Reviews of Derby (1985)
by Guerlain

I have enjoyed Derby for over a year and only now do I feel I know it well enough to write a review. I'm glad I waited, because had I written a review after buying the bottle I may have been tempted to describe it simply as leather chypre with a distinct mint note in the top/mid. After all, that's what it is.... but it's much more.

While Derby is a product of the 80s and competed in the marketplace with 80s masculines - and while it has the 80s powerhouse characteristics of strong sillage and bold masculinity - Derby is absolutely NOT an 80s fragrance. Rather, Derby owes it's heritage to the classic leather chypres and feminine leathers of the 40s-70s. Lanvin Scandal, Cuir de Lancome, Miss Dior, and most of all Diorling are much more closely related to Derby then its fougere 80s contemporaries. In fact Derby may be THE definitive leather chypre, regardless of gender designation, and the ultimate expression of the genre. I can't think of any such leather chypres after Derby that took the accord any farther.

It's not surprising the Jean-Paul Guerlain would be aware of these fragrances or trained in the classical school that created them. What Guerlain did with Derby is take the basic leather chypre structure and crank up the leather and add a strong mint note. At first the mint was very, very distinct to me and I could not ignore it. Over countless samplings and wearing I was able to enjoy the mint as a cohesive part of the whole composition, a feature that added twang and depth to the fragrance. The distinct mint in the topnotes gives way to a floral heart and eventually a mossy/woody base, all the while the distinct leather chypre structure never giving way. Derby is classy to the extreme, formal, and uniquely masculine without ever reaching into the macho territory of the 80s powerhouses. Derby is James Bond in a tux while the typical 80s powerhouse is a guy with long hair driving a Camaro.

I read someone recently call Derby an old-man fragrance. I disagree - Derby is a fragrance of confidence. It will come off as overbearing and overly strong to someone new to fragrance, and I suggest sampling chypres and vintages to put Derby into context. I also suggest giving Derby many samplings because it does not reveal itself right away - it's simply too dense to be understood and appreciated after a couple experiences. In the year since I first purchased a bottle it's gone from something I liked, to one of my favorite masculines, to what I believe to be in the top-10 fragrances of all time. It's that special.

A comment on vintage vs. current (Les Parisiennes) formula. The re-issue is very faithful to the original but more muted, as though the volume has been turned down 20%. This formula may be best for those who find the original too loud. I've obsessively sought out vintage bottles and probably will always continue to buy them when presented with the opportunity. I'm not sure how Derby will fair if the upcoming rules take away its oakmoss.

Derby is a very wearable minty leather scent. However, while I can respect it for what it is, it reeks too much of the ‘80s for comfort. Average sillage and longevity but its charms are simply lost on me.

I was very interested to try this – I know it has many fans. I find that there is much to appreciate here. Ultimately the leather/patchouli combo isn’t quite my cup of tea.
I find that this has three distinct phases. Also worth mentioning is that the fragrance note elements are quite clear and distinguishable from each other. The first phase is the opening, which is bracingly spicy and green. It is big, aromatic, and pleasing. In particular the artemesia has a vibrant and powerful presence. The second phase is that of peppery spice, with some florals given a dark and earthy tone. This too is well done. The last phase is true to the scent’s 1980’s origin: a big ol’ tangy-brown chord of leather and patchouli. The patchouli really hangs in there, and takes on a kind of salty, minty character.
So, this is classed as a leathery chypre, but I think that a case can be made that it is a leathery oriental (given the spices and patchouli). Well crafted, and worth checking out if you like this sort of thing.

Sometimes great expectation precedes great disappointment. And Derby, one of the great Guerlain does not disappoint. Not one bit. From a vintage vial (strange, the box read copyright 1983 but Derby was only launched two years later?), Derby is honestly one of the greatest leather chrypre scent that I have the pleasure to smell. I really, really love this classic and shall guard my 2ml vial with my life.

This is the fragrance I've been looking for for years, and the first of so many to get a positive response from my immortal beloved. I've had decants for several months, and finally got 2 bottles (gorgeous bee bottles with atomizers) today (3/09) from Saks. Derby is elegant, though easy to wear. Refined and complicated, though never pretentious. My journey ends today. for now.

