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Bandit Robert Piguet 1944 Parfum

Version from 1944

8.0 / 10 215 Ratings

A popular perfume by Robert Piguet for women, released in 1944. The scent is leathery-chypre. The longevity is above-average. The production was apparently discontinued.
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Main accords

Leathery

Chypre

Spicy

Animal

Floral

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aldehydes

Tarragon

Bergamot

Galbanum

Gardenia

Neroli

Orange

Ylang-ylang

Heart Notes

Carnation

Jasmine

Rose

Violet

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Leather

Civet

Musk

Myrrh

Patchouli

Amber

Coconut

Vetiver

Perfumer

Germaine Cellier

Ratings

Scent

8.0215 Ratings

Longevity

8.5148 Ratings

Sillage

7.9130 Ratings

Bottle

7.7132 Ratings

Value for money

8.112 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 09/25/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Bandit Eau de Toilette

Cabochard (1959) Parfum

Le Sillage Blanc

Jolie Madame Eau de Toilette

Black Velvet

Fetish Parfum

Reviews

39 in-depth fragrance descriptions

01/16/2013

10Scent 10Longevity 10Sillage

EvaK
31 Reviews

EvaK

Top Review 13

The voice of an era

The no-nonsense square black bottle already gives a good hint of what's inside. Don't expect a celestial fantasy garden with little fairies and teddy bears jumping around. Bandit is not like that, it's more the mood of a rainy street in a black and white movie.

The fact that it was released during WW2 absolutely makes sense. Think about the fashion of the era. Wide-shouldered suit jackets, strict lines, what we now call business-style. The shortness of cloth meant that clothes had fit tighter. The pencil skirt was born. All in all more masculine. (Dior's "New Look" wasn't born until after the war, when frivolous use of cloth again was a possibility).
This was also the time when large numbers of women went out and did "a man's job" like never before. Heavy metal industry, truck driving, anything.

Bandit fits in perfectly here with its heavy leather. Fits the lifestyle of women, fits the look of the movie stars too. Actresses looked rather vampy and dramatic during that time, not "cute".

I get the leather straight out from the second I spray, though it's not supposed to be in the opening. Quite masculine, but all the flowers tone down the aggresiveness.
As it settles,it mellows up very much with a distinct sweetness perfectly balanced with the leather. At the last stage the animalic notes adds sensuality and seductiveness - and a sort of understated femme fatale mood.

Bandit is a masterpiece. Depicts an era perfectly, but not by any means dated. (I don't know what "dated" means in perfumery anyway). This type of perfume is so unusual these days, which makes it a real statement fragrance. A beauty.

05/17/2013

Silverfire
134 Reviews

Silverfire

Very helpful Review 8

It Must Be Devastating / Almost Heartbreaking

In the pipette, Bandit smells like a good wine (thanks DiginDirt), and on my skin it transforms from that to something green and herbal to a funky soap smell within a few moments. After it settles into its lair, Bandit smells like a musky, alcohol-y, faintly rotting substance. I can see some man in leather and furs in a secret cave somewhere, discarded bits of food from previous meals littering the close space. It's odd how the musk has an herbal or greenish component to it. Still, this feels a bit restrained, as though the alcohol vibe was that of a nice flagon of wine, albeit one stolen.

Thus far it's not bad, but on a woman, it must be devastating. It would probably be the scent a tall redhead would wear, with flowing locks and an ankle-length dress; it would compel the attention of men throughout the room, yet say "Look all you want, but do not draw near unless I approach you." There is something of a raw feminine sensuality here, and that makes it compelling, but deep down, I know that I could never wear it. It's almost heartbreaking, for this is the scent of woman I desire but have never managed to compel and probably cannot.

After two hours or so, the leather comes out and joins with the wine note (it's more like a champagne note), and while still feminine, it finally becomes what I would call "masculine-leaning". I wonder if there are adelyhides in the wine note. It lasts five hours, and no more than that. The silage isn't much, either -- a foot at most.

