Old Money
Eau de Parfum, Naughton & Wilson (2025)

Old Money by Naughton & Wilson (2025) is a difficult one to describe. At it's core, I'd call this a tobacco fragrance, but it's really much more than that and has this whole thing involving gourmand notes and slightly animalic components that makes it really abstract in the end. Without a doubt this is the most complex Naughton & Wilson yet released, as if the dizzying number of notes in the pyramid didn't send signal this one was going to be a big blended ball of stuff. I like that though, when it's done well, so huzzah to John Stephen of The Cotswold Perfumery, which was recently named as the source of perfumes for Naughton & Wilson to begin with; this is something I already basically knew, as outside of a one-off for Electimus, he has only ever worked for Cotswold Perfumery. Cotswold produces perfumes for Czech & Speake, which is where John first got some fame within the industry making the now-legendary Czech & Speake No. 88 (1981), and recently having also become the supplier for Atrium Perfumes, it seems pretty obvious that Cotswold was the laboratory behind Naughton & Wilson, the latter just never openly admitted it until now.

Back to the fragrance though, which is a doozy for sure. The big trick pony in the marketing is the maraschino cherry note claimed in the opening, but really this is a bit of a trick that's been going around since the 1980's, with things like French Line by Révillon (1984), Ho Hang Club by Balenciaga (1987), and Futuros by Aubusson (1987), even getting a bit of a reprise in the 2000's with things like Stetson Black by Coty (2005). It's an aldehyde trick that is usually supported by a carnation note which gives the impression of cherry, sour cherry, or amaretto depending on how it's handled. The emphasis shouldn't really be on this aspect though, as a boozy, slightly animalic tobacco is the core of Old Money, supported by tonka, patchouli, cashmeran, and an extremely dank, rich oakmoss base like what is found in the original Gravitas pour Homme by Naughton & Wilson (2020). In fact, this is so rich and mossy in the base that it could almost be seen as a sort of flanker to Gravitas in the way Gravitas Essentia by Naughton & Wilson (2023) was, except minus the fougère core of lavender and geranium. If you associate big mossy dry downs with "old money", then the namesake fragrance from this brand won't disappoint.

As for whether or not this really does speak "old money" to the average person, that's highly dependent on culture and context. As an American, I associate Mid-Atlantic and New England wealth dating back to the turn of the 20th Century as "old money", or the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, the Carnegies, the Astors, the Kennedys, and so on. Folks like that tend to prefer sporting scents, or at least the classic ones, so those kind of guys would be in tailored suits, driving old Cadillacs, Lincolns, Packards, or in the current day, understated S-Class or 7 Series sedans from Mercedes and BMW respectively. Sometimes Brooks Brothers when tailoring was inconvenient, and scented of things from Caswell-Massey or classics like Polo by Ralph Lauren (1978). As for English old money, it's anyone's guess but there again, based on what I've studied, I figured it might be old Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Rover, or convertible Morgan roadster, with Floris or Geo F Trumper as the scent. Instead of worrying about how accurate Old Money by Naughton & Wilson is on meeting your expectations of a stereotype, I'd focus more on what is presents free of context, and that is a very nice fusion of vintage tropes into one nice package. We don't get many mossy tobacco fragrances with a carnation touch these days, let alone ones blended like this. Thumbs up