Guerlain Derby

It's nice to know that even the big houses can screw up sometimes. There is no bigger house than Guerlain and their inability to market a scent as good as Derby makes one wonder who was responsible for the marketing and whether they've made a better effort in their new post as head of Axe Body Spray marketing. Derby was created in 1985, pulled from the market in 1988, them sold only in Paris, then discontinued due to issues with ingredients, reformulated, but only re-issued in Paris and a few stores and now reportedly discontinued again. To date, I've only worn the reformulated version and that is what this review covers. The inspiration for Derby was said to be the remains of a Roman amphitheatre in Tunisia that Jean-Paul Guerlain was touring. If he was inspired to create a grand, classic scent by the sight of this edifice, he succeeded. The top of this is a delightful and refreshing mix of peppermint, bergamot, and lemon. This is a scented version of the cooling taste of peppermint but translated into an olfactory accord. It is unique and makes the use of mint in a scent like Cartier Roadster seem clumsy by comparison. The top soon gives way to a heart of pepper and florals mainly jasmine with a subtle amount of rose thrown in. All of this is applied with a gentle hand and kept in exquisite balance. If the word floral usually makes you flinch when talking about a masculine scent I think this never reaches the level that this in any way feels feminine. As much as I like what has come before the base of this is a masterpiece of balance. All of the components of many men's colognes are present but they are exquisitely combined to make one realize what the sum of the parts can really equal. Leather leads the charge and holds the center. It is soon followed by vetiver, then patchouli, then oakmoss and finally sandalwood. Each of these notes seems to present itself and then blend into the whole making the drydown into a constantly evolving expereience. This is an amazing cologne. In my opinion this is the best Guerlain masculine in the line. If I had to have only one Guerlain this would be the one.

I own the re-issue version.I find Derby a Supremely elegant and wearable scent

I believe what I have is a vintage version of Derby. To me, it is a nice, well-behaved, and refined leather/suede fragrance. It is incredibly long-lasting - as I write this, it's been 14 hours since application this morning and I can still pick up hints of its soft, suede goodness - but it is a quiet, reserved scent all the way through. In the few times that I've worn Derby, it is never loud, brash, or even particularly bold, but it *is* a fragrance that would be likened to a quietly confident gentleman with a friendly smile, but never truly chummy and always maintaining a proper bit of social distance from others. When I first tried Derby, I had expected something stronger and more prominently leather, but each time I wear it I find that it grows on me just a little bit more. I still am not wow'd by Derby, but I do enjoy it. I wouldn't consider it worth the price that it commands, but I have to say that if I'm going for suede, this is a much, much nicer experience than Daim Blond which to me has barely any suede and is altogether too fruity and sweet to be considered a nice leather (it'd be a nice gourmand to me, though). Derby has a notable sweetness to it, and speaks softly and feels suitably light for a leather, but it is quality all the way through - smooth and refined with impressive endurance, I have to say this is a solid, high-quality fragrance that I enjoy. Unfortunately, I just can't consider it at the top of any list I could come up with.

Reviewing the re-issue. Pretty good leather. I smell more minty citrus than leather. A nice modified leather chypre with a heavier patchouli note than usual. If it didn't have the name Guerlain, I'd swear it was any other un-of-the-mill leather chypre from the 80's.

Derby has been and will always be one of my favorites. It is a classy leather-chypre like no other. Subtle, maculine, and sexy. I was able to purchase it at Saks and Bergdorf's but now it is impossible to find in the USA. I wish they would relaunch it in the States. Whenever I wore Derby people would always ask me...."what cologne are you wearing?" "It smells great!" YES, it is very pleasing to the "senses".

I have only smelled that reissue version, and for sure it`s a nice fragrance, although I was perhaps expecting even something more magical.
Balsamic, smoky leather in the vein of Knize Ten, vintage Cuir de Russie (Chanel), Cuir Mauresque etc.

Very deep and mysterious, long lasting and quite satisfying experience. However, not worth the insane price tag, at least not to me.

This is the finest masculine leather I own. I wonder if it will ever be reintroduced here in the States. It is so well constructed that the development is seamless. It is so seamless in fact that it easy to perceive it as a linear scent. This is for me the perfect leather chyphre. Elegant, sophisticated and extremely wearable.

This is a scent that definitely speaks of a specific time and place. The time is about 7 o'clock of a Sunday morning in early summer. The place is outside the back door of Yates's Wine Lodge in central Nottingham. Maybe there's a Yates's in the centre of Derby as well?

I have a decant of the original Derby, and I was lucky enough to buy a bottle of the reformulation on a recent visit to Paris. The new version is a touch brighter and lighter, as you might expect. For me, surprisingly, this is an improvement. I always loved Derby, but found it hard to wear in it's original version. I've been wearing the new version regularly, even in the heat of summer. A brilliant, scent - both utterly complex and seamlessly smooth, like a great wine. Along with New York, Azzaro PH and the original formulation of Vetiver, one of my all-time favorite masculines.

