Halston Z by Halston, 1998

This came out in 1998, a year after Lauder's Pleasures for Men. Pleasures was, of course, a massive hit for Lauder. And Pleasures was, of course, a direct descendent of Cool Water, the mega-influential offering from Davidoff which set the trend in men's scents for the entire decade of the 90's into the 2000's. So now, here we consider "Z" from the Halston line, a now nearly forgotten offering from a design firm with major identity problems. Halston desperately needs a Tom Ford to get it back on the rails, as it's still floundering creatively. Which brings us back to "Z", a desperate late 90's attempt to cash in on the fresh aquatic craze. "Z" is literally a mash-up of Pleasures and Cool Water. Even the classic Elsa Peretti bottle has attempted to morph into the Pleasures decanter. "Z" of course can't really live up to either Cool Water or Pleasures; but it does introduce a pronounced orange note to the proceedings which makes it pleasant summer fare. Perhaps they were trying to cut into Clinique's Happy for men while they were at it? In any event what we end up with is a pale imitation of three other far better concoctions...but what remains is a not so bad, albeit forgetable citrusy cyphre.