Tom Ford wants you to smell the back of Cary Grant’s neck. At least, that’s what he told this writer at the launch of his new men’s fragrance, Beau de Jour. It might seem strange, but really the sentiment couldn’t be more quintessentially Tom Ford.
Like everything he creates, the fragrance, and the story behind it, suggests an underlying intimacy, a brazen masculinity, and a kind of sumptuous glamour that hasn’t been seen since the golden days of Hollywood.
The top notes of Beau de Jour are punctuated by a sharp herbiness – basil, rosemary and mint- tempered by the warmth of lavender and oakmoss. The result is a crisp, clean fragrance, evocative of a newly laundered shirt and clean shave. Overtime, however, this initial impression of freshness evolves into a rich, earthy musk of patchouli and amber. The end result is something charmingly cool yet unexpectedly dark, much like Mr. Grant himself. And while none of us will ever get the chance to cuddle up with the Hollywood legend, we can, at least for a moment, pretend. §