Persolaise Review: Lavender Extrême from Tom Ford (2019)

Oh look, Tom Ford is still insisting that it’s 1975. Mind you, having just listened to the news, I can’t say I blame him for wanting to take us into the past. But nostalgia is a dangerous thing, because it can blind you to the fact that, behind the sharp lapels, the oversized hair dos and the illuminated dance floors, the world of a few decades ago wasn’t quite as groovy as some of us would now like to believe. Especially if you were a woman, black or gay. Or, heaven help you, all three! That said, Ford’s new Lavender Extrême isn’t a trite exercise in olfactory reminiscing. Thankfully, it takes what’s best about the past, and re-casts it with welcome touches of modernity.

Yet again, the object of Ford’s attention is the fougere: usually, the most ostentatiously pec-pumping of perfumery genres. It’s a form he’s explored several times in recent years – notably in Fougere Platine, Fougere D’Argent and Beau De Jour – but here, it’s stretched beyond its usual structure to the point that it begins to head into the territory of orientals. As you’d expect from the scent’s name, the lavender note is recognisable and prominent, unashamed in its presentation of those familiar herbal, camphoraceous, sugary, green, hay-like facets. However, rather than being paired up with bright citruses or vanillic, caramelised elements, as is usually the way, it’s made cooler and haughtier – think: Pacino in The Godfather Part II – through the addition of iris, cinnamon and a markedly incense-like, resinous effect.

The whole isn’t as readily approachable as, say, Caron’s Pour Un Homme. And it runs the risk of coming across as shrill — there’s probably a reason the brand has chosen to house the scent in a garishly reflective bottle. But on skin, it stays just on the right side of ‘sophisticated’, granting dear old lavender more elegance and relevance than a mainstream brand has managed to give it for some time. It’s tough to say if, within the UK context, it’ll banish the persistent – and offensive – complaint that lavender is “old ladyish.” But if it does anything at all to fight current prejudices towards old age, then I’m happy for it to keep one platform-heeled, Bee-Gees-tapping foot firmly in the past.

[Review based on a sample of eau de parfum provided by Tom Ford in 2019.]

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