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Youth Without Youth

post #1 of 38
4/5/08 at 5:13pm
Thread Starter 
Imagine that you are a 50 year-old man. Youve succeeded in life: you have two beautiful and bright young sons who study at an ivy-league university, and an income of about $250,000 per year. You have recently divorced your wife, because you felt the need for something else in your life. You want beauty and adventure. You want to date young girls; you want to feel young again. You bought a Porsche and a penthouse. Youve changed your wardrobe completely, and now wear smart designer clothes. You want to enjoy these last few years before old age comes upon you.

Which perfume would you wear?

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post #2 of 38
4/5/08 at 6:17pm
The douchebags I know, that are kind of in the psychological space you describe, wear Desire.
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post #3 of 38
4/5/08 at 6:22pm
Hmmm, let's see... A*men?
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post #4 of 38
4/5/08 at 6:50pm
musc ravageur
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post #5 of 38
4/5/08 at 8:12pm
Aqua di Gio :P
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post #6 of 38
4/5/08 at 8:32pm
I think you are over thinking it.
At first I though this would be another connect the fragrance to its stereotype thread, but you just went nuts with your description. I am no sure how having 2 kids on an Ivy league college affects your choice of EDTs.
I agree with the ones above and throw a Le Male, Joop, Burrbery Brit, VArvatos... whatever the young assistant told him to buy... He was trying to get into her pants, obviously.
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post #7 of 38
4/5/08 at 8:38pm
Thread Starter 
Irish,

A good description can induce the suspension of disbelief in the reader. That is why I try to give as much information as possible. It makes the whole scenario more real and believable! Why do you think novelists "waste" so many pages describing things and people, when they could jump to the action and write the book in 20 pages? If I want you to feel like the 50 y/o playboy, you must believe he is real!

Lucius
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post #8 of 38
4/5/08 at 9:05pm
Fair enough... I would also throw a Drakkar Noir and Unforgivable combo.

Off topic: Short stories are very underappreciated, and over description is abused in a lot of the literature I have read lately. And don't get me started on Philosophical essays. I do believe that a lot of novelists waste a lot of pages just because they think is intellectually cool (Not true in your case by the way). Wordiness is not cool or intellectual. IMO, efficiency (using the least necesary and sufficient words to cleary describe a situation) is one of the best characteristics of a consummated author can have.
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post #9 of 38
4/5/08 at 9:17pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by irish View Post

IMO, efficiency (using the least necesary and sufficient words to cleary describe a situation) is one of the best characteristics of a consummated author can have.

Don't ever try to read Proust. You will certainly love Maupassant and Allan Poe.

Lucius
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post #10 of 38
4/5/08 at 9:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by irish View Post

I think you are over thinking it.
At first I though this would be another connect the fragrance to its stereotype thread, but you just went nuts with your description. I am no sure how having 2 kids on an Ivy league college affects your choice of EDTs.


LoL, envy ...I mean Gucci Envy
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post #11 of 38
4/5/08 at 9:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuciusVorenus View Post

Don't ever try to read Proust. You will certainly love Maupassant and Allan Poe.

Lucius

I have never read Proust. I like Maupassant and never really liked Poe. I am not sure why, but I can count with a hand the American writers I like.
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post #12 of 38
4/5/08 at 10:22pm
Wanna feel young again? Eau pour le Jeune Homme. The name of the frag says it, no?
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post #13 of 38
4/6/08 at 12:21am
As I read this guy has only one single marginal problem in life. I have several, some of them quite serious. This one should be solved by himself. Good luck
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post #14 of 38
4/6/08 at 12:51am
How old actually are the 'young girls' our hero prefers at present? Does he date the same kind of girls his sons might fancy? And can divorces be had that cheaply in the US that a man decides to get one just because he wants to change his way of living? The new situation might not allow him to buy much perfume at all! Isn't the normal sequence of events like this : a man chases other women until he really falls for one of them. He then needs a divorce to marry the other woman. Nothing much is changed, I would think. Except: he pays for two women now.

A Creed millesime would be nice for this kind of a man, and the seats of his Porsche.
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post #15 of 38
4/6/08 at 1:35am
He'd make an appointment with Villoresi in Florence, blabbering on how he's looking for his "fountain of youth" and Lorenzo would gracefully set this silly man in his late midlife crisis straight .
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post #16 of 38
4/6/08 at 1:35am
This guy is in a serious midlife crisis.

