Discontinued? Officially, it seems. But Rochas' 1990 or possibly 1991 men's scent Globe is one of those fragrances that crops up on eBay or in online discount stores every once in a while. Either there's a lot of stock still out there somewhere or it's being produced secretly - how exciting.
Like many discontinued scents, it appears to be achieving some kind of near-mythical status as a lost, beloved, trailblazing men's fragrance - a dangerous floral leather that was way ahead of its time. Negative reviews on Basenotes are scarce and the forums urge you to snap it up if you spot some.
Which I did.
It's currently available at one of my favourite online discounters, Cheapsmells and in a 'one weekend only' sale just a couple of weeks ago, it was going for a ridiculously low price. Unfortunately, the bottle delivered was not the Limited Edition metal flacon that they pictured but, hey, they've since rectified that and I was just glad to own this 'lost classic'. And I like it. It's not a Holy Grail scent - it's not even a five star composition - but it's very good, original, well-made and it develops handsomely over time as a fine scent should.
But the mystery is further compounded by the perfumer to whom the fragrance is attributed. Variously, sources assign it to Nicolas Mamounas and the real emperor of scent, Jean Claude Ellena himself. In fact, JCE bashers use it as a prime example of how the revered minimalist used to be capable of more complex and successful compositions. Chandler Burr says it's Ellena's work in 'The Perfect Scent' but Basenotes says it's Mamounas'.
So, is it really discontinued? Is it being produced in tantalisingly small quantities by international fragrance counterfeiters who then sell it on the cheap? And who created it in the first place, Mamounas or Ellena?
With a little more poking about I'm sure I could find some concrete answers. But it's a niggling rather than a genuinely worrying mystery so I'll just remain relatively pleased that I now own a bottle, even if it's not the metal edition, and one day I'll probably stumble across the truth.
[By ANDREW]
No comments:
Post a Comment