What is "the best" comme des garçons ever , mention just one (1 ),,,????

They're so diverse, there is no best...and a lot of them are so different it'd be almost impossible to have a safe blind buy.

That said, 2Man is easy to recommend,

my favorites so far are Kyoto, Sequoia, and White.

Hard to choose. For me, CDG2 man. Lemony incensy, somewhat weird and avantgarde, but perfectly wearable. And perfect for the summer.

cacio

The line is so diverse and avant-gard that it's impossible to pick a "best". You should start first with the Incense series, the original EDP and 2MAN, then work your way into the rest.

I concur. CDG 2 is nice as well but not as wearable.

First of all, it's very weird that you're on basenotes and don't like to sample. WTF? However, I'll play along. You said to only pick one, so I'll pick Avignon. Why don't you just go to the reviews section and look at the tallies?

Love CDG, they cover a lot of territory.

Kyoto
2MAN
Vettiveru

The multi-faceted inky floral aldehydes of CDG 2 never fail to please. The best ? - again, impossible to say within such a diverse house, but fairly groundbreaking when introduced and my personal favourite. Avignon is a worthy runner up.

I've been going back to this one as well. It takes me to so many places and eras when I smell it. Even if it's almost a tad feminine, I still find it wearable. Really an original.

Odeur 71.

But Avignon if you like incense or CDG parfum if you want brand classic that isn't a 'non-perfume perfume.'

- - - Updated - - -

You said mention just one, so Odeur 71.

Two, very good ones are:

Wonderwood by Comme des Garcons - Welcome to the wide world of woods! The interesting opening is a dank, forest tree scent, supplied by the melange of warm sandalwood, hints of zesty bergamot and anise-like, caraway seeds, earthy vetiver and creamy guaic wood. This impressive concoction is reminescent of a felled tree in a rain forest, with the attendant damp and green environs. Transitioning to the waiting middle, spicy pepper, ghosts of apple, plum and floral fruitiness from the cristalin, musky powder from the cashmeran, and savory incense enhance the woody brew. The awesome drydown with its rich cedar and enchanting agarwood tug at this lively heart, and is augmented by a charming patchouli, faintly bathing the cedar and oud in an air of mustiness, and a refreshing, dry cypress, with its hint of spiciness, exalting the pleasing, woody base. This high quality and exceptional composition has good projection, after some 4 hours becoming a skin scent, and excellent longevity.

&

Stephen Jones by Comme des Garcons - a somewhat cold and metallic scent, which augurs an astringent and detached, futuristic vibe, reminiscent of isolated indifference.
Initially one is treated to an icy verdancy from violet leaf, akin to grass clippings with a nuance of greenness from cucumber. A cool, mineral accord, akin to iron shavings and weathered peebles, swirls about. And, magical aldehydes impart their soapiness and effervescence. Transitioning to the heart, an antiseptic clove infuses the fresh opening with its smoky spiciness and a faint, charred-wood nuance. After a bit, a floral melange of sweetly spicy, vanillic carnation, sweet velvety rose, tutti-fruitti jasmine and powdery, cherry-vanilla heliotrope encase the scent, and segues to the awaiting base. Guiacwood, with its honeyed-rose sweetness as well as smoky and rubber nuances, commingles with black cumin with its pungent spiciness and hint of strawberry. An earthy vetiver, with its grassy and clumped-dirt vibe, presents. And, a clean aldehyde sweeps in with its freshly-laundered linen aspect. A somewhat enigmatic drydown ensues. This unique and unisex composition has average projection and longevity, 6-7 hours.

Artek Standard. Possibly the most criminally underrated niche fragrance ever as far as I'm concerned.

Avignon

Kyoto.

My favorites are:

Zagorsk
Jaisalmer
Artek Standard
Sequoia
Dover Street Market

But if I had to pick just one, probably Dover Street Market. Or, Zagorsk. It's a tossup between those two.

CDG 2 Man.

So many excellent ones it is quite hard to choose. If forced to choose I guess it would have to be the great Avignon.

Impossible task for me...sorry...

I couldn't live without the majority of their fragrances including Avignon, CDG2Man and Odeur 71...but a REAL Comme Des Garcons lover, should never be without Odeur 71, IMO.

Just in case you're into less "hyped" stuff, check Guerrilla 1, CDG EDP 2011 and SKAI.

...as I told you...impossible to pick just one...

For me? CDG EDP 2011 by a mile.
Then up next: Tea & Stephen Jones

MY VOTE:
COMME DES GARCONS, Comme des Garcons

The Original.

