Patou pour Homme Jean Patou 1980 Eau de Toilette

After being completely amazed at the brilliance of Patou pour Homme Prive, I decided to throw caution to the wind and bought a bottle of Patou pour Homme at the extremely inflated eBay prices...

Patou pour Homme opens with a big blast of lavender, tarragon and clary sage. Similar to Prive, the lavender in Patou pour Homme is one of the rare few that I actually enjoy. Moving to the heart notes, I get a lot of fir and vetiver, but only hints of patchouli and geranium with some of the leather from the base notes peeping through. Finally, the ever so slightly animallic base is loaded with oakmoss, coupled with a good dose of sandalwood and that leather accord I noticed earlier. Patou pour Homme has excellent strength and longevity with average sillage.

I have to admit that while I love Patou pour Homme and don't regret the blind buy one iota, I am not quite as enamored with it as I was with its sister scent released 10+ years later, Prive. I find Patou pour Homme to be more formal and less versatile of the two, kind of loosely reminding me of vintage Derby by Guerlain (not a bad thing to be sure). I am happy to have it in my collection, but would probably have just bought a large decant at today's prices if I could do it all over, spending the savings on a backup bottle of Prive. Don't shoot me, but I give Patou pour Homme an excellent 4 to 4.5 stars out of 5. Superb, just not quite "the best" to my nose, at least. Another winner from genius nose Jean Kerleo!

All the puffery that Patou Pour Homme has received in the past dozen or so years is something that only could've happened in the internet age. It's like a game of telephone, the first person says "this is great, how did I not know? I must tell all of my friends about this? By only obsessing about Aventus they don't know what they missed!" The next person: "I agree, what a STUNNER. I got to make a long-winded post about how fabulous this is." The third person, "dude, this is killer. I gotta buy up some more bottles and tell my friends about it, too." The fourth, the fifth, the fiftieth, and so on, until you have some backward-minded dullard on Youtube pontificating that this reminds them of a time when women were women, men were men, that it's "the smell of everything the world lost, neighbors looking out for one another, kids riding their bikes in the streets and alleys, people slept with their doors unlocked and windows open without fear of being robbed in small town America." By the time the next seller catches wind of the hysteria, they inflate the pricing accordingly and the feedback loop perpetuates itself.

Now a 60ml sits for sale for 1000 dollars.

You want to know something? It's not entirely unique. Oh yes, it's lovely, a joy to wear, but masterpiece status? Hmm. Jean Kerleo seemed heavily inspired by Guy Robert here. Reviewer FMilan does point out in his review that this whole sensibility can just as well be captured in Robert's Equipage for Hermes. That to me is a masterpiece of its time. My pal Vanaris Ridari on Basenotes points out that this also resembles that of the noble Arden for Men Sandalwood, which is a salient point, as PPH was Kerleo's way of introducing a style of men's fragrance that was popular a good ten to fifteen years prior to its release. This was actually reductive to what preceded it, and the house of Patou, as legendary as it was (I shed a tear) was notorious for being one step, or two steps, behind the times. There was no revolution in the release of PPH, it really didn't break any new ground, as terrific as it might be.

Fragrances I far prefer to it, besides the aforementioned: Dunhill Blend 30, Leonard Pour Homme, Monsieur Carven, Ferre for Man, Dior Jules (newer version, I kid you not).

A typical fougere from the 80s but which can't be compared to other ones from that era

Yes this is the greatest fragrance of all time!
I am happy with my 3x100ml bottles + my 10x 10ml that will last me until my ultimate day.

But if you don't like 80's fougères just turn away. You'll be disappointed and will think this perfume is overrated especially if you sold a kidney to get it

This is the only review you should read. All the rest is resentment and hate

Patou pour Homme - this little fragrance is surrounded by numerous myths - one reads about securely stored bottles in bomb-proof safes, bank vaults, hidden Aztec temples, and Americans are said to have even stockpiled barrels of leftovers in Area 51 and on the moon - hence the horrendous moon prices at which this now discontinued water is traded.

