About 5 years ago, I began to follow a gentleman on Instagram named, Chris Classic. I noticed some influencers that I followed kept reposting some of his content, so after exploring why I decided to do the same. I instantly was drawn to his amazing and creative ways of engaging with his online audience via his unique hashtags such as #classicclouds, #drinkwithclassic, and #classiclifeNYC to name a few. After some more digging, I realized that he is the nephew of Justine Simmons, the wife of Reverend Run of RUN DMC and that this man was also a recording artist, executive producer and senior writer at DeeTown Entertainment in New York City. He has written music for over 250 movies, in fact, Chris and the DeeTown team won the American Music Award for Best Soundtrack in 2008 for writing and producing the Alvin & The Chipmunks Soundtrack and score. Although I have learned all of these things about him which made him a “celebrity” in my eyes, I became very interested in learning more and having the opportunity to meet him one day since he was on my list of influencers to meet that year.
In addition to all the professional accolades Chris possesses, he is very transparent about his personal life in reference to his son JuJu and how he co-parents him with his mother. Now I know you may be thinking that I know a bit too much about him, but because of all he has chosen to share, I began to feel like I was a part of his world and he became a “friend in my head” to say the least. He loves, cherishes and adores his son whom we all have watched grow into a teenage boy now, he highly respects the mother of his child, and quite honestly, respects women in general, and he is very opinionated in such a positive way about relevant topics which affect the black community and beyond; you can expect to leave his page feeling very inspired..daily. I had the amazing opportunity to meet Chris not once but 4 times, and he now knows me by name and has given me the opportunity to showcase him as my first blog post of 2019, and I couldn't be happier!
The most recent, personal share from Chris, is him finding love, getting married to a beautiful and wise woman named Rye, and now they are expecting their first child together! All of this makes me so happy for him because I know he had to face some trials and tribulations which moved him to Atlanta with his love and actually helped him get to where he is today by allowing him to extend his creative juices into a more tangible brand/product, a fragrance named, Savoir Faire. The French term Savoir Faire means, instinctive knowledge of the right course of action in any circumstance,” literally meaning “to know how to do.” Although Chris has had a lifelong dream of becoming a Creative Director/ Senior Copywriter at a global Ad agency, life had other plans.
When asked what is the mission of his brand, Chris states that it is to ‘leave a legacy of emotionally intelligent creativity that impacts culture positively and provides an example of the balance between being an individual and a self-sacrificing father. Savoir Faire is a brand that caters to people of many layers, and the fragrance is just the beginning.” What makes this fragrance stand apart from the rest is the fact that it is a unisex scent that I have seen both men and women rave about via their online reviews. In fact, Chris describes it as “an olfactory statement for those with many layers for secure men and empowered women that is hand blended, bottled and boxed by Mr. Chris Classic.” I am a firm believer that if someone takes the time to put something together for someone by hand, then it is made with love, and this is what I believe each bottle of Savoir Faire represents from Chris.
Since Chris came from a musical background, I was curious to know what inspired him to create a fragrance brand, and the answer was simple; it was needed. “I want to live a life that allows people to feel like they can be themselves and still be the best man/woman for their families. I’ve always collected colognes and parfums, and I’ve always shared them on social media once that became a thing, so it got to a point where I simply wanted to create my own exclusive scent. In testing it out on people, almost all of them offered to purchase my testers, therefore I knew I had to make something for everyone.” The signs were evident for him to create his own fragrance if people were willing to buy the testers if you ask me! So once he solidified the brand, Chris began hosting pop-up events around Atlanta and in the next two years, he hopes to secure a small brick & mortar retail location in a heavy trafficked area in the ATL that you could “easily overlook until you smell it and are forced to come in.”
The “why” behind all of this for Chris is the fact that he has realized that “God gifted him with children and holds him accountable for their futures.” With that said, I am excited to support Chris by featuring him and his brand on my blog because he is definitely an audacious soul determined to succeed. Oh, and of course I will get myself a bottle of Savoir Faire, and I hope you do the same!
To find out more about Chris Classic, follow him on Instagram @mrchrisclassic, @mysavoirfaire, and Twitter @MrChrisClassic. To order his fragrance, Savoir Faire, and pre-order his new fragrance Savoir Faire Beau Noir, visit his website, www.savoirfaire.store/
Images courtesy of Google.com