A long time ago I read an interview with Donatella Versace in which she said wearing red lipstick with a red dress was bourgeois. She suggested pink lipstick instead. I get that. Red lipstick with a red dress is predictable, a hackneyed suggestion of seduction or power. Pink with red is a surprise that makes you look twice.
Sometimes, though, you don’t want to mess around with subtlety. You don’t want to play cute or artsy — you want to get to the point. A red dress with red lipstick will do just that. So will the perfume world’s version of red on red: a rose chypre. Gucci L’Arte di Gucci makes the point better than most.
L’Arte di Gucci launched in 1991. Its bottle, a glam concoction of asymmetry and gold, is a good representation of its contents. L’Arte di Gucci goes on sharp with a fanfare of green and rose, dirtied by cardamom. (Honestly, a fanfare. Don’t squirt the bottle while your honey’s still asleep, or you might wake him with the olfactory racket.) The fragrance shimmers with hints of orange, aldehydes, and cassis as it settles.
With ten minutes, dirt, leather, and the tiniest bit of rot join the rose and coriander. White musk cleans up and balances both the fruitiness of the rose and cassis and the animalic aspects of the leather and civet. A nice haze of labdanum and amber-sweetened oakmoss cushions the fragrance, giving it the blasé, worldly smell of an old-school chypre. L’Arte di Gucci has meaty sillage that quiets considerably after the first half hour. A spray lasts most of the day.
Rose chypres are often about glamour, and L’Arte di Gucci is no exception. The problem is that the glamour of a rose chypre can be a bit clichéd. Black patent leather, a dozen roses, cigarette smoke, merry widow corsets — you know the drill. Gucci under Tom Ford squeezed every last drop out of that cliché. What L’Arte di Gucci adds is 1980s moxie. Like its sister rose chypre, Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum, L’Arte di Gucci knows what’s proper but won’t apologize for breaking the rules.
Often a rose chypre can feel like the red-lipsticked, red-dressed bourgeois wife (in my mind the mistress is a tuberose like Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower) smoking cigarettes in her luxurious townhouse while she gets a pedicure, but that’s all right. She’s beautiful, to be sure, and knowing and sophisticated, and sometimes I like pretending that's who I am. Guerlain Parure, Ungaro Diva, Agent Provocateur, Les Parfums de Rosine Une Folie de Rose, and XerJoff Damarose are examples of rose chypres that, for me, give rise to this feeling.
But often it’s fun to take it a step further. Beyond the rose chypres that smell like wives who lunch expensively with friends while their husbands fool around are others, like L’Arte di Gucci, that don’t leave room for a mistress. Of course the woman who wears L’Arte di Gucci wears red lipstick, no matter the color of her dress. Did you ever doubt it?
L’Arte di Gucci is discontinued but still available online.
ahhhhh L’Arte di Gucci…..yeah, you mess with her husband and she’ll show you that fancy letter opener ain’t just for opening envelopes! L’Arte definitely has a bit of a kick-your-ass edge.
That said; I love it, even though I am the most mild mannered of ladies.
yep, good stuff. Sad to see it discontinued…
You? Mild mannered? I’m not afraid to leave you alone with a letter opener, but then again your wit is sharp enough…
shhhhhh! secret! 😉
Not for long!
Mals loves this one. I would hunt it down, but since it’s discontinued I imagine it’s best to be content with my Ungaro Diva. I’m very intrigued by the description “don’t leave room for a mistress”. I love that demanding kind of perfume, especially since being a demanding kind of woman is very much discouraged.
Paloma Picasso Mon Parfum has a similar vibe, too. (Come to think of it, wasn’t Paloma famous for her red lipstick?)
Yep, I thought of Paloma’s signature red lipstick right away.
I feel like she even sold a lipstick of her famous red at one time.
You are correct! I never tried it, but I remember the ads, and Google confirms it.
Google. The never-ending font of trivial knowledge. Thanks for looking it up!
Yep—I can’t believe Mals hasn’t shown up yet for a round of “oooooh-ahhhh, L’Arte di Gucci !” Maybe her laptop is still out being fixed.
so I’ll cover for her: “oooooooh, ahhhhh, L’Arte di Gucci!”
Ari—to me there is quite a strong connection between FM Portrait of a Lady and L’Arte di Gucci…ever sniffed Portrait? If you’d like to pm me I can send you samples of both : Daisyloo82 AT gmail dot com
They really do feel similar, although Portrait is more woody. Both power roses.
And Portrait has that oriental-ish thing in the base that I can’t stand.
I have to add that Sisley Soir de Lune reminds me a lot of L’Arte, too, though less heavy on the roses and fruit and more amped up on the moss/patch. But it instantly reminded me of L’Arte.
I’m going to have to get out my sample and give it a try!
