Chaos (1996)
by Donna Karan

I was expecting to love this one because of the many approving reviews and the several references to Black Cashmere, which is one of three fragrances of which I own more than one bottle (just in case…). But… love for Chaos didn’t happen… neither did “like.” On my skin Chaos is radically different from BC, it is also radically different from its performance on paper or cloth, and the differences do not extend in a good direction for me.

With the reissued Chaos on my skin, the opening reminds me of the spicy, resinous Black Cashmere for all of three seconds, but then, where BC stays incency, woody, spicy, and resinous, Chaos loses the resinousness and goes dry-fruity with a dull spice in the mixture. I’m not particularly impressed by this version of dry fruits – it’s almost a heretical parody of the dried fruit accord that I find so appealing in Arabie. I find this accord a turn-off, and it seems to stay on with the fragrance for way too long of time. The soft, dry, and indistinct musky / woody drydown comes off as unimpressive as the opening and heart of Chaos. Unlike BC, Chaos doesn’t have strong sillage off my skin and it has poor longevity.

On paper I get a completely different fragrance. The opening is effervescent with more than a hint of a pleasant boozy rum note: That didn’t happen on my skin, and it’s actually quite a delightful accord. The paper Chaos settles down to a soft, translucent abstract and sophisticated fruity middle which holds for a longer time than I was expecting… finally to finish off on a very nice and very light dry musk / sandalwood accord. There is an extremely soft resinous background to the entire run of the fragrance. Neither on the paper nor on my skin does Chaos remind me of Black Cashmere.

I am continually impressed by the differences in performance of fragrances on paper and on the skin: Chaos is an excellent fragrance that just doesn’t like my skin chemistry.

I just pulled out my untried samples and Chaos is among them. This is a very exotic woods (padukwood & agarwood) and exotic spice (saffron, coriander, chamomile, cardamon) scent that leaves me a little cold. I don't smell the amber and I smell just a bit of the clove. I can understand why this has reached cult status because it is unusual and complex. For me, it is not beautiful, elegant, compelling or fun...things that make me want to buy a particular perfume. I understand that it, along with some other discontinued Donna Karan fragrances, will be (maybe already is) reissued.

Chaos is a warm, fruity, spicy oriental with prominent notes of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom at its center. There’s something medicinal in there, too: myrrh, perhaps? Or maybe the agarwood (oudh) that’s listed in the scent pyramid? For all of its apparent depth, Chaos is a very sheer and luminous scent. Could this be because there’s very little that I’d call floral in the structure? Instead Chaos is bound together by prune-like dried fruit accord and a syrupy, though light, amber.

Perfume critic Luca Turin is right in comparing Chaos to Sheldrake/Lutens compositions (Arabie comes to mind), but this is a more buoyant and transparent scent than its cousins in the Serge Lutens line. It becomes intensely sweet in the drydown, with a strong suggestion of fruitcake alongside a dusty sandalwood and some very soft and mildly animalic musk. There’s plenty of sillage to be had from Chaos, and it projects well away from the body. The scent lingers for hours as well. If the idea of a sweet, fruity oriental appeals to you, but you find today’s ubiquitous fruity feminines too crude and the Serge Lutens orientals series too ponderous, Chaos may be your fragrance. (This review applies to the 2008 reissue.)

...Like camphor (must be the Agarwood note), "Dr. Pepper" soda, plum and pine. "Chaos" opens as a spiced cherry, followed by ebonized woods, to resolve as a dusty syrup with a hint of solar musk. It's fizzy, fuzzy and busy, with a medicinal burst that fools the nose into thinking it's smelling a cosmic supernova. If Vivienne Westood's "Anglomania" had a torrid affair with Thierry Mugler's "Alien", "Chaos" would be the fruit of their labor. It's exciting, intoxicating, outrageous---and a total delight.

The vintage classic that is Chaos is simply a stunning piece of work and surely ranks as Donna Karan's finest. I'm in awe.

Fruity, booze spicy fragrance with medicinal tinge. I smell dried plums and berries, rum, saffron, clove and oud. Its kind of fizzy in nature, and I certainly can see the connection in smell also to some soft drinks; perhaps thick and sticky cherry cola would be closest. And yes, that Arabian fruit-spice cake vibe gives it an obvious, almost semi-gourmand nature.
People has been telling about camomile and incense on this one, and to be honest I don’t get these tones out of this at all.

Imagining that this came out already in 1996 I must say this was definitely some kind of a groundbreaker. Right in this minute I can’t think of anything particularly similar that was released before this. For sure now this one has been “copied” a several times, and so its not that unique anymore. I mean, even without that re-launch it would be easy for people to get reasonably good substitutes, although I know that these “substitutes” very rarely satisfies at all.

Although not naturally identical by any means, the first three scents that came to my mind were CdG`s Sequoia, Escada`s Magnetism for Men and Dinner by Bobo. And it must tell something about complex nature of Chaos, that these three fragrances don’t resemble each other but just a smidgeon at most.