Tuxedo (1979)
by Long Lost Perfume (orig. by Ralph Lauren)

Received Tuxedo as a gift from the wonderful Chaya, who is a sorceress when it comes to finding scents that "work" on me. I agree with Lefay that while Tuxedo may be classified as an oriental somewhere, to me it is a glorious and rich chypre. Dark, deep green, wet woods and spice with flowers at the back. Just fantastic.

Why did it have to go. I loved Tuxedo. It was dressy, classy, sultry, and sweet. Bring it back. Bring it back!

Tuxedo reminds me of cotton candy and soft leather. Pretty, sweet and sexy. A random image but thats what I think of. It's very sexy and mysterious at the same time. I loved it. It seemed to have a very short time on the shelves before Ralph Lauren pulled it off the shelves and made everybody who bought it cry! A beautiful black bottle like ralph's classic brown.. but ebony shiny black and a tiny ralph emblem in red. Gorgeous scent. Once applied it was almost overwhelmingly sweet.. but then it would settle down and give off a warm clean scent. I would love to see the original brought back. I have bought what was guaranteed to be the original from a company online, however when I applied it, it didn't have the same warm notes of sweet cleanliness that the original had. I also noticed it was more alcohol like in smell than the original was. The original by ralph had the actual perfume oils .. I would love to see this scent brought back. I would also love to see the after bath powder and perfume body lotion and bubble bath in a beautiful black linen tote with a little red ralph emblem embroidered. What d'ya say, Ralph?
-Thimble

Tvlampboy says it best - this fragrance was truly born too late. Yes, it would have been right at home alongside the likes of Tabac Blond, Bellodgia, etc. I feel lucky to have fallen upon this old RL sample vial...leather sweetened with the softness of silken rose petals, spiced and grounded by wood. Slightly resinous, but so polite! What a shame it's not part of the RL brand anylonger.

This review is for RL version; I hope it is close to LL's. This is a very rich, classic/vintage smelling perfume. I did not know this was for women on smelling it at first. From the name, I thought it was a men's fragrance, but that would be better on a woman. Now I know why. This scent is mainly a leather scent for me. It is decorated with tobacco flower and other repressed florals may accompany it. But to me it is really a smooth buttery leather scent. Actually if it were leather, it would have to be a thin sheet of leather dyed black on one side with golden sueded split leather back. The blackness comes from a whisp of fennel or licorice amid the vegetal/spicy notes. It dries down quickly to slightly sweet animalic almost dairy/butter smell, a buttermilk note almost. I will seek out the Long Lost version, as all I have of the original is a smidge in an old sample vial.

Should have been put out in the Twenties or Thirties, not the Eighties. Great stuff, but more along the lines of Bellodgia and Tabac Blond and Habanita than almost anything introduced a mere twenty-odd years ago.

In short, I can see why this was discontinued in that it was (and I mean this in the best way) behind its time.