The first of many men's fragrances to come from designer John Varvatos, the original John Varvatos does for me what I think a good fragrance should do: it creates a sense of mystery and wonder. The aroma is at once familiar at yet completely new, unique, difficult to place. If a fragrance can catch your attention and hold it like that, it is a fragrance worth having.
It's interesting to look back at what was going on in the world of men's fragrances in 2004 when John Varvatos hit the shelves. Just the year prior, Kenneth Cole became the first major designer to wade into the "black" market: he released a scent called Black, housed it in a black bottle, and made black suede the prominent note.
Armani took the hint in 2004 with their Black Code (later to be renamed simply Armani Code) release, and John Varvatos landed the same year with a similar black bottle, black leather vibe. By 2005 everyone was getting into the "black" game: Black XS (Paco Rabanne), Obsession Night (Calvin Klein), Polo Black (Ralph Lauren), Silver Black (Azzaro) -- even Stetson took a stab at the genre with their Stetson Black offering.
But John Varvatos unquestionably did it best. The fragrance announces its intentions without ambiguity from the first spray: this is a black leather scent, so here's a hefty dose of black leather accord.
The leather is rich and realistic, aided in its authenticity by a smooth and subtle layer of slightly sour oud (eaglewood), which is then balanced ever-so carefully with suggestions of sweet vanilla and balsam. Not too sweet, of course, because the goal is to present sensuous black leather, which is neither sweet nor sour, but somewhere between the two.
The real razzle-dazzle, however, comes from the notes of medjool date fruit, sticky and dark, pungent and dense. I don't know that I've ever smelled this note in a designer fragrance, either before or since, but it is the magic note that first stopped me dead in my tracks and made me pay attention. "What is that? What in the world?"
This was perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux's first creation for John Varvatos, and he has worked on at least a dozen John Varvatos scents since then, all of them carrying this signature of high quality and sparkling creativity. Unfortunately, another characteristic of the Varvatos juices is that they don't last long on the skin, so be ready to reapply this after four hours or so. With better performance, this would easily be a 10-star fragrance.
9/10 stars.
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