Fantasy took more than $30 million in its first three weeks on sale in 2005. Two decades later it is still on shelves, which almost no celebrity perfume manages.
The name on the bottle is Britney Spears. The company behind it is Elizabeth Arden, the American beauty house that signed her, developed the scents and put them into roughly 1,800 US department stores at launch. The partnership started with Curious in 2004, which broke Elizabeth Arden's record for first-week perfume sales. Fantasy followed in September 2005, pitched by Arden executives as the more romantic, mature counterpart to Curious.
The formula came from fragrance developer Ann Gottlieb and the Swiss scent maker Givaudan. On paper it reads like a dessert trolley: lychee, quince and kiwi up top, a heart of cupcake, jasmine, orchid and white chocolate, and a musky, woody base. The round fuchsia bottle, studded with Swarovski crystals, was designed by Jean Antretter, with Spears choosing the shape and the pink herself.
It worked. Fantasy topped mass-market fragrance launches in 2006, according to Elizabeth Arden's annual report, and The Guardian has reported worldwide sales above $1.5 billion across the line. The follow-ups kept coming, starting with Midnight Fantasy in 2006, which New York Times perfume critic Chandler Burr rated four stars out of five.
Here is what the gossip pages never explain. A celebrity fragrance is a licence. The star lends the name and fronts the campaign. A licence holder like Elizabeth Arden pays for development, manufacturing and distribution. Professional perfumers write the juice. No scandal there. It is the standard structure of the whole category, and it is why a pop star's perfume can be properly well made. Fantasy helped push the sweet gourmand style that dominated the 2000s and still shapes bestsellers today.
Love the Fantasy style without the department store markup? Fantasia is our take on Britney Spears Fantasy, a UK-made spray at 35% extrait with our 60-day guarantee. It lives in our Britney Spears collection.
