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

[levente]

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 agree up to a point. Sophomore efforts are notoriously patchy--look at authors, for example. But some of the brands you mentioned have gone on to great things--Dunhill, for example. Their eponimous 1934 offering was and remains a masterpiece. However, I think that their 1984 EDITION is every bit as good and that their Blend 30 was excellent. Now some of their more recent offerings have been disappointing..... but you cannot say that they only had one good product. Some houses have gone the other way, a few quiet duds while they gear up to greatness and you only remeber the great ones, forgetting the mediocre offerings that came before. I actually think that Must and Declaration are better scents than Santos although I might agree that Pasha was a disappointing second effort by Cartier.

[levente]

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.

[Scentologist]

Anything Liz Claiborne. The women's in the triangle bottle was awesome and curve was alright but everything since keeps getting worse!

[fraddicted]

Was thinking of Versace whose wonderful L' Homme is fabulous (his first) and hard to be reckoned with but remembered his equally wonderful, though quite different, The Dreamer.
Also would place Carolina Herrera's original Herrera for Men in this catagory as I feel it is probably her best work.