This is right up there with Cuir de Russie and all the other great leather scents. This one is definitely in the masculine mode, very straightforward, yet seamlessly constructed so that it hangs together as a unity. To the delighted nose, this could be a novel single note and hardly seems like anything constructed. The words for this are natural and unselfconscious. A benchmark masculine leather-chypre.

When a scent is as universally praised as Derby, the obvious question is always “Could it really be that good?” In this case my answer is a resounding “You bet your backside it is!”

Inside an hour’s acquaintance Derby arced into the lofty orbit of my esteem that's shared by Patou pour Homme and Knize Ten. Derby is a paragon among leather scents, and it may well be the most interesting Guerlain fragrance I’ve tried since Jicky and Mitsouko. With its barely revealed hints of civet and animalic musk (castoreum?), Derby is a sleek, well groomed animal in a custom tailored suit. It’s a very sophisticated scent, but it’s no less a power hitter than the more raucous Kouros and Yatagan. If Derby were a man, he’d be suave, cultured, and dignified, but he’d also really know his way around the bedroom.

Along with power and complexity, another of Derby’s outstanding features is its blending. The accords are so seamless that I can’t determine where one ends and the next begins. Derby evolves through several fascinating stages on the skin, but the transitions are so smooth and gradual as to be undetectable. Derby is no scent for little boys (of any age). You must be self-assured, worldly, and well seasoned by life’s vicissitudes to carry this scent off convincingly. You won’t smell “like an old man” if you’re not qualified. You’ll just smell like you’re trying too hard.

Still one of my faves from Guerlain, although it seems like the re-issued limited edition versions has been tweaked.

Jean Paul Guerlain envisioned this perfume when he was standing in front of the grand Roman amphitheatre of El Djem in Tunesia. And surely this delicately fougèrish, yet leathery and spicy chypre evokes images of cool, tuxedo-clad colonial masters in hot Arabic surroundings. It's known to be one of the most well balanced leather-chypres for men, and its spiciness equals that of L'Heure Bleue both in terms of strength, quality and emotional effect. Launched in 1985, it was abandoned after some years on the market, but then taken up again as part of 'Les Parisiennes' collection, exclusively sold in the Paris-store. Sadly, also this edition has been discontinued because of health regulations against certain ingredients. Its original bottle is referred to as 'the eagle bottle' because of the inspiration from an eagle's outspread wings seen from above or below. The stopper imitates the eagle's head shape, giving the whole bottle an aggressive yet noble air, perfectly in tune with the scent and its motto: 'Barbare et très civilisé'.

Family: woody, spicy, leather. Top notes: bergamot, lemon, artemisia, peppermint. Middle notes: pimento, rose, pepper, mace, jasmin. Base notes: leather, vetiver, sandal, patchouli, moss.

My two cents' worth of dissent… As a lover of vintage chypres, I earnestly tried to develop a fully-fledged affair with Derby (both original and reformulated), but failed miserably. To my unsophisticated nose with a predisposition to full-bodied, manly, sensual and user-friendly chypres, Derby is rather thin and effeminate while also uninvitingly detached and indifferent to the wearer and others at best or smug at worst (given the name, it could easily make a great piece of tongue-in-cheek social commentary). I find the moss, leather and vetiver promised in the basenotes just barely perceptible, with Guerlain's signature vaguely floral / distantly sweet accord proudly floating above and muffling all other notes there are until the very end. Elegant and refined, no doubt, but hardly an outstanding men's chypre by my standards.

Citrus, dry lichen and wood, bitter oakmoss, rubbery leather and an animal lurking underneath. I like the animal. The notes feel a little plasticky, or rather rubbery, but a great scent nonetheless.

A honeymoon in Paris.
Me, "pre-BN", but still interested in fragrances, see the Guerlain Flagship store on the Champs-Elysees, and I was introduced to Derby. I bought it on the spot, despite the price.
This is, for me, my most formal fragrance of all. More than Heritage, Bois du Portugal, Dunhill 1934 and other I own.
The reason for this is that, while others have a hint of warmth, swetness or sexiness, Derby is bone dry, to steal a wine term. Possibly the only one which comes close in terms of "seriousness" is Vintage Tabarome.
A bone dry composition of mint and herbs which gives way to florals and moss. The overall effect, to my experience, is of a very expensive soap, and I feel clean in a very distinguished, but not necessarily "fresh" way. The sillage and longevity are impressive. I don't often get to wear Derby because of its formality, but when I do, I feel like I have balls of steel.

