Yohji Homme (1999)
by Yohji Yamamoto

I purchased this with great anticipation after hearing about the fougere/licorice theme but I was so disappointed. I get an overarching blast of acrylic reminiscent of those badly ventilated korean nail shops that are dotted along the high street. Charmless and head-ache inducing. RIP

24th September, 2011.

Yohji Homme starts out with a citrus blast accompanied by a coffee smell that fades out real fast. Trough time, as the fragrance goes on, the rum appears mixed with the star anise, giving a particular sweet smell. Overall a good light scent that stays on the skin for actually a long time.

21st August, 2011.

The bittersweet, brilliant, and now discontinued, Yohji Homme pushes the inedible fougère theme to its very brink and then teeters there with absolute control, eyeing up the gourmand abyss below. This artful pivoting depends on a clutch of grown-up ingredients demanding care and restraint – coffee, liquorice, cocoa, rum – all delicious, but none simply so: liquorice, used so assertively here, is both food and palate cleanser. Likewise, coffee smells wonderful but tastes bad (because bitter) and our enjoyment comes from gathering its aroma in our mouth and exhaling it through our nose via the throat. Yohji Homme’s taut arrangement of notes around the amber glow possibility of food, without ever surrendering its herbaceous-soapy character, is the standout feature of this quiet, dark, and fiercely cerebral scent.

2nd August, 2011.

A quiet, conservative take on gourmand notes expertly placed into a woody context. I agree with what Live Jazz has to say about this one. Most often, gourmand fragrances are too sweet or too bombastic for me to wear regularly. Every once in a while I might get in the nostalgic mood required for me to wear A*Men, but other than that, it's a genre I mostly avoid. Body Kouros, Rochas Man, Pi, etc. are just too cutesy, too sugar-and-spice for me to wear as personal fragrances. Yohji Homme occupies its own space in my mind.

It's drier, woodier, and not nearly as sweet or loud as the fragrances others have mentioned in this thread. In fact, it's an altogether different take on gourmand notes and can't really be compared to them. The coffee and anise notes are fantastic - dry enough to be almost herbal, but rich enough to subtly change throughout the duration. The rum adds a subtle, natural sweetness. The base, to my nose, is mainly a dry patchouli with the coffee (almost cocoa at times) and an herbal tinge. If anything, it reminds me a bit of Lutens Borneo at the far end of its life span. Longevity is good, but it stays close, which to me is a god thing with this sort of fragrance. A very big thumbs-up. I'm glad I grabbed a bottle while I could.

29th April, 2011. (Last Edited: 19th May, 2011.)

This initially smells like a hospital room. After the dry down...it smells dry. This is either way too subtle for me or it's just not my cup of genmaicha.

9th March, 2011.

Yohji Homme is Japanese to a fault. It's so interesting, but so concerned about social standing that it refuses to speak up or speak out of turn, even though everyone in the room is obviously fascinated with it and would like to hear more. The licorice here is more herbal than sweet, and the coffee and rum make uncommon allies but perfect accents. Call me American, but if this had stronger presence in terms of projection and lasting power it would have been among the greatest scents of all time, and I mean that. Too well-mannered for its own good, and too good for most noses.

2nd February, 2011.