They want something that lasts, and if they get comments about it, that becomes one of ‘their’ fragrances. Men tend to stick to the fragrances they pick up in their youth.
You can tell the age of a man by the fragrances he uses.
— Michael Edwards (author of Perfume Legends), quoted in The minefield of manly smells in The Age.
5 Comments
Read more about commenting at Now Smell This.
I wonder if that's like men and barbers – same theory. My father was a great scent experimenter but at the end of the day his first preference was for variations on eau-de-colognes and citrus/herbals like Imperiale, Du Coq, Crown Eau de Russe, Agua de Lavanda, etc – he classified those as his 'everyday' scents. He did like amber, sandalwood and leather very much though and also wore Creed Orange Spice, Knize 10 and Cuiron. He passed away recently and my only regret is that I didn't get him hooked on Serge Lutens – I think he would have adored scents like Ambre Sultan, Arabie, Chergui and Cuir Mauresque.
From my experience that is not true. “Men wear what they wore in their youth”. If it were the vast majprity of American men in their 50's and above would all be wearing Brut, Aqua Velva and Skin Bracer. Instead they are wearing, all sorts of interesting thngs, and are quite open to new things. Particularly unisex scents and scents that have a slightly floral palette. Not to mention custom scents. I think that overall they (the older men) have a more refined taste, and are less likely to go for the flavor of the day department store fare.
Regards, Zz
I would add the age comment is slightly ridiculous. I'm sure there aer plenty of young men out there wearing classics like Vetiver, and a lot of fathers wearing stuff picked out by their kids that they are buying because they like it, not necessarily because it fits dad's age profile according to a marketer.
Condolences on the loss of your father, sounds like he had great tastes in fragrance and was way more experimental than the men ME is talking about. So glad to hear of someone else who loved Eau de Russe!
It actually sounds a lot like what marketers think of women: only young women buy new fragrances, therefore, everything new gets geared towards the younger age cohorts.