Lacoste (original) 
Lacoste (1984)

I've never been one for tennis, nor golf, and things like polo, cricket, lacrosse....all far too bourgeois for my working class roots. However, being raised in Massachusetts, I've always been adjacent to the affluent, the Boston brahmins, and all the prep, pomp, and circumstance that surrounds it. I am not sure if it stems from a sliver of self-loathing being so familiar with the wealthy and internalizing it, but I still have a romanticized affection for the clean-cut and sporty. Well, if I could never quite fit its mold, and, now that I am growing long in the tooth, I know just how ugly it can be underneath it all, why not just lust after it through a scent and get on with it?

Lacoste (original vintage) can make me feel it without actually *being* it, let alone being around it. That's the beauty of fragrance, it can give you a few hours of myth and fantasy, replete with a rugby shirt and cocky demeanor. Lime is one cocky fruit, and that's the most forward citrus here, delicious and sour, with its biting wit. Tart and tangy, as grassy as the pitch, a basil and lavender cool off the sweat somewhat, the geranium and carnation combo that I swoon over takes over and leads it all into an impeccable mossy-grassy-woody base. Tube socks and Adidas Sambas, anyone? How about a weekend in Chatham? Even better, Nantucket?

Vintage Lacoste testament that fragrances don't need miles of depth or complexity to be classics. Classic in the sense that there's no modern sweet twist or aqua note, just a traditional blend that recalls a time when colognes were relatively straightforward and not necessarily simple, but restrained and conservative. This fragrance is a true gentleman's scent. There is no sweetness, no gourmand quality, and the progression is very basic indeed.

The fragrance should appeal to fans of Dior's Eau Sauvage (1966). The aromatic spices and lavender mean that the wearer may feel he has just emerged form the barbershop but the quality and refinement of this scent assure us that this is no mere drugstore cologne. The base of classic woods is at once familiar and yet unique here in the way it mingles with the other notes. I think of a man walking down the cloudy streets of France or Italy wearing a simple fall coat and maybe smoking a cigarette. He's waiting for his lady love near a cafe. 

I was motivated to purchase Lacoste after reading many positive comments and upon reading that it is a classic fougère. I scored a vintage, original 1 oz spray bottle Made in France and distributed by Solipar. It's got that 80s rich, oak moss vibe that I like. Reminds me of Polo Green; I may like it even better. Performance is very good.

It may be difficult to imagine now, but Lacoste (1984) was once a cutting-edge sport fragrance, even if today it may seem extremely simple and inadequate in performance for most people. You see, when the brand Lacoste reached out to Jean Patou to help them create a scent that matched the purpose of their high-end sportswear, it not only gave then house perfumer Jean Kerleo his first assignment, but also helped establish the very concept of a sport fragrance. That original Lacoste by Jean Patou (1967) and its fresher follow-up Lacoste Eau de Sport (1968) would give guys the notion that a special fragrance made to be lightweight and not cloying was the way to go for an active lifestyle. This became the standard for sport fragrances through the 70's and 80's until the ostentatious freshness of the aquatic took over as the de-facto "sport smell". Meanwhile, Lacoste spun off into its own fragrance brand, with Jean Kerleo continuing to compose for them until Patou off-loaded the license to P&G Prestige in 1998, himself making Lacoste Booster (1996) just after his final Patou fragrance. Lacoste '84 was essentially a re-orchestration of the original Lacoste by Jean Patou to be simpler, cleaner, and without any floral or animalic traces, but is still a chypre at its core.

The opening of Lacoste '84 (or Lacoste Original and even just "Lacoste") is bog standard citrus chypre with menthol tacked on for coolness, with a lot of clary sage right up front that never goes away and is eventually joined by clove in the heart. A lot of florals are listed in published note pyramids, but all I really get is this sage, plus basil and a bit of geranium until that clove comes up, very much like Jacomo Anthracite pour l'Homme (1991) but lighter and less fussy. Beyond that, you get oakmoss, sandalwood, a bit of tonka for smoothness, and some of that menthol returning to mix with the sage. When people warn you this fades in two hours, believe them, since it comes on nice and effervescent for thirty minutes, then becomes a quiet bubble for 2 hours, and a skin scent for 6. The whole point of Lacoste (and all sport scents from the era) was to be airy and unobstructive, as a fresh tonic after physical exertion, not a statement about your sexual prowess via suggested fit lifestyles like modern sport scents. Best use is after a shower, or maybe to bed when all you need is a few hours, and in the dead heat of summer when you're outside and all but the lightest scents will swelter on you. In a sense, sport scents like this were really then-modern interpretations of the original eau de cologne, at least in spirit.

Is Lacoste 84 good? Well I guess it is, or at least I like it because I enjoy simple and fundamental fragrances like this. If you're wanting a bold "wearable art" statement as most collectors seem to view discontinued vintages like this one, look elsewhere because this is a scent that has very little to actually say. Just like with American Crew Classic Fragrance (2000), Lacoste is all about clary sage until it's all about almost nothing but its own base (which is chypre in this case), so I'm willing to rock out with it. Reformulations of this when P&G took over gut most of the oakmoss out and all of the sandalwood, so you do not want anything made before 1998 (or anything P&G Prestige) if you're wanting that plonk of sandalwood intact (sage still dominates either way). Kerleo was willing to bookend his legendary career at Patou with comparatively ignoble Lacoste fragrances, so I guess that means something to his affinity for simple fresh chypres, but there really is nothing to get excited about despite the historical pedigree afforded here, unless you're just a big fan of bottles with crocodiles on them. Definitely worth a sample or at most a 1oz/30ml bottle blind buy, since those are cheapest and most plentiful, but sometimes not making them like they used isn't a bad thing. Thumbs up.

Really like this one, but longevity is horrible!

The opening, it starts off very green in the first 30 seconds, I wouldn't expect it to change so much so quickly, but before I check back, it turns into what mostly smells like candied limes to me. It reminds me a bit of The Natural by Gap at this time, as it mostly smells like sweet limes, and a little bit of vetiver. It has a certain soapy quality, and remains green, and is really lovely. This quick middle phase doesn't last very long, before the dry down already takes over, where it smells something like a super fresh iteration of Polo for Men.

It's hard to give positive marks to a fragrance that lasts 2 hours, but this one can be found cheap enough, at under $20 online easily. Carry a decant with you to freshen up, and you should be good.

This is the smell of Eric Rohmer´s 80´s films:

Casual, easy, deep, pastel colors, loosen shirts, postmodernism, lakes, beaches, woods and the feel of summer.

Green, very green and classic.

10/10.
Best,
BruceB