And then there’s the Marc Jacobs–besuited hipster lawyer—odd man out not just in this bar, but in this neighborhood—who informs us he wears Dior Homme and the ultraniche, super-expensive Frédéric Malle Iris Poudre. “I tend to like the male equivalent of a powdery aldehyde,” he informs us. Righto.
Let’s be honest: It’s a little off-putting when a man’s fragrance lexicon is that developed.
— From Elle magazine, where they think men should wear fragrance, they just shouldn't be too well-informed on the subject. Read more at Men's Fragrance: Colognes to Suit Every Style.
I do find it quite amusing that Elle called Frederic Malle “super-expensive.” I remember when they were promoting grunge t-shirts (ripped, dirtied t-shirts) for $350 each (everyone needs one). And this was years ago. Yes, FM is expensive. But it shouldn’t be a problem for the reader base that bought several of those “grunge” t-shirts.
LOL — good point!
This article bugs me. The caption for the article claims men would benefit from a “good cologne” but doesn’t want men to possess the “lexicon” or knowledge to find something “good” beyond Burberry (any), Play, Le Male, etc.
This tells me two things:
1) Elle (or at least the writer) may have no idea what a good perfume is.
2) We are led to believe that men should come by good taste without information (unless from GQ) and any kind of deeper knowledge of how to get good taste, or rather what makes good taste (knowledge), is un-sexy and un-manly.
And, I’m all for a man not only wearing Iris Poudre, but to know why he likes wearing it in the first place!
So sick of hearing from men “fruity,” “good,” “old lady,” etc. A stronger fragrance-lexicon amond the average man might be nice!
It’s pretty darned sexist. If a men’s magazine said it was off-putting that a woman knew something about say, sports, I’m guessing women readers would be quite offended.
I feel like it insults both genders, really. We’re supposed to be put off by a man who knows so much about such a “frivolous” subject- so what does it say about us ladies, who are expected to be well-versed in such traditionally feminine topics?
Ari – I second your stance!
Me, too. This smacks of that weirdly sexist ‘slap’ I always infer when I hear ‘metrosexual’. It’s as if there are only two types of men allowed:
manly men (like El O) who wouldn’t know a scent if it slapped him and
‘twee’ men who might happen to know a thing or two about perfume…
oh, wait. you do get to wear a bespoke suit, I guess. You just shouldn’t know too much about it, lest your ‘masculinity’ be suspect.
boring. And I’m disappointed in Elle for buying into that.
xo
I’m considering buying an Iris fragrance, possibly Iris Poudre. How much “power Aldehyde” is there in it?
Sample first, Dilana. The Perfumed Court probably has several good “Iris Sampler Packs.” I’m an Iris lover and IP isn’t my favorite.
what. joe. said.
if IP proves too much for you, also sample Le Labo’s Iris 39. Totally different take on iris and for some, like me, a bit easier to manage.
xo
But then again I don’t care much for Iris or powder and I like it. So, yes, sample.
I found it VERY aldehydic. Didn’t care for it, though I do like some iris and some powder.
Joe is right, it’s always prudent to sample (not to mention how much fun it can be). I haven’t tried Iris Poudre, but this past summer I wore DK Iris and loved it, you might want to give it a sniff.
Are you kidding??? He’s in a suit, he’s gainfully employed, he’s wearing a great fragrance and he knows what an aldehyde is. He’s my freaking dream man. If most women are put off by his fragrance expertise – fantastic. More for me.
I’ve given up on magazine writing about fragrance. Even if the author turns in something halfway informative, it gets edited to bits, and mostly only the insipid bits (as reported to me by friends who’ve actually DONE magazine writing about fragrance). These days I just scan the articles and cross my fingers that they don’t recommend something *I* wear.
A dream man, indeed. You made me laugh, thanks!
Disappointed but not surprised that the piece focuses not on fragrance itself but on what’s desirable (or undesirable) in a man’s attitude towards fragrance, which is an odd and seemingly pointless subtopic in the “Don’t you wish men were more like this?” genre of magazine pieces — which seem odd and pointless to me generally.
