Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme

Gucci
Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme

In 2015, a new Creative Director showed for Gucci. Vanessa Freidman in the New York Times commented that Alessandro Michele “delved into an imaginary attic trunk full of vintage treasures, recombining the elements for the girls and boys of a haute flea market world.” Michele’s new vision for Gucci (a huge departure from the sexed-up aesthetic of Tom Ford) is a joyful caravan and as the fragrance releases trickle through under his direction, it’s looking pretty exciting.

The colour of the bottle, that vintage Gucci oxblood of a million striped straps, gives a clue to berry note inside.

It’s juuuuuuicy.

BUT, especially at the very start, it’s got a clarity and youthfulness to it that feels really modern. Apparently Michele wanted a blackberry note that would make you dream upon smelling it and after an initial tartness, it is indeed dreamy, sensuous and mellow. This is not jam for your toast, this is something cool with the texture of velvet and it deepens into a rich Bulgarian rose that works to amp up that texture of soft burgundy petals.

I get that rose for maybe 30 minutes before the fun really starts.

You see, the Pour Femme rests on the same love-it-or-hate-it base of the Pour Homme: ‘Goldenwood’. Goldenwood is a 70’s nostagia-fest, with a slightly bitter, resinous, leathery green cypress thing going on. It’s retro but with that knowingly ironic tone that is imbued in Michele’s aesthetic.

As the press pack kindly informs me, we have a modern fruity chypre on our hands, ladies and gents.

The classic chypre base (quick PSA) is warm and dry and woody, sexy, animalic, and dreamed up just in time for the roaring 20’s (thanks Frank Coty), but bounced right back in the 70’s. Michele embraces that 70’s vibe with abandon, and the base of Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme has a masculine character, as the rose gives way to a patchouli note blending with this Goldenwood. By now, if you’re wearing Guilty you will struggle to say Goldenwood without a giggle (well I am), because it’s become really sexy in a Boogie Night kinda way.

Oh, one last thing – the other clever inclusion in Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme is my bae ambergris. Ambergris (or I assume, its synthetic equivalent Ambrox), is used to gorgeous effect here, adding air, keeping a lid on that smutty patchouli that wants to pull out a joint and ruin the party, while still sexing things up and making the whole composition feel slightly more spaced out. This gives the Pour Femme the lift it needs, IMO, to transcend the pastiche that is always a danger when you delve into the flea market of scent history, no matter how haute. I think the dreaminess of this juice has Ambrox to thank. So thanks, Ambrox.

Gucci Guilty Absolute Pour Femme is available EVERYWHERE so hurry up and buy it.