Diva is very, very good. When I’m out of L’Arte (not likely… two beeg bottles, and I don’t apply this one lavishly), I’ll go to Diva.
Hi Mals!! you’re here! laptop fixed ?
Yes! I ordered a replacement LCD screen, and it came in the mail today, and I fixeded it Mice Elf!!
I feel your pain with the messed-up laptop (mine just died), although it sounds like you’re really clever with a computer. I can’t imagine trying to replace a screen.
those Mice Elves are pretty smart ! 🙂
Not Paloma?
NOT Paloma. I don’t like Paloma, it’s too fierce and not rosy enough for me.
It does have kind of an asphalt thing going on, but I like that about it.
“Red lipstick with a red dress is a sign of being “bourgeois?”!”
Yet another designer who divides the world into those who meets her own stylistic standards and those unworthy of her attention.
Calling some “bourgeois” because they wear red lipstick with a red dress itself is “bourgeois.”
Really, it seems like there are red lipstick people and not-red lipstick people, and those who tend to wear red lipstick wear it with just about everything, anyway.
Lots of women (Paloma Picasso, for one) consider red lipstick their signature look.
So true. I wear a fair amount of red lipstick myself.
The rules do always seem a bit arbitrary!
Thank goodness for the inevitable exceptions!
I wear red and fushia lipstick PROUDLY. It’s bold and beautiful.
I also wear L’Arte edp.
Wonderful review for a wonderful scent……
P.S. I did almost asphyxiate myself one night though by over-applying! lol
After that L’Arte is a roller-ball perfume only.
But I still adore her brashness. 😉
I wish I could get away with fuschia lipstick! It would look horrible with my coloring, but I like seeing it on others.
I often wore fuchsia lipstick in my yoof – hot pink too sometimes. And super pale pinks in even younger days.
Nice! And now? No pink anymore?
Oh, yes – pink has always suited my complexion better than other colors of lipstick. I just go for more sophisticated, soft-raspberry shades of pink rather than the ’80s intense hues.
hey, at least you didn’t douse yourself and then hop into a 110 degree car!! Cuz, baby; that’d curl your eyelashes! 🙂
OMG. L’Arte in a hot car.
lotsa l’arte in a hot car! Can you imagine? arg.
perfumyxiation: you’re doin it right!
Once again, tried to hit the “like” button for this. 🙂
It’s awesome because the colors fit my personality and really make my face *POP* I love bold scents too, they all go together I think. 😀
I agree. Add an infectious laugh, and you have the recipe for real personality.
I love bold scents but I seldom wear much lipcolor—it ends up all over my teeth! So it’s sheer tints and shiny gloss only for this girl….but yeah, load me up on bold scents!
Oh, I hate that teeth thing. I wonder how many pounds of lipstick a gal ends up eating in the course of a year?
Eeeeewwww….
Maybe they should start making it with omega-3s. You know, selling it as a healthy supplement.
omg–what a fabulous idea….you are a marketing genius!!
Let’s go into business! We can call it Oops-A-Daisy edible cosmetics, and once it’s launched we’ll start our perfume line!
I like it! 🙂
Brilliant plan!
It’s nice to see L’Arte di Gucci reviewed – it is a travesty that is it out of production. To me it symbolizes a more raw, organic beauty and passion than one that’s all dressed up. (Nahema’s my red lipped dressed-up honey rose.) But as with all “greats” L’Arte certainly transcends all boundaries. It certainly is a no-bull**^% rose that is just dazzlingly gorgeous, very confident. I am fortunate enough to have a large decant of it that I treasure. I don’t wear it nearly enough. L’Arte di Gucci keeps a safe place at the pantheon of the greatest rose fragrances ever developed. You could put L’Arte in a burlap dress and she’d still be the most gorgeous, commanding woman in a room.
But do you like it? (Joking, joking)
I like her just fine. We only exchange words when necessary as a result of our mutual and healthy respect for each other. But all my other rose fragrances get sick and tired of kowtowing to her on a regular basis.
Poor things! You’ll have to keep L’Arte up with Fracas and a couple of the other divas.
Speaking as someone who wears liberal amounts of leopard print, I think it’s safe to say I know nothing about subtlety. “Bourgeois” is not something you worry about being called, when you’ve got “trashy” or “gaudy” being flung at you. 😉
I need to try L’Arte di Gucci again. I’ve got a truckload of samples that have had to wait until I finish moving. I’ll move this one to the top of the list.
That’s hilarious! Come to think of it, “bourgeois” really is only an insult if you consider yourself bohemian or nobility. But for regular people like me, being called anything French sounding is exciting.
careful there, girlfriend. There’s some pretty bad things to be called en francais….
I always puzzled at the expression “Pardon my French,” usually directed at words of German extraction…
cuz there’s no excuse for German?
