Anthracite Pour L`Homme Jacomo for men

What I get from Anthracite is floral fougère with a bit of spicy fruit sweetness. Very nicely put-together, and shows great evolution with a coherent dry-down. I know that Luca Turin has referred to this as one of the artful late 80s-early 90s men’s fragrances that that were influential critically, but not commercial successes. Given the others similarly noted (Insensé, Heritage, Ténéré) I looked forward to trying Anthracite. While the florals here (mostly rose to me, but also something tropical, or is that the fruit?) are interesting for the fact that they eventually replace the lavender in the fougère accord, Anthracite falls into the category of harmonious fougères for me. I prefer starker, rougher fougères, so I don’t mean this as a compliment. When a fougère is blended to removed the sharp edges left by the collision of lavender and coumarin, it seems too restrained. Reserved in a way that might suit a chypre, but not a fougère .

Sorry. I don’t want to get to dogmatic here, but I’m really trying to make these distinctions clearer in my own head.

Stark: Rive Gauche pour Homme, Azzaro pour Homme, Paco Rabanne pour Homme, PR Ténéré, and Caron's Troisième Homme (the last two stark in spite of their florals.) Harmonious: YSL Jazz, Drakkar Noir (loud, yes, but focused on blend) and Anthracite. I’ve left out Cool Water here, because despite its well-earned success, and despite the fact it’s held out as the iconic fresh, aromatic fougère, it just does’t seem like a fougère to my nose---its innovative water fruit vibe made it qualitatively something different from fougère.

So where does this leave Anthracite? It’s got some of the fruit that Cool Water has. It’s got the non-lavender floral, like Ténéré. In execution of the fougère accord, it’s a little meek like Jazz. In some ways it’s similar to Givenchy’s Xeryus, a floral with a healthy nod to the fougère. But Xeryus’s use of florals and coumarin is much ballsier than Anthracite.

I could argue with myself here that Anthracite is in fact the best use of all the various elements I’ve mentioned above. It certainly is my bias that I want a rough ride from a fougère and I could just be blind to Anthracite’s charm. But Anthracite does seem like a bit of the cross-bred mule here. Close enough for the parents to reproduce, but Anthracite leaves us with no direct descendants. I guess I’m left undecided.

I had this some 20 years ago. A floral scent with a very strong character that reminded me a lot of Grey Flannel. I understand it's discontinued now - shame as it would have made for a nice signature fragrance. Jacomo de Jacomo had this one licked though IMAO.

I have heard that this male version is similar to Obsession Night EDP.
:S