Derby (1985)
by Guerlain

Quite happy with this classic! I get a little bit of vetiver, some floral here and there, and a hint of leather as it goes on. However at the same time it's also clean and soapy somehow.

Took me a while to find it but I'm glad I found a split on this forum so I could add it to the collection.

Astonishingly beautiful. It's great throughout the day ... soapy, very mild, sophisticated. I get vanilla, sweetness, soap, all mild. Very well crafted. After a few hours, I could smell slight leather. There's extreme austerity in this. What surprises me is how modern it smells too. It is quite an amazing, well crafted fragrance. Very much to,like here. Guerlain has a masterpiece here. I bought the reissued version and love it. It smells very expensive and classy. Very pleasant.

While this isn't my style, I can smell the quality. Spicy Chypre with lots of oakmoss, this is a barbershop fragrance. I can imagine Getty, Rockafeller, or Morgan wearing this back in the roaring 20's.

I own a sample of the Derby Reissue.

Upon initial sniffing, I get a strong impression of rosemary - this must be the combination of peppermint, mace, and pimento playing tricks on my nostrils. Very pleasant and clean smelling. Almost refreshing. Upon drydown, the scent becomes slightly sweeter, more musky, and slightly powdery, like a high quality soap. The moss comes out to play a bit more, ending on a somber note. It DOES make me think of men in vintage suits and derby hats! However, I do agree with the other reviewers about it being unisex, though I feel it is a bit dry for a woman and more appropriate as a work scent for men.

I'm three hours into sampling vintage Derby, and it's nice, and it gets nicer as it dries and develops. This could be a scent where I learn to love the top because the base that follows is so nice, but my first impression is that the smell of the top notes, or one dominant note or accord, that reminds me of Christmas, Christmas shopping in a nice department store, and/or cloves, is not my necessarily a smell I would be looking for in a fragrance.

It reminds me of cloves, which is a smell I like ok, but don't love; but I like the smell more as part of this fragrance.