Homme Eau de Parfum

Two materials, and a very deliberate pairing: Kenzo Homme Eau de Parfum sets leather against bamboo and leaves it at that.

Leather is the dominant one. It is the smooth, polished sort rather than the tarry, smoky sort, which means it reads expensive and slightly austere instead of aggressive, and it is the reason the fragrance has a formal quality to it. Bamboo is the opposite in every way: green, watery, stemmy and cool, with a faintly vegetal sharpness, and it is what stops the leather becoming heavy. The contrast between a dry hide and a wet stem is the whole composition.

Short note rows like this one are honest about what they are. There is no arc, no third act and nothing to discover at hour four. What you get is one clear accord that softens gradually and sits closer to the skin as the day goes on, which for a daily fragrance is often preferable to something that keeps changing its mind.

At eau de parfum strength it lasts well, seven hours or more, with real presence in the first hour and a close wear afterwards. It reads masculine, it is comfortable in cold weather and perfectly usable in warm, and it suits work, evenings and formal occasions better than a hot afternoon outdoors. Quentin Bisch composed it, and the release is dated 2022. One spray on a collar will outlast two on skin.

LVMH owns this French house and keeps its perfume arm in its own column, so Kenzo fragrance is created within the group rather than under licence elsewhere. The label was opened in Paris in 1970 by Kenzo Takada, a Japanese designer, and the scents its owner names first are Flower by Kenzo, Icon and Absolute Icon.