....Got me kicked out of "de Belhamel" in Amsterdam in '93: Even though it sounds easy, it took true fearlessness to bottle a fragrance in shrink-wrap plastic, use a barcode as a logo, and call it a "Medicament." (which, by the way, actually works) Now that's an achievement.

For me it's Luxe Patchouli - a dark explosion of earthy patchouli and take-no-prisoners immortelle. It's unlike anything else I know and one of my all-time favorites - but you must really REALLY like it to get it (you have to sample - get over it!), as it's ridiculously expensive...

I'm no fan of "sampling" either: For me, it takes days, weeks, even years to understand a scent in all of its facets: Mind, I only am interested in very fine scents, and Comme des Garcons is one of the few niche houses that I have found truly impressive as far as quality and integrity. Others just annoy me, especially "Le Labo," and that lot. CdG invented niche: Don't ever forget that. When the original came out, people were appalled. All of Paris was in an uproar over it. Blending and packaging a scent in that way had never been attempted, much less conducted on a grand scale: "Sampling" in CdG is useless: It takes many, many wears to truly grasp the intricacies of these scents. I own every single one: I buy them systematically. I have a love for Avignon and Zagorsk, but nothing, to me, can compare to the original. It may be the most difficult to love of all of them: Note that mine is the only vote for it--but it's a masterpiece, and does effectively "heal," as promised by Rei Kawakubo upon its release, when it was billed as the "First Perfume with Medicinal Properties" (there came with it a small booklet of instructions on how to use it to cure colds, headaches, malaises, etc: Now absent.)

Kyoto
2Man
Odeur 53 and 71

Gary

I was not going to comment on this thread; was just reading to learn, but as per usual "Le Mouchoir de Monsieur" bumps the ante and takes an interesting topic to a daring new level. Now I am going to remain incomplete until I get my hands on a bottle or two of CDG. I have never seen it here in Montreal, but I have made it my mission to locate, purchase, and experience "the intricacies of the scent". This type of thread and interesting commentary is why I am a loyal Basenotes afficionado. Thanks to Aldo for asking, and to all the others who replied.

I haven't sampled all of them yet but these are the ones I can recommend trying:

Hinoki
Artek Standard
Odeur 71 (initially disliked it but now it clicked and I appreciate it very much)
Zagorsk (love it but not a versatile fragrance at all)
Avignon (very good but I prefer the much brighter and colder Zagorsk)
Garage (I like it a lot, smells just like a garage)
Laurel (very nice peppery laurel, very kitchen cupboard-like. Malle's French Lover is way better though)
Wonderwood (nice but a bit boring too)
Play (nice enough)

CdG 2

Monocle Scent one: HINOKI
CDG Eau de Parfum
CdG Man 2
CdG 2
Jaisalmer
Sequoia
Vettiveru
Harissa

I love CDG 2

CDG 2 gets my vote. It's a versatile & unique modern unisex. The bottle looks & feels great when purchased in the flat silver bottle (note: this fragrance is also in the Happy Pillow packaging & CDG2 is different than 2Man.)
Avignon & Kyoto have been mentioned but I found them cold/stark & linear & I can't imagine finishing full bottles of either.

Skai
2Man
Odeur 53

I've only tried 2 Man (owned and sold) which didn't impress me and Wonderwood that I didn't like anywhere near enough to buy.

I'm guessing it's not effective against histrionic disorders.

so far "Kyoto"

I know - I actually never finished my Kyoto FB... soon after I got it, my interest simply withered and it started to annoy me (which only confirmed to me once again that cold incense is really NOT my thing!)

Kyoto is my favorite but I tend to wear Sequoia and Vettiveru more often. So many from the house I haven't yet tried though.

Incense Series : AVIGNON and also 888!

I wear 2 (not MAN) more than the others so I guess it's my favourite at the moment.

This is very difficult. Very very difficult.

But it would be my Sotd Avignon or CDG 2.


I remember you telling us the story. Amusing!

I agree. I'm a big CDG freak but Wonderwood and Dover Street Market are possibly the most boring fragrances they ever delivered...not bad at all but no match for the majority of their offerings...

I call them "CDGs for people who actually don't like CDGs"

As I only have tried Avignon and Tea, Avignon for me. Tea is pretty neat too though.

Clearly, Not......