Bourgeois? Bourgeois? What’s wrong with “middle-class”?
(–quote may be by Maggie Thatcher, but still)
That’s funny! The plain truth is that “bourgeois” is simply more bourgeois.
I was trying to sneak a quick read in at work and you made me laugh out loud! 😀
Great review, Angela! I just knew that I was going to love L’Arte, but the cloying, sweet musk in the dry down just didn’t work for me. Back to Nahema!
Nahema is a worthy competitor!
I can’t imagine not wearing red lipstick when wearing a red dress, so call me “old fashioned”…
L’Arte is a glamorous fragrance (thanks, Mals for the introduction), one I find very similar to Diva – but smoother and fruitier (i.e., rich & jammy not the light & sparkly stuff) than Diva. Like Ari above, economywise, I would have to stick with Diva….
Plus, Diva goes so well with OperaFan thematically.
Indeed! 😉
Good call, Angela.
I can see the appeal of doing the unexpected and wearing fuschia lipstick with that blazing red dress… I couldn’t do it myself.
For one thing, I’m more comfortable in conventional fashion. For another, my coloring is light enough that I cannot wear fuschia at all, and I have to be careful with my reds. I’m happier in azalea pink, and I can’t do red lipstick unless it is on the warm side and sheer.
I will just have to let L’Arte, with its big Kathleen Battle pink roses, be bold for me. I do prefer to put it in a rollerball, because L’Arte can be a little shrieky and plastic if sprayed. But it is gorgeous.
A wonderful review, Angela!
You don’t need loud lipstick–you can let L’Arte do the talking!
And now I have a problem. The mail just came, and I was going to try the new Tauer Zeta… but, but, but L’Arte is calling my name, like a siren…
A tough decision! They probably wouldn’t wear well together, either.
I bought a bottle of this unsniffed based on Marina’s review; I am The Original Rose Ho ( is that bourgeois enough for ya, Donatella?) and I just knew I’d love it.
I tried. Then I tried again. I tried it one more time, then I waited a few months and tried it some more; I finally just sent the whole ghastly mess to Mals, with a warning that I was quite sure the bottle had turned, because I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to smell like that on purpose.
Apparently I am just a simple, bourgeois, peasant, entirely lacking the soul to appreciate such a gem. 😉
Honestly, I got nothin’ but horror out of it, and certainly not one iota of rose!
So there is one less person fighting y’all for it!
There’s certainly no lack of other gorgeous rose fragrances if this one doesn’t work!
Bwa-ha-ha!! And now you know the source of that backup bottle…
I love it.
Seeing this review today made me so happy, Angela. Daisy the Enabler struck again by sending me a sample a couple years ago and it was instant love as soon as I dabbed some on. I’m now the proud owner of a bottle and a half of the edp, and am nervous to be down to just that because she and I do have our torrid affairs that seem to go on for days when any other perfume won’t do.
Diva was one of my first perfume purchases in my early twenties and I’ve loved it ever since then. But L’Arte… I put that on, throw on something black and sexy, grab the MAC Ruby Woo or Malificent and feel like I could conquer the world for a little while, at least.
It is one of those perfumes that seems to be really polarizing and one that always makes Mr. Ab. Scent lean in for lengthy nuzzles when I’m wearing it.
I wore it out to dinner with some friends once and a little while later, a waitress from a different section of the restaurant came over to our table. She said she smelled me walking by and didn’t want to be nosy, but really wanted to know what I was wearing and where she could get some. I’ve had the ‘you smell really good’ in passing before, but that was the first time someone had followed me to find out what I was wearing and it’s only happened with Sweet Oriental Dream since then.
You and L’Arte were made for each other! I’ll let you know if I stumble across any other bottles. Clearly you need a healthy stockpile.
Aw. Thanks. I’d very much appreciate that. It’s one of my collection essentials that, when I contemplate running out, I need a fainting couch over the very idea. 😉 It is still absolutely confounding that it was discontinued. 🙁
What a great story and mini-review!
“meaty sillage”
So perfect!
I’m glad you appreciate it!
I ordered a sample of L’Arte after reading Marina’s review over at PST..I love my roses either dirty or spicy/woody- so really enjoyed my sample and was only recently contemplating a bottle (ebay) I need to check out Ungaro Diva and the others that you mention..
Especially since L’Arte is discontinued, it’s nice to have a few acceptable back ups.To me, Diva is less dirty and more elegant, but really nice all the same!
Ohhh, L’ Arte is one of my favorites, have the edt and edp. It’s no surprise I also loved and wore Mon Parfum and Diva way back in the day…..
L’A is commanding-I wore it to see Joan Rivers a few months back and nearly took out everyone in my section!
What a perfect perfume to wear to see Joan! She would have been very jealous.