Loewe pour Homme Loewe 1992 Eau de Toilette

There are days when I really don’t feel like ambiguity, unisex, or - to use a modern term - ‘gender-bending’. On those days, I want to smell like a man, straightforward, unpretentious, and simply: clear. To scent like a man. Not to smell and certainly not to stink, no: to scent!

No sugary sweet gourmand fragrance helps me satisfy this need, nor an ozonically fresh shower gel aroma, none of the popular iris compositions today, and certainly no dry-mineral scent concept. What is referred to as masculine perfume nowadays is mostly - compared to truly masculine scents from past eras - a rather lukewarm affair, often limited to giving the wearer an aura of freshness and dynamism, perhaps with a slight twist towards the fashionable - the act of scenting as part of the ubiquitous ‘style and fashion’ mainstream, no longer an expression of style and taste.

No, my understanding of how a man should smell, when he truly wants to be a man - with chest hair, facial hair, and other hair - is different, and I have to go quite far back to find a scent that corresponds to this - my - understanding.
For there were masculine scents!

Some ventured quite far, exploring what was still acceptable, even taking a small step beyond pleasantness. Jules, Yatagan, and Kouros are perhaps the most famous examples of such tightrope walks - while they were already borderline during their time of creation, they were appreciated for their frivolous-erotic vibes; today they are universally considered unbearable, as evidenced by the countless and reliably recurring comparisons to toilet stones and men’s urinals.

But there were also others, those who did not expose themselves so much, who did not come with half-open flies and shirts unbuttoned to the navel, yet were unmistakably ‘man’ - so to speak, well-groomed machismo scents.
And these existed in my childhood and youth - mainly in the 70s, some even in the late 60s. Mostly extraordinarily herbaceous and pronounced fougères like Lancôme’s Balafre or Rochas Pour Monsieur, novel aromatic fougères like Paco Rabanne pour Homme and Azzaro pour Homme, daring, genre-defying creations like Equipage or Givenchy Gentleman, and original, imaginative chypres like Halston Z-14 (woody), Devin (green), and Loewe para Hombre (fresh). In terms of masculine perfume, the 70s (followed by the 80s) were perhaps the most creative, certainly the most innovative decade.

Loewe para Hombre (or pour Homme, as it is called today) was launched in 1974 as the first fragrance from the Spanish leather goods manufacturer - a classic chypre, following in the footsteps of Chanel’s legendary Pour Monsieur, with aromatic components: a fresh, citrus-herbaceous start with bergamot, petitgrain, lemon, lavender, and rosemary, followed by basil, sage, and geranium in the heart, as well as vetiver, sandalwood, a hint of musk, a touch of tonka, a lot of moss, and even more patchouli in the base.
The fragrance was composed by Marcel Carles, who also created the legendary Aqua Brava for Antonio Puig, and whose father was the famous and exceptionally influential Jean Carles, the founder of the ‘École de Parfumerie de Roure’ in Grasse.

Marcel Carles seems to have borrowed the basic structure from Chanel’s creation (or from Monsieur de Givenchy), removed all the powdery and silky woven elements - along with the verbena - to then add half a herb garden, as well as a considerable amount of the patchouli that was so popular in the 70s.
What emerged is a herbal-bitter, Mediterranean chypre, with excellent longevity, good substance, and projection, which - in my opinion - fits wonderfully with its country: Spain, and the proud, sometimes somewhat excessive torero machismo of its hombres (in contrast to the cultivated, finely built Parisian monsieur...).
It starts fresh, almost bitter-metallic, increasingly developing towards spicy-aromatic and revealing a surprisingly warm depth in the drydown, which lasts a very long time, yet is far from today’s plush-ambered bases - rather slim and straightforward, than broad and diffusely flowing.

The aromatic nature of this fragrance, as well as the aromatic quality of scents like Azzaro pour Homme or Paco Rabanne pour Homme, may seem old-fashioned to many today, conservative and reserved for older, established gentlemen. But it is exactly this that I like about it and why I prefer it over retro scents like Rive-Gauche pour Homme and Gucci pour Homme - an upright and authentic Spaniard, with the inevitable 70s mustache and dense chest fur; no slender youth in retro style, with an epilated chest.

Whenever I crave an extra breeze of herb-masculine, paired with sanguine temperament - Loewe’s para Hombre is guaranteed to be in the running. Hardly sprayed, it seems to greet me with a sunny disposition and rough warmth: ¿Ola, qué tal?