Stetson (1981)
by Stetson

As Tania Sanchez pointed out in The Guide, this is an old-school women's fragrance packaged and sold as a men's cologne-- an great joke, perhaps an excercise in postmodern gender-role subversion. Stetson starts off with a blast of spicy citrus, admirably brightened with aldehydes. Then it settles into a musky jasmine and an ambery dry-down. Strong and smooth with an old-fashioned charm all the way through, and an excellent value for the low price.

An aggressive, powdery, drugstore cheapie with way too much lavender and cheap amber and far too little patchouli. (If you're going to be an oily beast, at least come to the table slathered in patchouli.) Screaming sillage -- absolutely screaming. Very little, if any, complexity in the drydown.

Often sold very close to Fleet enemas in Walgreens across America. How appropriate.

I love Stetson. To be honest with you, a man or a woman can use Stetson. Stetson smells like Norell perfume for women.

A cheap feminine oriental for men? This could pass as a cheap Guerlain to unsuspecting noses. Good for starters.

This is way too animalic for me at the beginning, then it softens up, but there's still too much animalic jasmine for me to want to wear this regularly. If it wasn't for that, this might be quite nice, though too feminine for some men. My guess is that this might work well for a guy who sweats a lot, unlike myself. I don't mind the spices or powderyness to it, but due to the animalic qualities, I much prefer something like Carven Homme, and since they cost about the same, there's no reason for me to reach for Stetson.

Cleaning out the attic in the summer cabin, I found a small bottle of Stetson. I don’t remember ever owning Stetson (don’t even remember smelling it)—it was probably left by the previous owner, which would make it over thirteen years old. Of course I had to test it. After the harsh initial blast, it settled down to a lavender / citrus accord. The mid notes are a light wood and floral, and the dry down is a sweet amber accord. It really doesn’t have much longevity, but that could be the result of its age and its weathering. I actually found Stetson surprisingly ok—surprising because of its drugstore reputation, its age, and at least thirteen years of -30° winters and summer attic heat. Stetson is rather ordinary, but it is something I might wear for a casual occasion now and then. It really surprised me—I was thinking about giving it a thumbs up simply because it isn’t terrible.