I can glimpse something of the legend of this fragrance, and I can see how it's masculine-leaning. However, it's only masculine-leaning like the way a femme fatale is; she's adopted the clothes or some traits of a man, but she's all woman.

03/28/2012

8Scent 7.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Sherapop
1240 Reviews

Sherapop

Top Review 4

Leather-Whip Chypre

Robert Piguet BANDIT opens as a heavy leather fragrance. It's really almost stifling, even sparingly applied. After a few minutes, the dark and strong leather-myrrh amalgamate begins to subside and the composition becomes somewhat more feminine, though in something of a stealth-bomber way. "Bandit" seems to me to be a very apt name indeed, for this is the scent of a woman who steals the hearts of men, a bona fide femme fatale.

I initially did not understand how BANDIT could be considered a chypre as opposed to a leather fragrance. I mean, if this isn't leather, what in the world is???? The key here is that the drydown does eventually, after breaking through a nexus of leather whips, exhibit a chypre quality.

BANDIT is a very appealing creation, which I might add to my collection, as I like it even more than CABOCHARD or CUIR de LANCOME. My only concern is that I don't actually wear leather perfumes that often, as they strike me as inappropriate for most (certainly diurnal!) contexts.

07/24/2012

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Helpful Review 7

stunning opening

It’s often said that Bandit is a love it or hate it fragrance, with the implication that greatness is divisive. Well I’m smack in the middle of the road with this icon. Bandit makes me wonder, even though I’m an enormous fan of both leathers and green chypres, if there’s something particlar to its construction that neutralizes the defining elements of the two genres on which it's based. There are other leather chypres that appeal to me: No 19 EDP, Aramis, Heely’s Cuir Pleine Fleur, Rabanne’s La Nuit, possibly even Cuir de Lancome and Scherrer de Scherrer (questionable that they’re both leather chypres or, respectively a floral leather and a green chypre.)

After the first sweeping minutes of Bandit, the chypre and the leather seem to cancel each other out and Bandit isn’t as vehement as either a strong green chypre or a nice, rough leather. The basenotes are dry but calm and feel more woody than anything else. Not particularly bitter, not smoky.

Bandit doesn’t entirely satisfy either my chypre or leather urges. I reach for other green chypres, leathers, and even more satisfying leather chypres like Azurée far more often.

03/01/2015

ColinM
516 Reviews

ColinM

Helpful Review 5

Current vs. Vintage...

The current version of Bandit by Piguet smells something *like* its vintage version, which means a classic aldehydated-leathery chypre, with “humid” and heavy floral notes on a gloomy base of leather, woods, civet, galbanum, patchouli, benzoin, and the usual green-floral breeze: shortly, a feminine "femme fatale" scent like Habanita or Cabochard (which means men can easily wear them as well, as such scents now became more masculine than the masculine ones). But as for (new) Habanita and (new) Cabochard, this current reissue has not the slightest resemblance in terms of quality with its predecessor. It is plain, artificial, inoffensive to all extents: the notes are apparently more or less the same, but their texture, their substance is remarkably different. The new Bandit completely lacks in all the smoky, dark, raw animalicness of the vintage versions, its organic dark shadiness, and the thick richness of each note. And obviously, civet and oak moss are just pale echoes in today's version. The smell “seems” somehow similar, so in a way it may be considered kind of decent as they did not apparently reformulate it that much; they just tamed down what had to be tamed down due to regulations and changes in customers' taste. Comparing Bandit today to its vintage ancestors feels like watching a mediocre photograph of a scene, and be where it has been shot – you miss all the palpable “living” feel. Plain and weak, simply put. No evolution of the notes also, they all just become drier and more rubbery. It’s not a disaster, but as much costly as it may appear, if you truly *like* perfumes go for the vintage.

5,5-6/10 (current)
9/10 (vintage)

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