I remember a colleague cajoling me to buy for his wife a
bottle of Aramis’ New West for Him, the next time I went to the States. This was about twelve years ago when New West was impossible to track down in England and it was chic and ironic for women to wear men’s fragrances. Which it still is, perhaps for younger womenstill experimenting with their signature smell.
I was under instruction to buy in bulk, with directions to the particular branch of Bloomingdales that carried the biggest supplies. This dedication to the cause of fragrance shows something of the passion, even ardour they can inspire, or in this case, perhaps addiction! So with this kind of frenzied, dedicated market still out there, it’s not surprising that Aramis have decided to relaunch six of their past classic aromas from the back of their fragrance cupboard.
‘Each of the Aramis fragrances has a highly distinctive personality,’ says Roja Dove, ‘and as each men’s fragrances tend to follow a few clichéd accords, each fragrance in the Aramis Collection is polarizing – love them or hate them, if you love one, nothing else will do.’ Which, I guess must have been the case for my colleague’s wife, and her New West habit.
The six relaunched classic fragrances from Aramis are, Aramis 900, Devin, J-H-L, Tuscany Per Uomo, New West for Him and Aramis Life. For Roja Dove it’s the woody note found in many of fragrances that make them so attractive and masculine, ‘this woodiness is sublimated by mossy notes. Freshness is also very important and is generally achieved by the use of citrus blends underscored by aromatic, herbal, notes,’ he says. Imagine having an amble through the New Forest with the smell of damp wood in the air, a quality particularly noticeable in Aramis 900, Devin, Tuscany Per Uomo and Aramis Life.
The quality these fragrances each have, apart from a linking masculinity, like a rock solid scrum, is their power to last on your skin. Unlike many more contemporary fragrances which seem to need to be carried in your briefcase and reapplied throughout the day, these can be splashed on just once in the morning and manage to quietly linger into evening. ‘The ingredients in these fragrances carry little volatility,’ says Dove, ‘the element which fixes a fragrance, often referred to as the base notes, are what stabilizes it and keeps it doing its job on your skin.’ Which explains with all the mossy, woody, resinous and animalic notes found in all these aromas why they tend to last. So maybe our dads did have it right back in, 1974 when Aramis 900 first launched - they must have had far better things to be getting on with than worrying about reapplying their fragrance.
All the relaunched fragrances in The Gentlemen’s Collection are £44 for a 100ml bottle. Sold exclusively at Harrods from 16th August, nationwide from 7th September 2009.