Now, my guess is that he'd go for a bold scent.
Sung Homme, perhaps.

I don't think a fragrance is his biggest need, though.
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post #17 of 38
4/6/08 at 2:08am
He'd have something bespoke created in order to satisfy some more of his selfish mid-life indulgences.
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post #18 of 38
4/6/08 at 2:47am
I'm surprised noones mentioned Creed.
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post #19 of 38
4/6/08 at 2:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivek View Post

I'm surprised noones mentioned Creed.

Fuh the love of GAHD Vivek! Did ya have to!?
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post #20 of 38
4/6/08 at 4:25am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LuciusVorenus View Post

Don't ever try to read Proust. You will certainly love Maupassant and Allan Poe.

Lucius


to me best short stories writer ever is Anton Chekhov.....this guy would make you cry, laugh and cry again...all within 3 pages.
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post #21 of 38
4/6/08 at 4:32am
It goes without saying, that using too many words for the sake of it, is silly and very annoying. Proust has absolutely nothing to do with this. He has the greatest insight of human psyche I have ever discovered in literature. His style might not be to everyone's liking, it's fine, but he never lacks substance.

Back to the subject; I can't help it, as cheesy as it might sound, I am certain this man would wear Le Male.
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post #22 of 38
4/6/08 at 4:43am
I don't approach writers, artists, musicians or noses with preconceived prejudices based on their geographical locations or points in time, because souls do not have boundaries.
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post #23 of 38
4/6/08 at 4:49am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dimitri View Post

Fuh the love of GAHD Vivek! Did ya have to!?

Yep.

It was actually the first thing that struck my mind though, i'd imagine a man like that running and dousing himself in a 'younger' smelling Creed.
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post #24 of 38
4/6/08 at 5:14am
I agree this sounds like a man in a midlife crisis. He doesn't accept that he is not young anymore, so he'll probably wear scents that go well with young people. He doesn't realize that he is too old to pull off those scents (but everybody around him does!).

I agree that he could very well wear too many sprays of Burberry Brit, Le Male or the awful Diesel Fuel for Life. Or something youthful from the past like Tommy or Eternity.

But if he has a bit more taste, I think Dior Homme would be a great choice for him. It has class, but at the same time the scent has a very modern concept.
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post #25 of 38
4/6/08 at 5:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivek View Post

Yep.

It was actually the first thing that struck my mind though, i'd imagine a man like that running and dousing himself in a 'younger' smelling Creed.

I know posting is done faster than reading. In this case it could have helped though
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post #26 of 38
4/6/08 at 5:55am
blackbeards delight.
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post #27 of 38
4/6/08 at 6:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivek View Post

Yep.

It was actually the first thing that struck my mind though, i'd imagine a man like that running and dousing himself in a 'younger' smelling Creed.

*sharpens knives*
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post #28 of 38
4/6/08 at 6:29am
Creed Orange Spice.
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post #29 of 38
4/6/08 at 6:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by the_good_life View Post

He'd make an appointment with Villoresi in Florence, blabbering on how he's looking for his "fountain of youth" and Lorenzo would gracefully set this silly man in his late midlife crisis straight .

Absolutely! He 'had it all' and couln't recognize it...can this man ever truly be happy? I don't know.

As for his frag...it would'nt matter, he'd still toss it aside and search for a new one!
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post #30 of 38
4/6/08 at 6:37am
Eeu de Mied Laif, by Olde Bistard.
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post #31 of 38
4/6/08 at 7:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony87 View Post

Eeu de Mied Laif, by Olde Bistard.

Yeah, I think that's the one!!!
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post #32 of 38
4/6/08 at 9:18am
Question is: What would he have worn before his change of mind and style? Maybe some stiff, established Creed? Maybe Bois du Portugal, with which he helped to create an aura of professional, but unapproachable authority?

"Beauty and adventure" - sounds like Habit Rouge (Guerlain). I suppose many young girls would be attracted by the "aura" that surrounds a charismatic, tasteful middle-aged charmer. Anything smelling too young would bring his intelligence to shame, as he knows: "Joy once fled cannot return." He's aware of his youth having gone. But nothing would remind him more of the days when he used to be a ladykiller, an adventurer, than the fragrance he used to wear back then: Habit Rouge.
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post #33 of 38
4/6/08 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DesGrieux View Post

Nothing would remind him more of the days when he used to be a ladykiller, an adventurer, than the fragrance he used to wear back then: Habit Rouge.