Parfumos are indecisively puzzling over whether this is the best men's fragrance of all time - the exclusivity of this rare scent certainly fuels its legendary status. Unbiased and objectively considered, the question arises - does this water live up to its iconic status? A novice in search of the truth.

This chunk was created in 1980 by the exceptional talent Jean Kerléo, who worked for Jean Patou from 1967 to 1999 and has created only a handful of men's fragrances - exactly five, including Patou pour Homme as Eau de Toilette and After Shave. In the 80s, chypre fragrances sprouted like mushrooms - Kerléo also tried his hand at it. His experiment was successful, and the result was more than just that: a contradictory oriental fougère-chypre with a transformation as versatile as only Christian Bale could achieve.

Price-wise, the perfume was positioned in the upper category of designer fragrances, comparable today to Dior or Chanel, as it was claimed that only high-quality fragrance materials were used. I couldn't find out exactly when Patou Pour Homme was discontinued.

In 2013, the house of Jean Patou, now under the direction of perfumer Thomas Fontaine, attempted a new version of the fragrance with the same name. However, the much-discussed holy grail could not be salvaged - the scent had nothing in common with the vintage blockbuster except for the name - much to the chagrin of many followers. The house explained this by stating that due to bans on various ingredients (including oak moss) by the IFRA, they could no longer create the same scent, and synthetic alternatives did not achieve the same result. Therefore, even today, disciples of the church of olfactism pray in Patou pour Homme-soaked robes during mysterious ceremonies under bright moonlight to the fragrance gods that a messiah will reveal their salvation in the form of an identically smelling twin.

Sage, lavender, basil, black pepper, tarragon, pimento seeds, patchouli, vetiver, geranium, fir, cedar, leather, civet, vanilla, tonka bean, sandalwood, labdanum - these are the fragrance notes according to common internet forums for this olfactory fireworks display. Anyone who hasn't fainted while reading these 17 ingredients is certainly not expecting a concrete breakdown from a Parfumo novice. That would be like Rocky Balboa explaining quantum mechanics - entertaining and amusing, but neither he nor anyone else understands anything.

Of course, I will try to describe my impressions. The scent starts powerfully herbaceous and dust-dry; I would even claim: smoky. Citrus fruits were probably not known back then, or they are drowned in the dust-dry and dark wood. After that, a lot of spice unfolds, continuously embraced by rough leather. At times, the scent struck me as slightly soapy - only to switch back in the next moment. Throughout, the scent is very warm and even becomes slightly sweet as it fades - an intimate, dark yet warming and familiar aura is ever-present. Overall, a finely tuned men's fragrance with many facets: green, woody, spicy, leathery, sweet, and possibly smoky. The fact that I can't pinpoint a specific note speaks either to the complex genius of this water or my clumsy nose - you decide.

An example from everyday life to illustrate my admiration for this scent: when I, as a layperson, hear Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," Chopin's "Nocturnes," or Strauss's "Also sprach Zarathustra" - I am amazed by what is revealed to me audibly. Music that transcends time - created from joy, sorrow, and hope. What exactly happens there, I cannot explain. An expert in the field could certainly analytically break down the pieces and explain the magic. However, one thing is common to both the layperson and the connoisseur: both are completely fascinated.

My conclusion: The exclusivity and nostalgia of many followers of this little water may consciously or latently fuel the distribution of top ratings. Leaving aside the iconicization and legendary status, one gets a versatile and top-notch men's fragrance with powerhouse character. For me, it is not the holy grail, but it certainly has a place in the ether of the best men's fragrances of all time.

I’m now grabbing my robe soaked in Patou pour Homme and praying under bright moonlight to the fragrance gods - and you?

