It’s cheap to make, so accountants love it. It’s easy, so creatives love it. Kenzo’s Pour Homme, loaded with methylbenzodioxepinone to add a fake sea-breeze smell, is permanently atop the bestseller list in France, grinding out cash. Yves Saint Laurent’s Homme is found at Bloomingdale’s on Lexington, Creed’s Acier Aluminium is found at Bergdorf’s on Fifth, and Derek Jeter Driven is found at Walgreen’s everywhere. They all smell exactly the same.
— Chandler Burr in the New York Times, writing about Chanel's Allure Homme Sport.
Reads like this article is written for Kevin (see his recent Hugo Boss review).
Yep
It's so true! Dx
Thanks for posting this; i'd been meaning to look up Burr after you'd mentioned him in a resonding comment awhile back.
Also, to save room, I tried… Paestrom (sp?) Rose again. The sour note I'd encountered fades after two or three hours and then I smell what you and many others got: the lovely, dark, spiced rose for which I'd been hoping. It's not worth waiting out the buttermilk accord and bottles of it aren't cheap, but I do like it's dry down. I still doubt I'll use the sample, but I thought you'd like to know. =3
Interesting. I wouldn't wait through a 2-3 hour sour note either; why bother when there are so many other wonderful things to buy?
Great article. I like that he mentions a “pure art” fume from Chanel – No. 22, along with the commercial perfume from Chanel. It makes it more balanced and seems less like an attack (like his one star review of the Chloe fragrance earlier this year – where I felt like the Chloe people would be majorly PO'd for being singled out while doing what many other houses are doing).
Hmmm. But isn't part of the point that Chanel can afford (or even needs) to do a commercial perfume so that they can afford to keep the classic stuff on the market? Whereas Chloe has no such excuse?
I'll admit I throroughly enjoyed the sample of Allure Homme Sport I picked up last summer. I need to try some again, but it's something I wouldn't mind having 30ml of. I also wouldn't be above downloading a couple of Britney Spears' first singles, just for fun.
There's a lot worse out there. I'll never lament when it's discontinued, but Burr should get over himself and someone should tell him that, yes, in fact, Allure Homme Sport IS perfume. That review was interesting up to a point, but the last paragraph was pure pompous hyperbole.
As pompous as some perfumers who think there are pure artists in everything they do? Burr isn't talking about the functional aspect of a “perfume”–he is against people to try to elevate themselves from what they set out to achieve. If you read all the PR material created for the launch of Allure Homme Sport you'll see what Burr meant.
Joe, I have to admit I've never even smelled AHS. But have to say Burr's evaluation isn't altogether different from Kevin's.