My dad loved roses. I remember when I started living abroad, away from my parents’ house in the outskirts of Brussels, I would invariably find, whenever I’d come home to visit, a freshly cut bouquet in my room. This would often be preceded by a full tour of the garden, to look at the new rose varietals my dad had planted. Like most “newly adult kids”, I tended to find my dad’s hobby both sweet and irritating. Now they hold a special place in my heart, and, since making Rome my home a few years ago, when spring suddenly veers into summer, generally without much warning at any time between end of April and May, I go to the city’s rose garden on the Aventine hill.
The Roseto Comunale, as it is known to the locals, has both an incredible view of the Circus Maximus and the Palatine Hill, and a surprisingly long history, in addition to an amazing selection of roses. Although it only became a rose garden in the 1930s, it can claim a much longer association with blooms and the botanical world. According to Tacitus in his Annales, it was known as a place dedicated to flowers as far back as the 3rd century BC. The Roman historian mentions the location of a temple dedicated to the goddess Flora, whose celebrations, the “Floralia,” took place in spring in the nearby Circus Maximus, now better known to Romans as a fun place for a Sunday walk or as an open-air rock concert venue…
Its link to the botanical world continues through the centuries, and historical documents tell us it was covered with vegetable gardens and vineyards until the 16th century, becoming, in the 17th century a cemetery of the Jewish community of Rome. In 1931 the cemetery was moved to a larger one and, as token of gratitude to the Jewish community, a stele was placed at the entrance to the garden in memory of its previous use, while the garden itself is designed in the shape of a Jewish menorah. At the same time, throught the impetus of an American socialite, Mary Gayley Senni, a rose competition, the Premio Roma, was created to celebrate the best new varietal of roses from around the world, a tradition that continues to this day during the month of May.
This is long preamble to explain what motivated me to take a walk in the Roseto on a fine May morning. I was struck by the ancient link between the city and roses, something I hadn’t considered before. While conducting some further research on the topic, I attended a recent presentation by Professor Giuseppe Squillace, the foremost expert of perfumes in the Ancient world (yes, there is such a thing,, and I urge you to discover his publications if this topic interests you!). According to his research, roses were widely used in perfumery in Roman times but not by women! Rose scents were predominantly for men, who preferred lighter scents, instead of women, who tended to favour more “oriental/amber” compositions featuring resins, balsams and warm spices (so to give a modern equivalent, women would wear Chanel’s opulent Le Lion or Andy Tauer’s Incense Extreme, while men would wear something fresher and lighter like Diptyque’s Eau Rose!).
This flies in the face of the modern conception of rose as being a predominantly feminine note in perfumery. Think of Guerlain’s fruity rose Nahema, Clinique’s patchouli-inflected rose in Aromatics Elixir, Serge Lumens’ opulent bouquet of rose with Sa Majesté la Rose or Stella McCartney’s fresh citrus rose Stella, to name but a very few. Rose has been centre stage in endless feminine-marketed perfumes for the last 150 years.
Having said that, perfume has become more “gender-less” in the last 20 years, due in large part to the rise of “niche” fragrances that tend not to be marketed along gender lines, but I still believe a lot of men will be discouraged by overtly rose perfumes (and florals in general). So I thought I would suggest a few rose perfumes that I think would work well on a man, especially if he has some reservations about rose/floral scented perfumes.
First tip: please wear what you want and makes you happy! (bearing in mind people, around you mind you).
Second tip, if unsure of where to start, my advice would be to avoid fruity-floral rose perfumes, overly sweet scents and very retro-powdery roses. Anyone can wear those scents, I am not saying men shouldn’t, but I think those are the most gender coded categories.
Ok, so what to choose as a “safe” rose perfume for a guy? I would go for rose paired with incense and/or woody elements, alternatively a green rose centred around geranium or a chypre-structured rose as a rule of thumb.
Let’s look at a few recommendations:
– Incense Rose
If “cool” notes appeal to you, if you’re the type of man who is interested in history, likes classy clothes and understanded luxury, prefers reading printed books and wants to avoid overly loud perfumes, I recommend the incense and rose combo. This pairing lends a mineralic/cool element to rose, keeps in check the natural honeyed fruitiness of the flower, and tends to lend perfumes a classy and low key vibe. “I’m the king and I don’t have to raise my voice for you to notice” type of attitude.
-Portrait of a lady by EdPFM: I mean, do I need to introduce this? Rose, Incense, patchouli and a raspberry top note. You can’t go wrong with that, even though it is on the wrong side of loud for my personal taste and very pricey.
-Paestum Rose by Eau d’Italie. Discontinued gem. Really exemplifies the cool rose growing among ancient ruins to me. Search on the internet if you can still find a bottle…
–Incense Rose by Andy Tauer. Sparkling and cold. Richer and spicier than the previous offerings.
-Woody (Patchouli)
-Hippy Rose by Heeley. All of Heeley’s perfumes have a classy element, they all show great restraint. Patchouli (a “damp leaf in a forest” kind of smell, slightly mouldy) can be overbearing and this perfume flirts with the acceptable limit of patchouli in my view but includes sufficient incense to keep it in check…
I think it’s an all-rounder. Strong enough to last through any office day not so potent as to stink everyone out. Classy and confident, it says “this is me, here I come”. Confident mind you but not obnoxious.
–Paris-Paris by Chanel: a lighter fare, more of a wash of rose and patchouli. It’s the kind of perfume you could wear both in hot weather (fresh enough) but also in colder months, as its fresh top notes are perfectly balanced with a woody-mossy base that make it perfect for all occasions and climates. No incense here. Perfect if you want something that has a bit of personality but not so much as to offend anyone.
-Woody (oud)
-Oud Palao by Diptyque. In the same vein as Dior’s Oud Ispahan but better. This one is quite potent, the very slightly “poo” aspect of oud showing its head from time to time, so I would not recommend this as an office scent or a dinner date, but it would work great in an outdoor setting or a night out.
-Geranium rose/Green rose
I’m always a champion of green scents and my pick would be for a vetiver and leather combo: –Rose et Cuir by EdPFM: despite its name, I don’t really think of it as leather scent, or at least not a traditional “freshly greased leather boots” type of leather. I love wearing it as well and what I think it conveys is a certain freshness and assertiveness built around the vetiver, geranium and the synthetic molecule of IBQ. It’s for the person who doesn’t need to try too hard, and is more of an outdoorsy type.
A Chypre/”neo chypre” style rose
So “chypre” is this fancy category most people can’t pronounce or explain. It’s basically a perfume constructed with a sparkling fresh opening (citrus fruits) followed by a floral heart and anchored by woody bitter notes (before oakmoss now increasingly synthetic replacer or just patchouli). Heeley’s Hippy Rose we already talked about could be classified as a modern chypre but I think of other perfumes in this category first because of their greater emphasis on the balance between a sparkling top and a mossy base.
-I think Gris Dior by Dior is a great example of neo-Chypre. Bottega Veneta by Bottega Veneta as well. Rose with a spicy pink pepper top and slight woody mossy base. Classy, easy to pull off and totally genderless. It’s your typical white shirt and a suit fragrance.
There are loads more I could recommend but don’t want this list to be endless..
Upon reflection, I think should send this list to a gentleman who lives in my condo whose offensive (to my nose) rose/amberwood perfume trail I can detect each time I take the lift. (gasp).
I silently pray, “please, life is too short to wear bad perfumes…”
