Knize Ten

How can a fragrance that's over a century old and pretty much unchanged still be so outstanding in today's world! It's such a wonderful scent that will make any modern man stand out amongst the crowd. A powerful leather, animalic chypre that performs strongly all around. Delivering an initial blast of citrus, geranium, aromatics and carnation with the myriad of heart and base notes already very detectable too, waiting in the wings to take centre stage. The magic of Knize ten is that the opening never fully leaves as it morphs into a heart of florals, woods, spices and so much more . At this stage there is a strong violet note to me, although not in the official ingredients! Then the big, bold beautiful base of this incredible piece of art becomes more prominent, still somehow never fully overpowering the gorgeous opening and mid notes. Make no bones though, you'll not escape the leather, oakmoss, castoreum and musk but wonderfully balanced with amber and a touch of vanilla I think! The leather note is quite possibly the finest of any Chypre, in fact any scent I've encountered. If you like modern, generic profiles this may not be for you but if you are open minded, like a touch (or massive hit) of the classics then you may strike gold, I did. It's not the same but has essences of RP Polo, Kouros, anteus as well as the delicate florals and citrus notes of brands like Floris! It's none of these and yet all of them. Intrigued? You should be, truly a one off creation. It's blended to perfection and beyond, offering an aroma and performance that any high end niche house would be proud of. It's just sublime. This is definitely a man's scent, a fellow who's all about excellence and has a strong identity. This is going to sound contradictory but I believe it's truly for a man 30 upwards who has done well for himself and will continue to do so! Why the contradiction? I have to fight my 18 year old daughter over this scent, especially when it's temperate weather, she is smitten and is buying herself a bottle....at my request. 😆 Knize ten excels anytime except extreme heat. Now, I wear this whenever I get the opportunity. Even just at home as it's so amazing in its refinement and craft, it lifts my soul. If I'm going anywhere at all, this is always right at the top for consideration, often winning. Truly one of the very best perfumes ever created in my opinion, of course you may not agree...and that is the beauty of perfumery. It's incredible value and worth seeking out but definitely not a blind buy, is any fragrance! In summary, it's very distinctive, great performing and sits right at the top of the perfumery tree.

This legend (purportedly) turns 100 this year, so I thought that a little review on the centennial was in order; especially since I finally scored a bottle for myself. A bit of history first. In 1924, K10 was launched in one of the most vibrant, bustling, sexually exuberant, intellectually effervescent, and culturally influential metropolises in the Western world (a mere few years before it all went to fascist shit): Vienna. The commissioner: Joseph Kniže, founder of the house and tailor of the Royal Court. The noses: François Coty (father of all modern perfumery) and Vincent Roubert (eventual creator of Iris Gris). The original dream team. Fast forward a century. K10 is still in production, still in the game, still beloved by the faithful. Its legendary status notwithstanding, I wasn’t sure what to expect. On the one hand, it’s an institution: vaunted as the first dry leather masculine, on which all subsequent masculine leathers would be directly or indirectly based: the reference leather. On the other hand, it has innumerable disappointed detractors (scroll below) who claim that today’s juice has been irreparably corrupted, smelling more like a hot chemical mess or a cheap floral air freshener or a bunch of used urinal cakes in a highway rest stop (“but without the redeeming qualities of Kouros”), than the alleged “granddaddy of all leathers.” Ok. So what does it smell like? Ehem. I’m elated (and relieved) to report that I am resolutely not in the camp of the detractors. This. Juice. Smells. GREAT. It opens with a hesperidic burst of rosemary and citruses that are very subtly laced with petrol. [Parenthesis: there’s a red berry effect here that I admit reminds me of Tuscan Leather for a minute, before moving on. I haven’t seen anyone else point it out. Is it just me?] A bouquet of piquant flowers suddenly envelops you like velvet curtains: rose, indolic jasmine, clove carnation... as a chorus of animalics begins to growl and purr. The main act: a sultry, semi-sweet, full grain leather that is sweaty and sensual and oh-so-addictive. And that’s not all. I detect rubber. I don’t mean ironic or pretend rubber (hello, Tom of Finland), but actual, residing-in-a-1920s-Viennese-dungeon, skin tight, odorous, wet-and-slippery, inherently kinky, black, fucking rubber. I pledge allegiance.

