Zurafa
Parfum, Serge Lutens (2025)

The leather via orris template has been done countless times. Orris is a natural adornment to smokey animalics to give them a bit more breadth, dimension, and formality. The other way around is also very common: orris steered via a delicate addition of animalics to present suede, or more commonly referred to as the smell of a lady’s fine leather handbag full of makeup. Zurafa does the obvious that somehow many have missed: give full-on skanky animalic leather and an amped-up orris the same amount of stage time, presence, and volume, and see what happens. I’ll tell you what happens: it’s stunning.

Well, at least in the opening it was…. The dry down steers more towards the powdery dry and starchy orris material than it does anything leathery or animalic, which seems to be an effect of the musk heavy base. Thankfully the musks are of sound quality, rich and beige, not scratchingly soapy and white.

What Zurafa puts in my mind’s eye is some type of dirty animalic leather character given a bath and put in a tuxedo, and the bath and the new clothes do remarkably alter the character’s ingrained persona. This isn’t an “Emperor’s New Clothes” idiom, it’s a genuine transformation. Lutens doesn’t credit Christopher Sheldrake with the composition but it has to be Sheldrake; his style of leaving no corner untouched or depth unplumbed is very apparent in Zarafa. The cohesion, seamlessness, and detail to this really very simple trifecta of animalic leather, orris, and musk is remarkable. The balance between rough and animalic energy and sophisticated refinement is the result of those materials being handled by a master. Don't believe the people comparing this to Iris Silver Mist. ISM is far too emotionally vulnerable, sad and yet austere. ISM is Lutens's presentation of orris through a cool silvery sheen - as the name suggests - that lacks the emotional heat and the up-close/skin-on-skin carnality of Zurafa. Though, Zurafa might not totally tread terra incognita when the whole story of its wearing is experienced, and it is very expensive when placed on the shelf of the numerous other leather-orris offerings, but the details make the difference and make Zurafa worth the experience. It’s one of my favorites from Lutens in recent years.

Zurafa reads to me like worn Daniel leather gloves—rugged, with an industrial edge. The leather accord isn’t the smoothest and comes across slightly synthetic, though not in an unpleasant way. On first sniff, I don’t notice much iris. Even well into the drydown, the leather softens a bit, giving way to a clean white musk with a touch of florals—but it never really feels iris-dominant. I might need further tests, but my main impression is industrial leather, teetering on synthetic yet still palatable.

It’s not the softest leather scent, but it mellows as it dries down. Performance is solid; I’d reserve this for cooler weather. Compared to Ombre Leather, which feels cleaner and more like a leather jacket, Zurafa is rougher and more rugged, reminiscent of Daniel leather—a very Canadian vibe.