L’Arte di Gucci vintage ad

When first smelled, some perfumes instantaneously bring a place, a memory, a catch of music, or a texture to mind. But only one brings an expression. L’Arte di Gucci, one of the world’s great rose chypres, is an arched brow above a knowing stare; the ironic, look-but-don’t touch beauty of 50s-60s model Anne Sainte-Marie, with her ever-present hint of a smile. L’Arte di Gucci, like Saint-Marie’s images, is an angular, patrician beauty, impeccably composed. But while she is alluring in her come-hither remoteness, a hot glint in her eye suggests that for all her good breeding, she is quite possibly carrying a whip and some handcuffs in her expensive leather satchel.

Anne Sainte-Marie by P. Horst, 1960s

Created in 1991, L’Arte di Gucci composed by Steve DeMacado, to my mind, Gucci’s best perfume. I can chalk up its otherwise inexplicable discontinuation only to changing of olfactory fashion towards the unisex perfumes that took over the market in the 1990s. L’Arte would have stood out among the sea of CK1 knock-offs like an ornery mermaid ready to shipwreck the lot of them. And indeed, the asymmetrical glass bottle looks like the sort of dark, jagged rock on which a sailor might run aground.

Photo by Ellen von Unwerth for Vogue Japan, July 2015

L’Arte di Gucci EDT and EDP (both of which are in my collection), have the bones of a classic green chypre, with bergamot in the top, patchouli in the middle, and oakmoss in the base amped up by vetiver. In the middle section, I find both versions similar, but the tops are quite different. The EDT’s first moments put me in mind of one of those vintage crystal spray brooches, pinned on a tweed suit: a crest of bergamot and aldehydes sparkle against some undefinable dark greenery, setting up a tension that creates the sense of tension in L’Arte di Gucci: effervescence against restraint; lush against bitter; hints of animal against refinement.  After the bergamot and aldehydes, up pops an assertively tart fruit, which comes across to me as raspberry. It adds a juicy counterpoint to the acerbic greenness. In these early moments, the notes come out quickly but distinctly, like the precise the dance steps of the foxtrot. Next comes coriander, stripped of most of its usual soapiness in favor of the textural woodiness smell of the seed, and then, the first potent wafts of rose.

Photo by Gladys Ng

The EDP, however, dispenses with the light dazzle of the EDT’s opening and goes full-on gothic rose from the outset. Oh, the raspberry and bergamot are still there in spades along with a peachy dose of aldehydes, but just long enough to pull back the curtains for la diva rose to make an entrance. And what a rose. So dark it almost smells of violets; dense with patchouli, earthy, voluptuous … but still contained. Both versions come together in the middle, when an animalic leather, smelling like something high-end but fetishistic – a leather-sheathed cane, perhaps – curls up alongside the rose unabashedly. The leather becomes a bit horsier in the EDT as time passes. Many hours later, as L’Arte de Gucci clings warmly to my wrists, oakmoss moves forward and the leather retreats. In the EDP, I find some peppery geranium in the dry-down, and a furry musk note that is anything but clean.

Photo by Gabor Jurina for Fashion Canada

L’Arte di Gucci’s brilliance is in the tease; its repeated retreat from the brink of overt sensuality back into the restraint of the chypre structure. The promise of surrender is never fully realized, as the bitter notes offset the spilled burgundy perfume of the rose, despite the presence of lush jasmine and tuberose. This push and pull gives L’Arte di Gucci an S&M quality that in any other perfume might seem like bad taste. But here, it is done so perfectly it is both elegant and sexy. One of the greatest rose chypres of all time.

Notes: Fruit note, bergamot, aldehyde, coriander, green note, rose, jasmine, geranium, tuberose, orris, lily of the valley, patchouli, vetiver, leather, amber, musk, oakmoss.

Disclaimer: L’Arte di Gucci EDT and EDP from my personal collection.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

Have you tried or heard of  L’Arte di Gucci. What is your favorite discontinued perfume?