Tom Ford London: London or Dubai?

by: Serguey Borisov

Tom Ford Private Blend collection is one of the most sought-after exclusive perfume projects. There are rumours that Tom Ford himself invents every perfume of this line of fragrances. The press releases do not contain the perfumers' names and you need to search more about them. The Private Blend collection has a limited distribution to be more exclusive, but sometimes they push the exclusivity to the limits. I mean the Private Blend fragrances released for the next Tom Ford boutique opening.

Do you remember Tom Ford Italian Cypress? Its Italian citrus fruits, aromatic herbs and woody cypress were designed to express the Tom Ford spirit at the opening of the five-story boutique on Milan's Via Verri in 2008. Tom Ford Lavender Palm was presented at the opening of Beverly Hills boutique—the local heat just called for the freshness of lavender, which grows so well in California. The very same story happened with Tom Ford London: the perfume was the olfactory signature of the Tom Ford boutique opening on Sloane Street in London in 2013. Want to test or buy these three perfumes? Welcome to the boutiques!

 

However, after some time—usually six or twelve months—Tom Ford exclusive perfumes appear in wider distribution. (It reminds me of Le Labo's marketing of limited city-exclusives.) Today, you can test and buy all three urban exclusives in Moscow, but for the article we will review the newest, the London perfume.

Tom Ford London. I expected it to be a strict lavender perfume, with a floral soapy heart of rose and geranium, and a woody drydown (rugged oakmoss and/or hazy amber). A fragrance for British gentlemen with a stiff upper lip—City brokers, noble Sirs or maybe Sherlock Holmes. Oh, how wrong I was!

It turns out that London by Tom Ford—judging by its smell—is a great and rich but almost Arabian city, where the long-waving sillage of spices, attars and oud drift from bright bazaars through every street. Really, when Tom Ford said that “our British customers are among the most discerning and stylish in the world,” was he referring to those that come from the Middle East to buy a business, to invest in Great Britain and do some shopping? Well, after oud became an intrinsic part of the Big Apple (for example, Bond No 9 New York Oud and New York Oud Pure Tola Oil), there is nothing to be surprised at. We can only take it as another manifestation of multiculturalism and tolerance—now people in a turbans, thawbs or abayas are no surprise for the city of London. And American Tom Ford is an alien in London too, like Sting was in New York. Long-awaited, but an alien.
 

London is the next step of Tom Ford's affair with a beautiful oriental aromamaterial. After hot oud-ambery Yves Saint Laurent M7 the world has seen more ouds by Tom Ford: Oud Wood, Tobacco Oud, and Oud Fleur. And it seems the affair was not over—the spicy and powdery, resinous and flushed perfume named London confirms that.
 

It won me over with the very first inhale. Like a kung-fu master of half-fantastic movies praising this kind of martial arts, he poked me in three places so precisely to make me weak and paralyze my willpower. It poked me in my love of tarry cold cardamom. In my affection for the powdery-spicy cumin with its leather and animal shade. And in the common human weakness for hot amber fragrances. After this triple poke I fell in front of the triple accord, ready to go limp after the oriental trail ... this is the sweaty beast in the beginning, these five minutes of brutal beauty that I try to recall afterwards all day, try to find traces of the beast in labdanum and oud, in the warm comfy woody basenotes. The beast justifies the creation of the next Oud in the Tom Ford Private Blend collection. Oud does not play the Oriental Star here, in London, but creates harmony, together with labdanum and woods, it works as a manager that makes a Team out of good players, gathering all together, making every one significant and everything on its place.

It's so harmonious, that I wonder why it was not launched before.

TOM FORD LONDON
Top notes: Black pepper, Saffron, Cardamom, Coriander, Cumin and Coffee;
Middle notes: Geranium, Jasmine, Incense and Labdanum;
Base notes: Agarwood (oud), Musk, Birch, Cedar and Amyris.

P.S. To close, one anecdote about an unknown Tom Ford exclusive fragrance. In October 2014 in Moscow, I was asked when the newest perfume by Tom Ford, namely Milan, would be launched in Russia. Totally unaware of it, I turned to the Tom Ford office in Russia. The PR person in charge shrugged her shoulders and made a request to the headquarters, but they had no idea at all. My quick search of the web brought me nothing but two references to the Ukrainian forum where some woman from Kiev offered to split some 200 ml of “Tom Ford Spesial Edition Milan” [sic!] fragrance in October 2013. This totally unknown exclusive fragrance—“Tom Ford made it exclusively for the Milan boutique launch party”—was decanted and split amongst Ukrainian perfumistas in just one day!

Few doubts that the decants which “smell not like Tom Ford” had received the answer that “it`s all right with Tom Ford perfume, it's just a problem with some noses.” And in January 2014, the "never launched version of the Tom Ford perfume” was split again, this time an additional 300 ml. Judging by the reviews of happy owners, under the name of Tom Ford Milan could have been sold some Tom Ford Italian Cypress, which was created for the Milan boutique in 2008. In the worst case scenario, it could also have been any perfume or mixture from any producer.

P.P.S. No, I have not tried it. Don't even go there.