Wearing Derby by Guerlain is to fragrance what a ride aboard an Aston Martin on a Scottish road is to driving : you certainly will not do that everyday, but once you have tried it, you know there is nothing beyond it. The road is rocky at first, and it takes a few minutes before you get used to it, but once you start getting comfortable, it just gets better and better. Derby is the only true male "perfume" in my opinion : it exudes serene luxury and utmost refinement in an exclusive, distinctive and obvious sort of way... Stunning.

"Dirty" is the first word that comes to mind when I first apply Derby. It's dirty in a couple ways. First, it's dirty as in dusty. There's a chaotic stew of notes in the opening that certainly would be off-putting to someone who didn't wait long enough for what was to come. Two images come to mind when I sniff this opening. One is of dust, swirling and billowing, as at a horse-race track. The other is of the chaotic noise of all the instruments tuning and practicing before the start of an orchestral performance.

The other reviewers have made significant note of the peppermint, and rightfully so. It is the mint that seems to marshall this mess into a coherent whole. The mint stays throughout, it adds organization and vibrancy to the whole composition. To my nose, it is almost like a conductor, pulling things together, which is the exact opposite role of what I would expect mint to play. Typically I think of mint as being like ginger, adding a zing or a zest, a little sizzle on top, but here, it seems like it is the note that holds together and smooths out the chaos of the other notes. It is this use of peppermint here that made me realize how artfully one component can be used.

As Derby dries, it gets smoother and more subtle, a near-perfect blend of moss, woods, and animalic notes. It is refined without being at all stuffy; gentlemanly but still edgy; a classy rebel and brawler. I wish I could find a bottle or two of this!

Pure class. No more need be said.

Vintage Derby is a wonderful classic chypre. There is a very strong civet note at first while moving into the citrus and aromatic opening. The citrus is smooth and mellow rather than sharp. The aromatic note is from the peppermint—not as in peppermint candy or gum—this peppermint is like the mint plant itself, which provides wonderfully aromatic melodies that soar over the other notes and accords in the fragrance. (I understand why Griff made a strong point of the peppermint.) The peppermint carries itself on top of all the other accords from the citrus opening, through the floral / spicy middle and into the traditional drydown of moss, vetiver, patchouli, sandal and leather. The dry down is full, rich, and subtle and has very good longevity. As expected, Derby has the exquisite structuring typical of Guerlains. This would be an excellent fragrance even without the peppermint. With the peppermint playing the aromatic soprano trumpet above the rich accords of spices, florals, woods, and mosses, Derby becomes a brilliant Bach concerto.

The single best gentleman's chypre ever. Like the previous reviewers, this nose was struck with the potency of the leather and the bergamot but... don't discount that peppermint. It's shade permeates the entire drydown but not loudly. The only thing that comes (came?) close was Monogram but Derby is much more complex, more long lasting and more sophisticated. I cherish my only two bottles with my life.
Why oh why did Guerlain discontinue it?

It was not so much a lecture as a rhapsody that the Baron de Charlus delivered to the Society of Perfumes in Paris on the subject of Derby by Guerlain. 'Let us rejoice and give thanks for the wonders of Derby,' he declared, 'and also give thanks to Monsieur de Milamber for his estimable review of this fragrance. I especially appreciate his likening of Derby to a "Habit Rouge without the Rouge...a darker, dirtier scent but refined as well". I would only add: Perfumery at its best is an art form which, like poetry, music and song, aims to evoke a variety of often complex and elusive feelings, thoughts, memories and imaginings. It is only the sheerest prejudice which denies it this distinction and equality with other arts! In the case of Derby, the sweet red richness of Habit Rouge seems to tranmute into more mysterious and browner dimensions, utterly enigmatic and strangely captivating. A unique aroma in a rather fine bottle!'

The deodorant is overly chypre in construction with the moss dominating the scent. It's alright i suppose, but the EDT is far better. 2 ingredients in the midnotes fuel this scent - rose and jasmine. While the leather and Sandal in the base smoothens the aromatics out. This is Habit Rouge without the Rouge. Stripped of the red colour, it is a darker, dirtier scent but refined as well. It is not gothic like 3rd Man, more of a powersuit scent. Having said that, i can wear Derby comfortably with a few spritzes and walk-through, in the evening. It is an inviting scent, in minute amounts, it's a snuggle-me type of fragrance. More and it becomes a don't-mess-with-me type fragrance. I like the versatility of Derby, where one spritz of 3rd Man says Gothic and 6 spritzes still says Gothic only in a louder way, Derby has a quiet charm about it. The regal air of nobility.

A VERY potent leather/chypre scent. To my liking, a much too stringent chypre. Perhaps the drydown is more likeable, but the opening sure isn't.