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Fashion companies will be delighted to hear that while demand for their $5,000 purses may be waning a little, expensive perfume is enjoying a renaissance as a means for women to broadcast that they have too much time and/or money on the hands. Rare and expensive fragrances are growing in popularity as "perfumistas," who obsess on blogs like perfumeposse.com, compete for hard to find brands, to the extent of traveling to different countries to track them down.

The frenzied following of a discontinued Donna Karan perfume, Chaos, pushed its price up to $1,000 a bottle, prompting the company to reintroduce it last month. Sounds like the perfect way to make a perfume a success: Introduce it, then cut off supplies. Paris Hilton, you should try this! For all of your endeavors.

Meet the perfumistas: For a growing band of fashion fanatics the new lust-haves are obscure and extortionately priced perfumes [Daily Mail]