Fragrance Reviews by eau-k

Have you ever walked by a trash bin on a hot summer afternoon? If you have then you've already experienced Angel Men by Thierry Mugler. It's hot trash, pun or no pun, I'll let you decide.

I first received Mugler's Angel Men on my tenth birthday and for a while made it my childhood signature in Europe, then again in my late-teens as A*Men here in the states, but as I got older and after years of both compliments and ridicule, I myself grew to dislike the formula and relegated it only for occasions when I needed to put on the dog. Then with my acquisition of Paco Rabanne's Black XS last year I was suddenly compelled to revisit this Mugler classic and found it to be one of (if not thee) most interesting fragrances I've ever worn.

Perfect for a child or a young man, as it translates it's notes into a world of "Petit Prince" whimsy. However, on an older man it creates a less harmonius effect, it tends to wear and overpower the man rather than permitting the wearer to live up to the magnificent scent.

This is the first marketed men's fragrance from the house of Givenchy since the unharmonious discord of their wildly successful pre-Millennial venture, ? (Pi): a fragrance which at the time I found to be an atrocious addition to the Givenchy brand and which I still do. Thankfully, this new creation (Very Irrésistible for Men) which was nine years in the making has already earned a spot amongst the canon of great gourmands for men among the cognoscenti and become a veritable triumph for the Givenchy brand after years of offering nothing more than seasonal reformulations of their classic, Insensé.

Unlike it's predecessor, Very Irrésistible for Men comes from the post-McQueen era at the house of Givenchy, not that Alexander McQueen had very much say in perfume development during his tenure as creative director of fashion to begin with, but his influence over Pi was evident in the flaçon design and creative approach utilised in the commercial marketing of the fragance (Remember Rouge Miroir?, Pi's campaign was identical) which of course was itself inspired by the 1998 Darren Aronofsky film of the same name.

Very Irrésistible for Men is a direct reflection of the latest direction that the house has taken since introducing a fully-developed menswear brand to it's womens RTW and Haute Couture houses, now headed by the British sartorialist Oswald Boateng and Italian designer Riccardo Tisci respectively. It also offers the brand's most striking flaçon since 1986's Xeryus and if we look closer, the most complex formulation since that fragrance, too (Although I loved 1995's Xeryus Rouge very much).

It is a rich and elegant gourmand with a subtlety not often seen at Givenchy. It's the collection of a modern Parisien's trials and tribulations at the end of his day, a victorious accumulation of smells of everyday life. A modern bespoke man that grew up in the very "Xeryus" anées quatre-vingts who survived the very minimal monochrome of the 1990's to discover this creative manifestation of the hi fidelity WIFI cybercafés and boutique bistros of post-Millennial Paris, it's 1959's Monsieur de Givenchy leaving Le Café Flore on taxi and arriving at the Colette Water Bar for a healthy dose of Voss. It's Givenchy in 2005.

PRO: Argentine designer Pablo Reinoso's smoked-glass bottle
CON: The chemical variation between different persons