Can I say how depressing it is to read and love NST while knowing that someone got PAID by ELLE to write that drivel?
Hear, hear.
Absolutely agree! I imagine it is largely the passion for fragrance that it lacking in most magazine articles – if you don’t have it money us going to find it whereas if you have the passion you find an outlet and kindred souls. Hurrah for NST!
Holy typos! Money ISN’T going to find it.
Men should look and smell pretty, and not be too smart? My, how the tides have turned 😉
I for one want to be this guy’s best friend!
HA! Love it.
I come up against this one a lot, and not just in that kind of situation, but whenever I may, in passing, mention I’m interested in scent. Lots of strange, slightly concerned looks and/or questions about homosexuality coming my way. People are totally missing the point.
There’s a lot of homophobia and sexism in there, for sure. Ignorance is exhausting sometimes.
No credit for a magazine that puts Allure Homme Sport as one of the top 5 male fragrances
Chanel? allure homme sport
I like it! I got my dad it for his birthday either last year or the year before? I think it was last year?
but I know what you mean.
If GQ stated that women shouldn’t know anything about cars except how to look ‘hot’ in the passenger seat, the editors would be eviscerated!
Exactly – either case seems pretty patronizing.
Oy! The article as a whole has even more cringe-inducing stereotypes. Football players don’t wear anything but Right Guard, because women will swoon over them no matter what; Europeans use cologne instead of soap; bankers (a term which the article presumes includes only men) assume a woman with a French accent who wears perfume must be a hooker; women only attend Yankee games to look for men (or, in this article to smell them); hip “boy band” musicians are sexy when they can tell you what scent they are wearing but a lawyer (again, a term which is presumed to refer to men only) at the same club is a wanna be whose knowledge is “off putting.”
The description of the Yankee game referred to the women smelling some well -scented Aussie tourists while Yankee captain Derek Jeter* was at bat. Given that the gender stereotyping in the article dated from the last century, I was surprised that the article did not report an at bat by Joe Di Magio
Maybe someday Elle’s understanding of men and women and their place in the world and fashion will catch up to at least the year 1978.
* Actually, even that reference may be dated since Jeter’s Yankee contract expired before this December issue was published. (At least this woman goes to baseball games to watch baseball,).
Haha! I’m glad you slogged through the whole article, Dilana! Just the excerpt was enough for me!
yes, what a disappointing article, they should have asked Robin and us ( just imagine what we could have put together)!
The one highlight is of course the IP-wearing gentleman, hope he is or will be a part of the big nst-family 🙂
I read a report (I think in Yesterday’s times) that the magazine industry is going on an aggressive ad campaign to show that people (esp. young people) still read magazines. The campaign will specifically attack the notion that advertisers should assume the internet is the only relevant source of information today.
Yet I find amateur or semi-amateur blogs (and even some amateur U-Tube videos) much more informative on fashion (including fragrance) than the major fashion magazines. Take for example, this stupid Elle article. Since Elle is a fashion and beauty magazine, it should be able to knowledgeably cover fragrances, even if it hasn’t figured out the majority of young attorneys, and a great many bankers are women. (And, it actually should know that women have entered these fields because women professionals could be an audience for Elle, if it did not publish articles insulting them).
I suspect the writer was tasked with suggesting fragrances for men while mentioning Elle’s advertisers, particularly Frederick Malle, who even had created a fragrance in honer of Elle’s anniversary. Yet what did the writer do? The writer insulted just about anyone who could have conceivably been interested in the subject matter; insulted the image of a guy wearing Frederick Malle in particular, and provided little actual information on what various fragrances smell like. The article even implied imply that all American men (i.e., men who want to be like jocks) stick to Right Guard . Ultimately, the article would discourage a woman seeking to buy a scent for a man for Xmas from doing so.