Suitable music: Camille Saint-Saëns - Danse Macabre

The Wild Years of Monsieur Patou

We are in the 1980s.
As part of the environmental movement, green parties are being founded all over Europe, such as "Die Grünen" in Germany, which would enter the German Bundestag in 1983 with 5.6 percent of the votes and 27 representatives. If Nena hadn't sung the song "99 Luftballons" in 1983, the First Gulf War (starting in 1980) between Iran and Iraq, as well as the Falklands War (April 2 - June 20, 1982), might have been avoided. On October 1, 1982, Helmut Kohl became the German Chancellor (and would remain so for a few more years). Thanks to Mikhail Gorbachev, who became General Secretary of the CPSU in 1985, our vocabulary expanded with terms like "Perestroika" and "Glasnost." In 1987, the population was counted, and that same year we eagerly followed the so-called "Barschel Affair." Until 1989, when the fall of the Berlin Wall captivated us. A year earlier, Bundestag President Philipp Jenninger had demonstrated his excellent rhetorical skills and had to resign - probably rightly so. This resignation didn't bother us much, as we had already been introduced to the IBM PC (Personal Computer) in 1981. We were also gifted with a home computer: The Commodore 64 (1982) and the Apple Macintosh (1984) brightened our lives from then on. Computer games and gaming consoles were also gaining popularity. One of the first popular consoles was, for example, the Atari 2600 (available in Europe since 1980).
For the first time, we could leave our telephone messages on an answering machine, an ancestor of our current "mailbox." Only the microwave oven from back then still goes by the same name today. While we didn't know DVDs yet, we already had video recorders with the essential VHS tapes, which we used to record "Wetten, dass," "Die Schwarzwaldklinik," or "Miami Vice." Private television emerged. On the radio, we listened to "Saga" and of course Falco's "Jeanny." The latter only for as long as some broadcasting stations refused to play the song. "Modern Talking" couldn't prevent a red-haired tennis player from Leimen from frequently diving after the white felt balls on the green grass of Wimbledon. Long before he would then express his strengths in another "sport" in dark broom closets.

Possibly not a child of Boris Becker but a child of this era is "Patou Pour Homme" by Jean Patou from 1980.
It starts spicy and - as is fitting for a fragrance from this time - with a proper bang: Basil, sage, and lavender are part of the mix. Not as intense as the extremely complex top note of the "Antaeus" (Chanel) released a year later, but: It has something. In my opinion, it completely lacks the slightly citrus element (bergamot?) compared to the "Bel Ami" by Hermès created in 1986, although sage also prominently stands out in the top note there (before "Bel Ami" then transitions into a wonderfully smoky leather creation). Even the lavender, which appears so classically in some fragrances, is almost a troublemaker here. Well, as it should be for a child of this time: Not the English distinguished lord, but the tough guy with carrot jeans, shoulder pads, and streaked (permanently waved) hair.
The whole thing becomes a bit calmer, a bit more dignified, and also a bit rounder in the heart note: A sweet-earthy patchouli contributes to this, preparing the ground for a few little trees. They are spicy-green fir trees that now proudly throne on the earthy patchouli. No, this is not going to be a "Kneipp's" healing bath. Of course not! The heart note of this beautiful fragrance is rather a dreamy oasis of calm in the midst of a lightly citrus-herb (vetiver) tinged fir forest with slightly damp earth (patchouli). One almost wants to settle down and enjoy this unique moment and this unique atmosphere. You can do that, as the wearer of this fragrance has plenty of the long-lasting and very pleasing heart note.
In the base, our earthy fir forest fades out slightly leathery-sweet. A cool smooth leather, sweetened with a hint of vanilla.

My conclusion:
"Patou Pour Homme" is already at first glance "a child of its time." Not without reason can this fragrance be mentioned in the same breath as the olfactory masterpieces "Antaeus" (Chanel 1981) and "Bel Ami" (Hermès 1986). After a -typical for fragrances of this time- intense start (among other things) with sage, "Patou Pour Homme" becomes calmer and deeper, only to beautifully fade out leathery-sweet. While some may be bothered by the "soapy" base caused by castoreum in Chanel's "Antaeus," I can hardly imagine anyone taking issue with the base of "Patou Pour Homme." A masterpiece of its time. However, I prefer the other two mentioned just a little bit more.