, it turned out Troye was definitely involved with Rabanne’s fragrance line. I saw he was fronting their Phantom Parfum. And then there was another one, 1 Million Royal, I think it was. Big campaigns, the whole nine yards. It also clicked that this was around the time Rabanne officially lopped off the “Paco” from their name. Just “Rabanne” now. That’s a statement in itself, isn’t it? I recall seeing some of the ads and videos. Very sleek, very modern, definitely aimed at a younger crowd. Troye fits that perfectly, of course.
I actually went out of my way to try and get a sniff of one of the fragrances. Won’t say which one specifically, keep a little mystery, or maybe I just genuinely can’t remember the exact name with all those flankers they put out these days, ha! Anyway, I found a tester and gave it a go. It was… well, it was a fragrance. Not entirely what I thought it would be, but Rabanne has always had that slightly unconventional edge. And Troye, he embodies that sort of vibe too – artistic, a bit different. So, from a marketing perspective, I could see the logic. They wanted to make a splash, and pairing him with the rebrand and a new scent was clearly part of that plan. I spent a good while just looking at the campaign materials online. They really tried to build a whole world around it.
It did get me thinking, though. These celebrity endorsements for perfumes, they’re a dime a dozen. Seems like every other week there’s a new one. And a lot of the time, it feels pretty forced, like they just picked a famous person, paid them a load of cash, and stuck their face on a bottle. With this Troye Sivan and Rabanne thing, I got the sense that maybe, just maybe, there was a bit more thought behind the pairing. Or perhaps I’m just being optimistic because I don’t mind his music. It’s hard to tell sometimes.
It’s funny, isn’t it? You see a couple of names together and suddenly you’re on this mini-quest, trying to piece together the “why” and “how.” And nine times out of ten, the answer is just good old-fashioned business, trying to sell us something new. But I suppose it keeps things from getting too dull. I must have wasted a whole afternoon just clicking around, reading comments, watching the ads. Felt like I was a pop culture detective for a day. My big takeaway? It’s all about creating an image, a specific “feel.” And they definitely managed to do that. Whether you buy the fragrance or not, you probably remember seeing it. And I guess that’s the point, isn’t it?
