Lavender Extrême Tom Ford 2019

I have written often and much about my long-standing - mostly and still benevolent, sometimes critical, but always enduring - allegiance to the (perfume) brand Tom Ford. The first time I stood in front of one of his Private Blends cabinets - still new and therefore exciting as a production in the 2000s - my interest in and desire for perfumes began. Azure Lime was the first perfume for which I invested the sum of around 200 euros, which at the time was still just under this amount but still seemed enormous to me. I still have this bottle, by the way, and it is still in perfect condition.

Developing brands (perfume or otherwise) is not easy, however, and it takes innovation and commercial skill - and a good pinch of luck - to keep a brand at the top for decades. And I fear and suspect that the Tom Ford brand has gradually passed its zenith. His acclaimed film debut 'A Single man' and Gywneth Paltrow's legendary white Oscar gown - both peaks of his fame - are long gone, the sunglasses are still on his coffee table book on Instagram on lacquer Ikea tables and are now worn with Michael Kors bags. Sounds pretty over all, doesn't it?

And yet there is still something there, its brand DNA is not yet lost - even in the newer Estee Lauder fragrances. There have been (and still are) aberrations - all with raunchy allusions, most with 'Soleil' in the name - but this one, Lavender Extrême, still knows and uses the olfactory vocabulary of the 'old' Fords. It uses a Tobacco Vanilla - one of his, if not THE crowd pleaser - not dissimilar base and puts a capricious lavender on top that is modern and sexy - and without any connotation of Danish cookie mix on plauen lace, which is definitely a risk with lavender.

Lavender Extrême has everything its critics never liked about private blends. The loud, over-processed, the very American, the slightly ordinary - like a hostess in a mink coat smiling as she poses next to a sports coupé with Svarowski rims. But he has and does it all again with the aplomb of the early years - with Lavender Palm there was a similar lavender scent back then that nobody remembers - he turns the bass up to the max once more. It's exciting, almost spectacular - if you want and can stand exciting and spectacular in the Fordian manner.

Conclusion: once again Tom. Once again good.