Reviews of Adolfo for Men by Frances Denney
Adolfo for Men by Frances Denney (1981) is a very instantly oily, woody, and coniferous scent, to be sure. This is a huge green chypre, right in the same vein as Polo by Ralph Lauren (1978) and Yatagan by Caron (1974), with the big grassy tones of something like Devin by Aramis (1978) and castoreum of One Man Show by Jacques Bogart (1980). Adolfo bridges the 1970's style with the slightly more herbal and floral style of this same genre that would emerge a few years later with Krizia Uomo (1984) and Basile Uomo (1987), so for me its an in-betweener advancing the state of the art, but not much more remarkable than that. Adolfo for Men is good stuff, but another fragrance lost in the mix because it was launched by a failing brand. Most people's ownership of their bottle lasted longer than the time the scent was on the market.
The opening is honestly more challenging than the rest of the fragrance, so this is the part where not giving up is important. Lots of galbanum, artemisia, juniper, and pine all smack you in the face with the faintest puff of bergamot and lemon to (not) soften them. This huge forest note right up your nose comes in and clears out everything for a softer jasmine and rose-led heart that is made slightly chewy with herbs and clove. The base is another big wollop, but blended much better than the top, with leather, oakmoss, and castoreum creamed together; only a bit of sharp incense and patchouli stick above it. Personally, the dry down is where this gets the "long wearing cologne" tag, as Adolfo goes literally all day, just maybe not with the most potent projection. There's a lot of confusion about how Adolfo smells, and I'll explain that next.
The story from Frances Denny is this was launched as just Adolfo in 1978, named after the Cuban-born NYC haberdasher and milliner named Adolfo Sardina, who never used his own name professionally as a fashion label, but did custom work for clients in his shop. The stuff was relaunched three years later as the Adolfo for Men "Long Wear Cologne" with what I presume is enhanced performance. Adolfo II by Frances Denney (1981) joined the original as a woman's fragrance in the same year the original was given the "Long Wear" upgrade, and eventually was replaced with "Adolfo Classic" by 1993 and given a completely different smell more related to a barbershop fougère before the brand was shuttered. With so many Adolfos out there, you're never sure which one folks remembers smelling when mentioned. Thumbs up
The opening is honestly more challenging than the rest of the fragrance, so this is the part where not giving up is important. Lots of galbanum, artemisia, juniper, and pine all smack you in the face with the faintest puff of bergamot and lemon to (not) soften them. This huge forest note right up your nose comes in and clears out everything for a softer jasmine and rose-led heart that is made slightly chewy with herbs and clove. The base is another big wollop, but blended much better than the top, with leather, oakmoss, and castoreum creamed together; only a bit of sharp incense and patchouli stick above it. Personally, the dry down is where this gets the "long wearing cologne" tag, as Adolfo goes literally all day, just maybe not with the most potent projection. There's a lot of confusion about how Adolfo smells, and I'll explain that next.
The story from Frances Denny is this was launched as just Adolfo in 1978, named after the Cuban-born NYC haberdasher and milliner named Adolfo Sardina, who never used his own name professionally as a fashion label, but did custom work for clients in his shop. The stuff was relaunched three years later as the Adolfo for Men "Long Wear Cologne" with what I presume is enhanced performance. Adolfo II by Frances Denney (1981) joined the original as a woman's fragrance in the same year the original was given the "Long Wear" upgrade, and eventually was replaced with "Adolfo Classic" by 1993 and given a completely different smell more related to a barbershop fougère before the brand was shuttered. With so many Adolfos out there, you're never sure which one folks remembers smelling when mentioned. Thumbs up
A decent fragrance but I'm not sure the relation to the Gentleman version. This is just a moderately wearing though nice enough masculine that needs to be taken with u if you're gonna be gone all day.
8/10
8/10
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After my first wearing, I'm thinking this is nice (okay), but boarding on good as the scent is growing on me. AFM is a dry, green, herbal fragrance that's in the neighborhood of classics like Bogart (Signature), Basile Uomo, Maxim, and Equipage. Performance is decent. I purchased this on eBay for only $12.99 including free shipping for a lot of three bottles, and that is excellent.
"Coniferous Chypre" is what I get. Notes of juniper, artemisia, lemon and pineapple, aromatic and waxy, in the top; prominent middles notes of carnation, thyme, and jasmine, base notes of labdanum, moss, leather and musk: opulent and refined. (I remember wearing gem this back in my gray blazer prep school days and feeling very confident.) All credit to the perfumer who managed to conjure up images of the wool felt in millinery.
H&R's Fragrance Guide from 1989 classified Adolfo as a "Coniferous Chypre" along with Polo, Xeryus and Drakkar Noir but many in that group seem to have been more recently reclassified as Fougeres. To me Adolfo has none of the hallmarks of a fougere (the classic lavender/tonka interplay), with a fresh opening, a mellow spicy-woody heart, and a subtly rich base. The opening to me has always smelled like pineapple, although it is not listed in the pyramid, which is as follows:
Top: Bergamot, galbanum, artemisia, lemon, green note, juniper
Middle: Carnation, cinnamon, thyme, pine, jasmine, rose
Base: Patchouli, olibanum, leather, labdanum, moss, amber, musk
Adolfo is distinctive and subtle, by no means a powerhouse, although it is a product of the 80's, and while it doesn't last in memory the way some of its compatriots do, it's still quite pleasant and worth wearing from time to time.
Top: Bergamot, galbanum, artemisia, lemon, green note, juniper
Middle: Carnation, cinnamon, thyme, pine, jasmine, rose
Base: Patchouli, olibanum, leather, labdanum, moss, amber, musk
Adolfo is distinctive and subtle, by no means a powerhouse, although it is a product of the 80's, and while it doesn't last in memory the way some of its compatriots do, it's still quite pleasant and worth wearing from time to time.
Very assertive and eighties. I love the lemon in this, I usually don't care for lemon essence, it is prominent in the opening notes and subdued in the background afterward. Beautiful dry down with heady musk and leather dominating. Unfortunately the spray bottle I bought leaks. I'd never heard of this cologne, but I loved it as soon as I put it on. Opulent and refined.
Big oily eighties monster -- very green at first, but dry and woodsy later on.I can't say that I remember it terribly fondly, no, but I certainly can't say that it was crap, either. My dad used to wear this one from time to time, and I remember it as one of many loud, brash Eighties frags, some of which were fabu, some of which were just OK (like Adolfo) and some of which were, well, you get the picture.