"Histrionic Disorders" aside, it actually does comfort in the case of a grippe. It was recommended as a pillow spray in this instance. Other "disorders" it seems to effectively soothe are headaches and nervous malaise. There were others, I just can't remember. Not being a daily "user" of this....ehm....drug.....we can not rely on my own experiences to ascertain weather or not it treats Histrionic Disorders: It may very well do. I'm afraid it has just a slight bit too much presence for me to make daily use of it, and since it's launch in 92/93 (?) I've only gone through about four bottles. I tend to have recourse to it when approaching a kind of "alternative" setting where something classic would be misunderstood: That's just one of the things that sets CdG apart and makes it truly great: Their scents, for the most part, are so original that they tend to noticeably augment the transcendent quality of any given atmosphere: To me, they are "reserved" scents. The only one I use typically every day is Series 3 Red "Carnation" as I love this on my cotton pocket squares in the summer. Avignon & Zagorsk are the two others that get used regularly by me for religious environments. The rest of the collection I keep on hand for archival purposes, without really wearing them, per se. One of the most remarkable things about CdG is their longevity: It irks me to witness how one spray of anything by CdG will last indefinitely, while 25 sprays of a Guerlain, even in extract, has a limited life span of mere hours: When a price comparison is conducted, it comes to light that CdG is actually a kind of bargain: The incense series, especially, are true "perfumes," in the old, antiquated sense: a tiny wee spritz is all that is required, so one bottle might last years, even if worn weekly. I find the same to be true of CdG the Original. These are scents for unusual involvements in the presence of an artistically inclined audience: There isn't anything "Classic" about them. I love, for instance, how "garage," as is pointed out above, actually does smell like a garage, but in such an appealing way it becomes very sexy. Be all of that as it may, I still maintain that CdG Original is by far the most impeccably wrought of them all, start to finish, and there's some *very* stiff competition in the range.

You know the skin on my wrists always looks better after I use Hinoki. But that may be from the frenzied scrubbing.

seqouia

My favorite would probably be Kyoto, with 2Man, Wonderwood, and 71 next.

Odeur 71 - the most definitive fragrance of Commes des Garcons. If someone were to ask me what's so great about CdG, I'd say, "Well, let me tell you about this one they have called Odeur 71 . . ."

Owning most of these mentioned by Alafrom, I concur. It's too hard to pick just one. This is not Kenzo, or Burberry. The thing that makes CDG so awesome and SO MUCH FUN is that you cannot ever know what you are going to get next. If it were not for knowing in advance by reading reviews on BN, a person could go mad trying to find a common theme in the line! The common theme is the lack of a common theme!

The Odeurs are olfactory fine art. The incense line is magnificent. 2011 smells like brown pakcing tape! (WTF!?) and Wonderwood is much more contemporary and wearable (it's a more concentrated version of Gucci Rush for men) beautiful but less weird than the rest.

2Man is prob the best bet to buy if you don't want to sample.

Kyoto

White
Palisander
Rhubarb
God Save the Queen (never saw the light of day)

Kyoto or Wonderwood, Wonderwood or Kyoto, Kyoto or Wonderwood, hm it is then Zagrosk.

I would not want to be without Avignon.


Comme des Garcon is the kind of line that you don't want to have only one! Who wants only one. Any of: Jaisalmer, Kyoto, Hinoki, CDG EDP, Sequoia, Palisander, CDG 2 Man - are all finer than anything else you might find at the designer fragrance counter.

I find this easy. Burnt Sugar. Best bottle, best fragrance. Sadly discontinued.

That is odd.

I think some people make the mistake of thinking there are better or worse scents. But (hopefully) most here on BN know it doesn't really work that way. I mean, yeah, there is some garbage out there, but when we're talking about at a great line like CdG, there is no such thing as a best because different people are going to prefer different things. So, to the OP: I can tell you what my favorite is (2 Man), but unless you like the exact same things I do, you'd have to sample it to find out if you'd like it too.

They switch depending on my mood but "2" is the one I find myself reaching for most often.

I cannot choose just one as others already mentioned. The ones that I often use are CdG2 and CdG3.

Original EDP, Avignon, Skai, 2Man...I am in love with the smell of Ouarzazate but it turns into a faint whisper within an hour

White is my favorite

Avignon. Several other good ones, but this is the epitome of incense IMO. I will probably never be without it. A great fragrance to wear on halloween too!

2 MAN & Avignon

I'll see your 2 Man & Avignon and raise you a Jaisalmer! ...or should I say Kyoto? No. Jaisalmer.

2 Man is excellent. It would be my pick. The trio of Kyoto, Avignon and Jaisalmer are all excellent as well and really challenging to choose between. It's such a tough call. But, overall, I'd go with 2 Man.