The Ultimate Masculine: Xerjoff XJ 17/17 HOMME
November 1, 2011
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By Mark David Boberick
Co-Founder, creator and artist of A Dozen Roses, Sandy Cataldo, signing bottles
Occasionally, you happen upon a fragrance so perfect and well-constructed that it forever changes the way you think about every new fragrance that encounter after it. For me, that very thing recently happened with Xerjoff XJ 17/17 Homme.
Homme was created by Robertet perfumer Jacques Flori (Amouage Opus IV, Reminiscence Collection) in 2004, but only recently launched in the United States. The XJ 17/17 range was originally available exclusively in Europe, in extremely limited, valuable quantities and offered in blown glass Murano bottles, or flacons carved entirely out of precious stones such as rose quartz or lapis lazuli. Their initial price tag was exorbidant, at best.
The Xerjoff philosophy has always been centered on using ingredients of the highest quality. Many other fragrance companies have said that before, while in truth – they lie. Xerjoff, however, takes that philosophy to the bank.
Homme is an incredibly sumptuous leather fougere that includes a tangible mega-dosing of the supremely expensive Florentine Iris. The buttery Russian leather and the haunting iris notes are settled in amongst a complex base of woods and a sparkling citrus opening.
Images of the Hermitage in winter, Romanovs on horseback, and Rimsky-Korsakov at the Bolshoi abound with the very first spray. And yet, Homme is not a remnant of Imperial Russia – it is a rich, hyper-luxurious interpretation of the Modern male. It references the past while thrusting the wearer firmly into the 21st Century.
If you can imagine Mercedes-Benz asking Carl Faberge to re-design the interior of the S-Class, then you already know what Homme smells like. It is, hands down, the ultimate masculine leather fragrance.
It is not every day that a perfume lover would come into contact with a fragrance that is as grand as one from the House of Xerjoff, simply because the materials used are something out of the 1920s. No normal perfume house today, would dream of using them to the incredible abandon that Xerjoff has with their XJ 17/17 line. But then, Xerjoff is not normal, not even slightly. They are seemingly the only brand who can deliver fragrances that, quality-wise, are on par with the luxury of French Perfumery at the turn of the (last) Century.
However, that luxury comes at a price. $660 for 100mls, in fact. The bottle, now glass and faceted with a unique piece of precious black and white variegated obsidian, is a work of art in itself. But, like a Faberge Egg which opens to reveal an even more amazing little masterpiece, it is not what is on the outside of the bottle, but what is inside of it that counts.
MARK DAVID BOBERICK | Managing Editor
Xerjoff XJ 17/17 HOMME from the Stone Label Collection:
$660 / 100 mls
This fragrance is available for purchase in the United States through LuckyScent.
In London, it can be purchased in the Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie at Harrod's
It can also be purchased directly through the Xerjoff website.
Special Thanks to:
Khaled Nasr
"Homme is not a remnant of Imperial Russia – it is a rich, hyper-luxurious interpretation of the Modern male."