Its difficult to write a review about knize ten. Seems pretty pointless to talk about specific notes and elements here. Some people seem to associate this one with a leather jacket, aviator shades and a motorcycle. Some other picture an aristocrat in a tailored suit. I tend to go with the latter, considering the house that sells it is known for making 7000€ tailored suits. Knize ten smells like wealth & class. It smells like inherited money, not earned money. Very european, very continental. The gentleman who wears it probably also carries a sigil ring and never leaves the house in jeans & t shirt. He would rather have his ears cut off and eyes gauged out before watching something like the eurovision song contest or reading an article about the kardashians. This is the smell of an era gone by. It recalls upon the former glory of the austro-hungarian monarchy. It has a certain sadness and nostalgia to it, reminiscent of a world that once was and never will be again. The gent who wears it is the last line of defense of the classic western man against the modern millennial non binary human being. It’s extremely cultured, well mannered and elegant. Almost too perfect, too charming, too “perfumish” which gives it an almost menacing , authoritive vibe. I can picture hans landa from inglorious bastards wearing k10. The perfume clearly is a work of art, the craftsmanship that went into this is beyond 95% of everything produced today. It’s like a beethoven symphony or a picture like The Godfather. Timeless classic. You don’t have to like it, just don’t hate it for the wrong reasons. It may be not your taste but one cant say that it’s badly made. Little advice: you need to smell this in the air, from a distance. The scent you get when you bury your nose into the sprayed area of your arm has little to do with the whiffs other people will get when they’re around you. This will always have a special place in my heart, it’s the very soul of my hometown vienna in a bottle, always longing for a former glory that has vanished into history books. But knize ten, as the ringstraße or schönbrunn or the stephansdom stand there as silent reminders of that bygone era. It puts a smile upon my face, with a hint of sadness.

I bought Knize Ten early in the summer and wore it a few times. I recently wore it for the first time since the cooler weather began. At first there is a loud blast of floral leather. The first hour or two can almost feel overpowering. It is a very dry leather, almost harsh but there is something sweet that makes it beautiful. I sprayed myself early in the morning then went about my business. At some point later in the morning I caught myself thinking: this is the best fragrance I have smelled. Then I remembered I had thought the same after wearing KT for the second time during the summer. The first time I wore it almost put me off for life – it can take a wearing or two to “get it” (that's not to say it will be to everyone's taste of course). In cooler weather KT will last the whole day long. It also develops and goes through various phases. At some point the initial brightness calms down a little and something becomes apparent that is dense, almost greasy; in a very good way. I get a similar effect in the dry down of L'Air du Dessert M. I'm wondering if it is ambergris, whether real or synthetic. I am unlikely to find a fragrance I love more than this so the only real issue for me is the volume. Over time I have become more and more conscious of over-projecting – although it hasn't stopped me from buying, for example, Carnal Flower. I get the feeling that after one squirt of KT I'm radiating enough to fill a modestly sized concert hall with this wonderful scent. Not a bad thing in theory but of course some other concert goers might be impertinent enough to wear their own scents thereby ruining the effect. The result would most likely be some unsavoury blend that would, at some point, float onto the stage sending panic signals around the orchestra. If a highly strung diva in full flight were to catch the scent the results could be catastrophic. The solution, for me at least, is to pick the right time to apply. That is to say not five minutes before taking my seat at a sold out Royal Opera House performance. It would be better left for a lazy weekend with several hours of lounging before going out and mingling with the general public.

I have a question for you, and the answer will determine whether you should seek out Knize Ten. The question sounds completely obvious, but half will answer one way and half the other, like one of those viral memes where what we see or hear splits us surprisingly into two camps. The question is this: is perfume an art form, like film, poetry or visual art, or is it functional, like makeup or food? The latter camp is a much easier place to be, especially in the intellectually stunted world of men’s designer fragrance counters. In this place, there is no centering historical consciousness, only the frontier of current trends. It’s akin to enjoying a dish at a restaurant similar enough to any other, just feeding people what they want today, as opposed to viewing an artwork in a museum, bringing one’s own knowledge of history, interpretation and technique to get the most of the work’s unique impact. And let’s face it, being a guy in the “art” camp is a hassle. You have to actively seek out non-designer scents to build your own knowledge of genres, trends, materials etc. And learning the history is especially hard - outside of going to the perfume museum in Paris or taking chances on vintage bottles, you only have writings which can never replace experience, like trying to learn the history of fine cuisine by reading old cookbooks while subsisting on Pop-Tarts. Well Knize Ten is a chance to have a bit of that museum experience on your own shelf. A beautiful 1920s masculine floral/animalic, so far from current trends that it has completed its historical journey from trendy to outdated to unfamiliar, and now we can experience it anew. It takes me to an Austria of a century past, with massive amounts of masculine florals (well beyond today’s typical masculine) and a soft powdery leather (orris/castoreum) giving a somewhat sporty feel, evoking handlebar-mustachioed men working out with leather medicine balls in a boxing gym, before they shower and return to the streets of Vienna in dandified formal clothes. If any of that interests you, for god’s sake give it a try. It’s cheaper than a museum-hopping trip to Paris.