Actually Im quite jealous that they seem to be able to smell out specific perfumes: fuel for life, play etc. I feel good when I just register a ‘nice’ smell on a person walking past. And, gosh, I’v done a lot of conscientious sniffing!
I take off points for their inclusion of Allure Homme Sport on the list…yikes. I take off more points for their exclusion of any true classics – Eau Sauvage (Christian Dior) or the original Armani Pour Homme. I reluctantly give a few points for their inclusion of Hermes Eau d’Orange Vert – which IS a great fragrance. Not sure what to make of the Old Spice inclusion…unresolved grandady issues, maybe?
I love all your comments.
The idea-send pretty lady into bars to sniff guys-is brilliant and should have produced a really fun article. Instead we got the adolescent viewpoint.
The idea is so good, in fact, that NST could run it as a monthly series, but expanded to other venues-concerts, the library, the mall, whatever. You get the SOTD from people who weren’t necessarily going to post about it on line. You’re brave enough, right? You’re better journalists than those giggly things.
I agree it’s off-putting. ALMOST as off-putting as any of these remarks one can find manning a fragrance table at Insert_Your_Specialty_Store_Of_Choice here:
“Dude, Sean John’s the shit, man…..”
“Whazzat? Aka Dee Gee-oh?” (Bonus points if this is the Sales Associate’s pronunciation.)
“I dunno – smells nice, I guess? She buys all my clothes and whatever, so I don’t care.”
“I saw something in a flyer or online? Do you have that one?”
“I want something that doesn’t smell sweet or like the woods or spicy or like the ocean?”
I’ll gladly spend my time imbibing sites like these and reading Luca Turin until my pores literally exude aldehydes by themselves by comparison.
Thanks for the great laugh! Yes, as a SA I hear this nonsense all day from the mouth-breathers who approach me – most of them are my managers.
Oh, and their Top Five Should be:
– L’instant by Guerlain (instead of Old Spice)
– Eau Sauvage by Dior (instead of Hermes)
– L’eau D’Hiver by Malle (instead of Acqua di Everybody)
– Bleu by Chanel (instead of Allure)
– and I’ll let ’em keep Issey because it’s delicious.
Yeah, it’s offputting because it’s sorta… GAY… wink, wink.
Let’s face it, it’s not merely sexist, it’s barely thinly veiled homophobia, comme d’habitude.
Totally, Joe.
But it’s also ‘phobic on all other levels, too. This writer has a ‘place’ assigned for everyone – and if you are not In Your Place it is a Bad Thing.
And this is why I no longer read Elle. It’s silly.
And I thought we were snobs.
Fashion magazines are in the consumer business. This guy is the Dream Consumer. Suited, scented and employed.
Hahaha!
Yes guys, it IS sexist, I fully agree. But I got a laugh out of this one.
I think what they’re REALLY saying is that it’s a little offputting if a man actually SAID that, out of the blue or otherwise (for some reason I can picture Tom Ford saying it)
If this weird ‘hipster’ was asked what he was wearing and he just said ‘Dior Homme’ or ‘Iris Poudre’, it would be fine. But if he verbalised “super niche” or “ultra expensive” – or the worst part – “I tend to like the male equivalent of a powdery aldehyde” – then of course it would sound ridiculous! Even to a perfumista it would probably sound ridiculous.
Even if a woman said it, it would sound ridiculous! It’s just one of those comments that’s instantly recognisable as silly-sounding. It would make anyone sound like a self-conscious ponce.
Except the comment was not out of the blue, in the story, the women are asking all men what they are wearing and why.
For the record, I can not imagine an attorney wearing a “power aldehyde” or high silage scent. The last thing an attorney wants to do is cause an allergic reaction in a judge, juror or client.
Haha! Robin, I love the double entendre of your post title. I find this quote a little off-putting indeed!
ultraniche superexpensive… this sounds funny. I then am very snob since I have Iris Poudre at home?
I hate women’s magazines.
And men’s, now that I think about it.