Grey Vetiver Parfum
Tom Ford (2023)

(Comparison of the EdP and the Parfum)

The masculine vetiver-forward perfume is a cornerstone of modern perfumery. Every major house has one, and many if not the majority of small and niche houses as well. Why? Well probably for the same reason it’s a staple in many cultures for aromatic household uses and religious uses: it’s a chameleon of an aroma, and it just plain smells great - likely working-on some primal parts of our olfactory system that ensures we are guaranteed to respond to it and, almost without fail, in a positive way. Tom Ford confused us with Black Orchid, then released For Men and the Private Blend line, which helped clear-up a lot of questions regarding the brand’s creative direction for its perfumes, and then to seal the directive and remove all doubt released Grey Vetiver. I make this statement like I am paraphrasing the brand or speaking for them, but I am not; this is solely my interpretation. The brand - clearly to me, anyway - wants to give us the old guard of modern perfumery in a new way with a bit of modern synthetic edge and Tom Ford opulence and trashiness. However, the latter descriptors are curiously absent from Grey Vetiver. Grey Vetiver is a straight and modern homage to that masculine cornerstone.

The EdP opens with lemons, grapefruit, and neroli. Shockingly cold, bitter, sour, juicy, acrid, and metallic, these notes are helped along by a prominent cold, earthy, pale green sage note. The vetiver immediately begins pushing up from the heart and base, but it doesn’t present as green aromatic, swampy, or even woody, but rather coming across as… well… silvery - not gray - thanks to the supporting notes that actually act more as the stars of the perfume than the vetiver does. Like Encre Noir wanting to present vetiver in a very new direction as black, Grey Vetiver wants to be gray, though these bright metallic edges bring more of a silvery sheen. In the Parfum the opening is quite different. It has a more convincing orange blossom opening, not neroli, that smells almost boozy like a much brighter version of Grand Marnier. Sharp aldehydes give an almost alcohol-heat texture. The hay-like, deadpan floral, and woody saffron is responsible for a lot of this effect, presenting an almost fresh-oak-barrel aging facet to the orange blossom. Once the opening calms down the orange blossom is allowed to go in a slightly sweeter, juicier, and more floral direction, which only makes the orange liqueur association even stronger in my mind. There is something about it that is a bit “colorless”; gray. This is more gray than the EdP, the latter coming across as bright silver. The Parfum’s photonic energy is a lot more restrained than the EdP.

Going into the heart and base layers, with the EdP a starchy and powdery orris carries the brief in the heart layer. It is dry yet very clean, almost like a powdered soap without being all that floral in nature. The vetiver makes more of a green-aromatic appearance at the base, never losing that silvery sheen, with a good dose of evernyl for damp, lively, and woody moss. In typical TF style the Parfum is much more minimalist. When TF approach their parfum concentrations, without fail, they approach with “less is more” - and they follow the same modus operandi here. It is more simplistic than the EdP, but it doesn’t suffer for it, letting very wise choices for materials and accords presentations do the work rather than trying aim for “great” via more complexity. The saffron steers this vetiver in a much more light-woody direction than the EdP, and it keeps getting woodier the closer it gets to a skin scent.

The EdP has an energetic brightness, like the glint of light off of polished silver, and it is almost jarring but in a pleasant way. Clean, cool, bright, easily wearable yet opulent in its saturation, and a splendidly modern take on the classic vetiver perfume. The Parfum is far more regal and elegant than the EdP, and much more closely aligns with the classic presentations of vetiver with its woody dry down and skin scent. However, it still achieves the brief and still smells convincingly modern; it smells “gray”. I don’t pull any swampy green aromatics common to vetiver, and though I pull woods it is not green woody or even white or black woody (throwing back another reference to Encre Noir). Somehow in the Parfum’s deadpan colorlessness it still smells elegant and classy. Perhaps then the Parfum is like a gray suit: it might be safe and plain, it will never offend anyone and is wearable everywhere, but it still looks custom made by a world-class tailor.

In another interesting twist, I find both of these to be sufficiently different enough that owning a bottle of each would not be redundant if both call to you. The EdP’s bright and boisterous nature works in all settings, but it will probably work best in the daytime and informal settings when you feel like you have some pep in your step. The Parfum is going to be more suitable for cooler weather wearing, and/or formal occasions or date nights when restraint is better called for. Both are great, with one bright and energetic silver, and the other rich and elegant gray. Every silver lining has a touch of gray…. I don’t know where I’m going with that, but for some reason I can’t shake it from my head.

I am no great lover of the over-hyped, over-priced Tom Ford ranges. When the few items I possess finally go, I am not particularly sad to see them depart. Tuscan Leather and Beau de Jour sometimes even got me looks from friends which suggested I had inadvertently passed wind in their presence. I make one major exception to a generally negative view of the house and that is for Grey Vetiver. It takes the rather metallic edge off Guerlain’s Vetiver, adding a luxurious creaminess which reeks of Jermyn Street chic. This is the fragrance you wear when you test-drive a Ferrari at HR Owen in Berkeley Square. Reeks of understated wealth.