The curse after the first.......

Have you ever noticed how many designer's first scents for men are their best? One distinguished scent, then downhill. Not all designers, mind you, and certainly not the ones that care a great deal about their products, such as Chanel, Hermes, YSL, Rochas, Givenchy, Dior and Lauder, but many, many others. Lest you think I'm cherry picking, here's my list:

Sung
Calvin Klein
Azzaro
Bvlgari
Burberry
Cacharel
Cartier
Cerruti
Dunhill
Armani
Dolce &Gabanna
Escada
Francesco Smalto
Ferre
Bogart
Jaguar
La Perla
Montana
Oscar de la Renta
Balmain
Richard James
Romeo Gigli
Rykiel
Valentino
Van Cleef & Arpels

Moreover, there are a few that almost make my list, such as Davidoff (Zino was better than the original Davidoff, then it was downhill from there), Jacomo (Eau Cedree and Jacomo de Jacomo both very good, then downhill), Paco Rabanne (with Tenere being an exception) and Versace (ditto Black Jeans). Now, I'll admit that the quality of the first fragrance from the group listed above is not uniform (GrigioPerla and Rykiel Homme are, after all, not in the same class as the original Dunhill and Cerruti), and some follow-up scents are not as bad as others (Bogart's are much better than subsequent Armani's), but the pattern remains. Why should this be? The old adage that an author or band has a whole lifetime to come up with a debut, but only a year or two for the next book/album? Loss of focus? Cynicism? Or maybe the first one actually represents the designer's aesthetic, and all the following ones are mere product (which may fall under cynicism)?

Have your own list or theory? I'd love to hear it.

Oviatt,

I didn't say that that all of them ony had one great fragrance, merely that it was downhill. Believe me, I quite like Dunhill Edition, but it certainly isn't in the original's league. Never got the chance to smell Blend 30, though I hear it is good. I think the pre-formulated Santos was hands down the best Cartier ever did.