August 24, 2007

The Knize Ten by Knize {Perfume Review & Musings/Part II} {Fragrances of Paris}

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After our previous excursus into some of the historic background of Knize Ten by Knize we now come to our impressions of the scent in part II of the review.

Knize Ten may have have had you expectant that it would hold the door for you and show off its perfectly pressed creases on its gray pearl pants while giving off "just the proper hint of Gentleman's Knize Ten cologne" as Patricia Soliman writes in Coco, The Novel, yet it suddenly morphs into a rococo, baroque form, a whirling ball gown under which some mirror-like shiny leather patent shoes peak and it suddenly is less Knize Ten and more Bal à Versailles created much later in 1962. The kinship is uncanny. It is that same treatment of the mosses and animalic odor di femina. But it could not have happened in the order we presented it to you. So what did take place? Little by little as the perfume unfolds, another familiar dancer appears that reveals yet another layer of historicity peeling back. Knize Ten becomes more clearly suffused with the golden light and round fruity peachy and plummy accents of Mitsouko by Guerlain introduced in 1919. This is a moving moment because Knize Ten now smells more like the ancient Mitsouko than the current Mitsouko itself. It has preserved this old gilded opulence and sillage of old Europe and sense of ideal Parisian elegance that have receded from Mitsouko.......

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August 23, 2007

The Knize Ten or 10 by Knize (1924) {Perfume Review & Musings Part I} {Men's Cologne} {Fragrances of Paris}

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Knize Ten by Knize (pronounced "Kniesche") comes preceded by an aura of legend within certain circles as being one of the best leather colognes in the world, whose reputation has endured to this day and very rightly so. In some ways, it is the leather equivalent of Borsari Violetta Di Parma where violet perfumes are concerned both being confidentially, yet deeply appreciated by connoisseurs. Even more so than that, it is judged by some as simply one of the very best men's perfumes; it was in fact voted best masculine fragrance by The Best of The Best in 1989 and in 1999 it was listed (somewhere) amongst the 100 best fragrances to date. Knize Ten has enough character, complexity, yet also relaxed and comforting feel about it to become a signature perfume. That one fragrance that could not but be Knize Ten if you had to choose just one "eau de toilette" to bring with you to a desert island as writer Hans Habe once wrote, because then what would have mattered would not have been to love a beautiful woman but to strengthen one's spirit.......

 

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Adolf Loos in the Knize store in Paris in 1927

Continue reading "The Knize Ten or 10 by Knize (1924) {Perfume Review & Musings Part I} {Men's Cologne} {Fragrances of Paris}" »

July 21, 2007

Rue du Petit Musc, Quid? {Scented Thoughts} {Fragrances of Paris}

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The other day, I posted a picture of a street in Paris, located in the IVth arrondissement, which is called "Rue du Petit Musc"(literally reading as "street of the little musk"), thinking that I should double-check its meaning and learn more about the history of that street. I have found a couple of books which will offer more complete information, but for right now I was already able to determine that the word "musc" here does not make reference to "musk", but to a history of illicit pleasures in the city......

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