Duftstick is a fan of vintages, and I owe him some of my experience with this class of perfumes. Personally, I do not want to commit myself to vintages so much. Every time has its great fragrances, but of course, there are gems to discover.
Phileas by Nina Ricci really is a fragrance of the past – one of the kind that can hardly be found nowadays. It cannot easily be described with so many notes in the pyramid. I would regard Phileas as a neighbor to the vintage Trussardi Uomo – and so it is a variant of a leather chypre. Especially in the head notes the reminiscence of that well known Italian is evident.
Actually, Phileas is not a beautiful fragrance. Close to the skin, the smell is sharp and rather unpleasant. Phileas is ignorant for today’s habit of smelling perfume directly on the spot where it was applied. This macho does not have in mind his own pleasure; he is up to something else. With his strong sillage, Phileas marks his precinct and tells everybody he’s there. This justifies a big cloud of fume!
The attitude Phileas expresses is quite clever: the fragrant cloud contains lots of soapy musk – as much as is needed to pretend that its wearer has just stepped out of the shower. This could be quite boring, if not the rest of all the spicy, leathery and other notes connived to let Phileas look anything but neat and clean.
Look at me, Phileas seems to tell us, of course I am concerned about body hygiene – but no matter how long I extend my showers – my male glands will immediately start producing that really butch smell again! - Hm, this attitude may have worked out well several decades ago but I am really glad these times are over.
Without any doubt, Phileas is brilliant since it hits this macho attitude right on the spot. But I think it was already outdated when released in 1984. The perfume industry has never been good in keeping up pace with the changes in our western societies.
An open shirt revealing lots of greyish chest hair, and a moustache – will that ever come back again?
"[N]o matter how long I extend my showers – my male glands will immediately start producing that really butch smell again!" Wonderfully descriptive and very funny. Great review, Apicius!
PBullFriend 12 years ago