Yes, that makes sense. He might come back to the scents of his youth. A nostalgic attempt to relive those days.

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post #34 of 38
4/6/08 at 12:50pm
I think this fellow would buy a Creed because the attractive 22 year SA says she "loves, loves, loves," Virgin Island Water. It's what her boyfriend wears. She'd then tell him that Green Irish Tweed reminds her of her Dad and make him smell it on his arm before he can say no. Deflated, but not certain what to do when she says "mmmmmmmmmm, that really works on you," he buys a 2.5 of the GIT, his only satisfaction being its price point. At the last second, right before she runs his AMEX (gold), he says, "You know what, I think I'll take the other one that you liked, the island water, too. For the next two months, even though it's February - March, he knocks out the entire bottle of "island water." In spite of liking the Green Irish Tweed much more, he never takes it out of the box and gives it to one of his sons the following Christmas. He will continue to wear VIW and will only buy it from that particular sales associate for the next 18 months, until she no longer works there. He will then have the exact same experience with Himalaya and Bois du Portugal via her replacement.
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post #35 of 38
4/6/08 at 2:06pm
im voting MI, Aqua di Gio, nothing sweet I don't think..
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post #36 of 38
4/6/08 at 2:49pm
Welcome to the literary criticism, Porsche and young girls for a dirty, rich old man thread.

First things first, did Proust really know his cookies?

http://www.slate.com/id/2118443/

It's Edgar, Guy, Anton, Hem and Bukowski for me, but I'll finish Rememberances in Heaven.

(Or is it a punishment in the other place?)

Second, let us hope he bought a vintage bathtub Porsche, in any color but red.--

(If he didn't he's beyond help, and will probably end up wearing Le Male because the cute SA tells him her it smells, like, sooo totally awesome on her boyfriend)

There's many sites on the net, I found one:

http://daveloop.drumtable.com/40_Yea...sche__That_Is_

Thirdly, or third if you don't like adverbs; why on earth should he divorce his wife? Why not follow instead the decent European custom and simply cheat on her with a bevy of beauties? For crying out loud, he's making 250K a year!!. I'll never understand this kind of American suburban inmorality, it seems so needlessly cruel.

Not to mention stupid. He'll be a sitting duck for any half-way competent golddigger.

The answer to the fragrance question is that, given his age, social position and lustful intentions, he should wear

RALPH LAUREN'S PURPLE LABEL !

I've never smelled it, being too broke at present (I'm taking a break right now from filing my income tax on line and, man, it's ugly!) to buy more frags , but hey, I have heard some stories !

Cheers,

Mario
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post #37 of 38
4/6/08 at 3:19pm
Thread Starter 
That was a great post, Mario. It is true, he would be better off married. He would then pursuit discreet love affairs with the silent acceptance of his wife, who would do anything to prevent a divorce.

We have a saying in Brazil: "What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't feel".

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post #38 of 38
4/7/08 at 8:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dekdek View Post

I think this fellow would buy a Creed because the attractive 22 year SA says she "loves, loves, loves," Virgin Island Water. It's what her boyfriend wears. She'd then tell him that Green Irish Tweed reminds her of her Dad and make him smell it on his arm before he can say no. Deflated, but not certain what to do when she says "mmmmmmmmmm, that really works on you," he buys a 2.5 of the GIT, his only satisfaction being its price point. At the last second, right before she runs his AMEX (gold), he says, "You know what, I think I'll take the other one that you liked, the island water, too. For the next two months, even though it's February - March, he knocks out the entire bottle of "island water." In spite of liking the Green Irish Tweed much more, he never takes it out of the box and gives it to one of his sons the following Christmas. He will continue to wear VIW and will only buy it from that particular sales associate for the next 18 months, until she no longer works there. He will then have the exact same experience with Himalaya and Bois du Portugal via her replacement.

Exactly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuciusVorenus View Post

It is true, he would be better off married. He would then pursuit discreet love affairs with the silent acceptance of his wife, who would do anything to prevent a divorce.

We have a saying in Brazil: "What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't feel". .

Better off married, silent acceptance... really? Maybe my ideas of marriage & monogamy are becoming antiquated, but there is nothing attractive or admirable about this man's character, and his wife would be better off without him. For either spouse to stay for money/history/convenience is a mindset I don't understand.

What would such a man wear? In this vignette, the protagonist is unlikeable, and I failed to become invested in his quest.
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