Weekend Jams: Another Type of Collector

by Corinna Kirsch on May 17, 2014 Weekend Jams


Thanks to the billions spent on art at this week’s auctions, art collectors are getting all the attention. That type of fame doesn’t matter on YouTube, where there’s a trove of videos uploaded by all types of collectors. This week, I’ve been getting into video tours by amateur perfume collectors. They’re just guys who like to hoard spray-on scents, and they like to tell you about it.

Carlos J. Powell’s “My Perfume Collection Video May 13, 2014” starts out innocent enough. He’s just a guy who’s going to show you his perfume collection. His bottles are kept in what looks like a small, glass-doored cabinet, but then the camera keeps on panning…and panning…and panning over the sheer monstrosity of this collection.

Powell’s collection might be huge, but it’s organized. (That’s reflected in how he lists off his collection; he can be pretty dry.) Some bottles look like they’ve been used, some he keeps around just for the hell of it. Like that purple bottle of Lolita Lempicka, a too-sweet perfume that conjures up the smell of Starbursts and gummy bears. Powell’s an encyclopedic collector, so it doesn’t matter what’s on his shelves, as long as he’s got it. In the art world, we all know the type.

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