K de Krizia (1981)
by Krizia

Ahhh, 1981 must have been a fabulous year for fragrance! I remember walking through the The Bay on my lunch hour, newly arrived in Calgary with student loans, a car loan, a moving loan and completely unable to buy my beloved K de Krizia or my absolute favorite Must de Cartier, so broke and so in love with these beauties that I had to settle for spraying them on as I passed wistfully by the fragrance counter. Both had lovely, rich, mellow animalic drydowns (in my memory). Now that I can afford them, I can't find K de Krizia and apparently Must has been butchered, but I may still spring for the pure parfum as I've read it's still most representative of the original. If you can find K de Krizia and you love a lovely chypre with a hint of the animal, do try it.

2nd July, 2011.

My Auntie Marie made a perfumista out of me at an early age. Marie worked the fragrance counter at a large Chicago department store. When she came to visit she would bring a suitcase loaded down with bottles of perfume for my mother and myself. I so looked forward to her coming to stay.
On one very memorable visit she brought me a bottle of K de Krizia. I had never smelled anything like it before. I didn't know anything of perfume classifications and of course didn't have any idea I had just fallen in love with a chypre. But that started me on a life long obsession.
Thank you, Auntie Marie!

28th May, 2011.

Recently I embarked on a Great White Hunt for a fragrance that would suit my mother, who is in her mid 50s, and forever lamenting the discontinuation of the original Fendi. It was an odd journey, as I seemed to forget altogether what my mother actually liked about Fendi - its bitter, dry, leathery, butch qualities, so of the '80s, powerful and unique. I dawdled around, poking at supposed masterpieces like Arpège, Tommy Girl, Beyond Paradise, L'Air du Temps, and Fleur de The Rose Bulgare. Eventually, the folly of it dawned on me, and I knew I had to get technical, not tacky. I had to relocate the classic chypre that Foetidus so aptly names. I needed something that is all aldehydic on top, with dark civet and styrax and unsweetened roses. Something that could start with an utterly dessicated citrus and white floral explosion that smoothly transitions, like a lipstick chameleon, into a smoky mystery. A fragrance so in line with Fendi that one could view it as the scent that inspired the House of Fendi to create their ephemeral "Donna". I needed a serious, classy, and age-appropriate masterpiece.

I needed K de Krizia.

9th December, 2010.

This is a grand and glamorous rose-centered floral chypre scent that could easily have been crass and overbearing, but isn’t, thanks largely to well-calculated structural balance and ingredients that smell of quality. Smelling K de Krizia, I’m reminded both of such floral chypre classics as 1000 and Acqua di Parma Profumo, and of the recent ambitious rose scents from Amouage (Lyric Woman) and Andy Tauer (Une Rose Chyprée). K de Krizia is less fruity-lactonic to my nose than the Patou and Acqua di Parma classics, and lacks the incense that distinguishes Lyric Woman and Une Rose Chyprée. This leaves it both drier and in some ways more transparent than any of these others.

I find this scent especially appealing in its drydown, which showcases bracingly bitter moss, smoky leather, and the merest dab of animalic warmth. Longevity is more than adequate for me at perhaps six hours, and the scent projects well but does not overwhelm the wearer. Once past the more aggressively floral top notes, I find a light application of K de Krizia fairly comfortable to wear as a man, and wonder that it doesn’t receive more attention. For crying out loud, it’s even a bargain!

11th December, 2009.

Quentin Tarrantino has a fetishistic fascination with buxom beauties in black and white men's suits. Like the conniving yet vulnerable 'Jackie Brown', played by Pam Grier. Or the dangerous-as-hell and sadistic, yet sensual assassin played brilliantly by Daryl Hannah in 'Kill Bill Volume 2'.

What makes this archetype so incredibly sexy is that she chooses to don menswear to convey her toughness to the world, and you'd better believe it; she's tough as HELL.
But it surprisingly has the rather disarming effect of feminizing her even more, rather than making her masculine...
Because she is SO incredibly beautiful, So *ridiculously* dimorphically opposed to manliness!
(That suit jacket just won't button up!) And as dangerous as she is, you gotta love her.

She has a scent to 'go along with', I have concluded.
It is 'K' by Krizia:

Calculating,
In-your-face,
Unscrupulous,
Mythically beautiful,
"Too-cool-for-school",
and
Inexorably, undeniably, sexually
Female.

2nd November, 2009.

K de Krizia EDT is Classic Chypre with two Capital Cs. In a sense, it’s hard to beat these massively noted mega-component creations that dominated the ‘80s – I’ve never smelled one that I didn’t like. To me, the civet, styrax, moss, and leather of the base dominate K de Krizia by establishing that super smooth, very dry, warm, suedish chypre background for the total run of the scent. The amber is there but not dominant, and I don’t smell the vanilla. At the top, I can’t separate out the peach note that is supposed to be in there, but there is a tiny bit of a non floral sweetness there. The florals of the top and middle are strongly present, but do not overcome the denser, darker notes of the base. With the florals, also, I can’t separate out individual notes, but rather sense them as amassed, smooth, non-flowery texture. I do not necessarily consider this fragrance feminine in itself except that its type is so indicative of an ‘80s feminine floral chypre, so I guess I should call it feminine. It’s a fragrance that doesn’t really call attention to itself except for its pleasantness and softness. Not exciting, but it speaks subconsciously. With heavy application, it speaks volumes. It’s a scent that I don’t think I would ever tire of.

25th December, 2007.