When I was regularly posting on Basenotes there was one member “hirch_duckfinder” who had in his signature the following: “Wear R de Capucci”. Because I respected his posts it was a sure thing I would eventually find some. When I did, I found a summer-weight chypre that seemingly was ahead of its time in anticipating the advent of clean in perfumery. This entry in the Dead Letter Office is probably there because nobody knew what to do with a perfume that had no contemporary.
Roberto Capucci is an Italian fashion designer who was known for his “sculptural” style of couture. He eschewed the catwalks to show his clothing off in museums. Fragrance was part of the brand throughout. The first fragrance releases were in 1963: Parce Que! and Graffiti. There would be a new release every three or four years. By 1985 R De Capucci was the seventh release. It came just as Sig. Capucci had handed over the day-to-day operations in 1980. It is hard to know what the new leadership thought of how fragrance fit but they released three from 1982-1988. It is hard to know because these perfumes were not widely distributed. Which would be the major reason almost the entire line is in the Dead Letter Office.
Francoise Caron
R De Capucci was composed by Francoise Caron early in her career. I think it shows Mme Caron in an experimental mood. I think her brief may have been as simple as “we would like a masculine fragrance”. What Mme Caron delivered is a hybrid of fougere on top and chypre on the bottom. Except the whole thing is cleaned up as all of the rough edges of both styles are removed. It makes for a stylistic tour de force.
R de Capucci opens on a green-hued lavender combined with sprightly citrus. It is a top accord of clean lines which will continue to elongate throughout the development. The fougere quality is striking when captured in this way. It is almost hyperfocused on the lavender and citrus as the green provides the clarity. The heart notes provide the transition to the chypre part as clove, thyme, and geranium pick up the green and connect it to the base. In the base Mme Caron leaves out the oakmoss and replaces it with a birch-based leather accord. She keeps that leather on a short leash but it supplies most of what oakmoss provides in a traditional chypre accord. The rest of the accord comes from the customary list of sandalwood, patchouli, and musk. A bit of incense skirls through the later dry down.
R de Capucci has 12-14 hour longevity and above average sillage.
The beauty of what Mme Caron has created here is a chypre which can be worn on the hottest of days. It can be worn because Mme Caron has cleaned it up so it has the sturdy lines that will overwhelm masculine perfumery within ten years. It is like a crystal ball into the future. Unfortunately, most consumers weren’t able to find it to have the opportunity to share this vision. Nowadays it is still equally difficult to find. It shows up on the auction sites for a reasonable price but that is about it for finding it. I know my bottle only has a few summers left in it.
Disclosure: This review is based on a bottle I purchased.
–Mark Behnke
