Krizia pour Homme
Krizia (2014)

Krizia pour Homme (2014) is nothing if not continuing the expectations of Krizia fragrance fans, the ones that haven't tuned out after the 90's of course. You see, that's a sort of problem with Krizia overall; they made such an impact with their whacked-out styles both in clothing and fragrance, that most who remember the brand associate them with the 1980's and early 1990's; much beyond that, and you might as well say the label took a space ship of its own design and launched itself into the sun. Therefore, it is of no great surprise that most who venerate the brand only do so for the original K de Krizia (1981) or Krizia Uomo (1984), and maybe Teatro Alla Scalla (1986) or the Krizia Moods and Krizia Moods Uomo (1989) pair. Much after that, and we see a complete drop off in interest for the brand from the online fragrance community, and only the real hardcore lovers are going to have Spazio Krizia Uomo (1993) or anything much after that. However, this is not yet another paean to the cruelty and narrow-mindedness of of those who live in the past and deign the future unfit, nor the trend-obsessed fickleness that becomes the cultural equivalent of a liminal spaces creepypasta video on YouTube, just a brief contextual introduction to a review of the overlooked scent at hand from the erstwhile forward-fashion darling Krizia. Krizia pour Homme and Krizia pour Femme (2014) both have a similarly-dashing bottle emblazoned with a giant K, being the first and so-far only releases from new Chinese holders Shenzhen Marisfrolg aka "The First". The men's scent is an unusual exercise in iris and green aromatics, which makes it extremely out of time with what was current fragrance fashion of the 2010's.

The opening of Krizia pour Homme is actually pretty quiet, and this has what I call a "reverse drydown" where it gets louder as it settles on skin. Bergamot and dry pepper slowly heat up into a dusty spice melange of nutmeg, cinnamon, and sage, inflected with elemi resin and bitter artemisia. This slightly-green dusty aromatic spice heart is joined quickly by a rooty orris note that is obviously not real orris butter, but fairly photo-realistic for what it is, becoming the core of the fragrance. I find this decision to dress iris in green and muted dry spice to be extremely novel, as usually iris is dressed in soapy accords of neroli and tonka a la Prada, or go full-makeup like Dior once did with vanilla and leathery notes. Here in Krizia pour Homme, the iris stays fairly rooty and earthy, having some carrot seed aspects which remind me of Eau d'Ikar by Sisley (2011), and this is all before the dry down emerges. Eventually dry woody compounds subbing in for cedar and sandal come forward, before a tobacco-like dry tonka similar to Luna Rossa by Prada (2012) enters. Eventually, I get bits of patchouli and leathery compounds here that remind me of some much older things in the skin scent phase, but they are unlisted by the brand, and finally some vanilla to round it all off. Wear time is long, and performance is surprisingly good, so be careful with application. Best use is in spring or fall as a casual or office scent, as Krizia pour Homme really isn't that crazy of a concept once all the dust settles and the iris/orris core calms down after about an hour. If you commute, you'll be ready to go by the time you show up if you apply before leaving the house. Otherwise, maybe not an office scent.

In the end, a brand nobody pays attention to anymore releasing a men's fragrance in a style that sits between the late 90's and 2000's (with a speck of the 80's) isn't something that's going to warrant investigation from many except for the fringe like myself (and the person who sold me a backup bottle of theirs), so I don't expect anyone to run out all at once and buy this based on my review. However, if you do enjoy stuff like Moods, this may be up your alley, especially if you enjoy iris enough to wear any of the Dior Homme (2005) variations or Prada Infusion series scents. I hate to say this smells "like niche" because the term "niche" itself has become so subverted by the industry as to lose all meaning, much like "cancel culture" has become a dog whistle by those in power against whom public accountability is ironically ineffectual. Still, fans of everything from Bijan for Men (1981) to Gris Charnel by BDK Parfums (2019) should give Krizia pour Homme a shot if it's still available at a good price; that last part is the real bugaboo about Krizia as a house, since its fragrances seem to quickly come and go from the market much like Van Cleef & Arpels' designer-tier fragrances used to before they just killed them all and went upmarket. Green, rooty, earthy, woody, spicy, yet somehow clean, Krizia pour Homme really does honor the brand's left-of-center design, I'm just afraid that nobody in the designer fragrance market anymore really values anything that isn't a retread of a "blue" fragrance or an absolute candy bomb. Krizia pour Homme is a very pleasant surprise, nonetheless, and one I do not regret picking up, even if I had no idea what I was getting until it was on skin. Thumbs up

In case it isn't evident to hardcore fumeheads from my username, iris is one of my favorite notes. There's something about its austerity and aloof coolness with its violet undertones and earthy, grounding powderiness that really resonates with me. Perhaps it provides the duality, as my personality is neither austere nor aloof.

Krizia Pour Homme is iris deconstructed much like Fahrenheit is violet deconstructed. It is elemental, unadorned, save for some nutmeg, cinnamon, some sandalwood and tonka, that seem to meld into a cohesive 'whole is greater than the sum of its parts.' For that, it's neither overly cerebral nor is it a ditz of a scent. I am ambivalent of the phrase 'dumb reach' but if I were to have one, it would be this one, because it is really that modular in nature.