Wolfgang Joop, the guy behind the German fashion label Joop, launched the Joop Homme fragrance in 1986. Unfortunately, the company didn’t last long as an independent fashion and perfume-making company, but it is remembered for creating a modern perfume history with its now-classic Joop Homme scent. Long before Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male or Thierry Mugler A*Men, and long before today’s widespread sweet, decadent gourmand fragrances for men, who could have predicted that Joop Homme would achieve such success?
Joop Homme was a metaphorical “fall of the Berlin Wall” for the perfume industry. Men, and especially young men, to whom perfume houses turned in the early 1990s, did not feel the need to wear traditionally men’s aromatic, citrus and fougere perfumes. Instead of a hunter, the men wanted them to be the prey, an object of desire. To seduce, but also to be seduced. Women lusted after their masculinity, voluminous figure, round and defined muscles. In parallel, the music scene was taken over by teen pop stars like Britney Spears and boy bands Backstreet Boys and Take That, and the entertainment became an instant, a bit cheap, but mesmerizing and irresistible – just like the Eurosong.
The sensuality and eroticism of that time culminated in sweet and sticky sensual sensations, from lip glosses, through hair gels and sticky floors of nightclubs to sweet perfumes. Joop Homme is a true representative of this trend, as it is a sticky, delicious interpretation of oriental fougere perfumes. A mega dose of synthetic vanilla, spices, and fruit in a pink bottle, indicated the search for pleasure for the sake of pleasure itself, without the need for it to become an element of style or long-term lifestyle. Like sugar foam when visiting an amusement park, it is far from being an everyday food choice, but eating anything else in an amusement park is pointless.
Joop Homme is a real powerhouse perfume, so strong, intense, and long-lasting that it defies natural laws (sometimes it seemed to pass through walls as well). The desire of the perfume creators was to create a scent that draws attention, and Joop Homme did not draw the attention of the person next to you, but the entire room, and possibly the entire block away from you. The bombastic fruity floral opening characteristic mainly of feminine perfumes (khm, Angel, khm) in which everything is over the top, starting from a sweet note of cherry, through gourmet cinnamon to opulent hedione (jasmine), intrigued the noses of both men and women. Dare to wear something like that and such strength… pure insolence!
Of course, who did not want a dose of insolence in the inertia of everyday life? There were few perfume lovers who did not want at least a small bottle of Joop Homme in their perfume collection. After a few hours, or days, the perfume is soothed with base notes of amber, patchouli, and vetiver that soften the sweetness of the top and middle notes. Something like the novel The Name of the Rose by Umberto Ecco, he who survives the first hundred pages, is awarded a true masterpiece.
Now that Joop Homme has long since ceased to be popular, it is no longer even on the shelves of widespread perfumeries, the younger generations can rediscover it and enjoy the fantastic perfume at a more than affordable price. Only rare connoisseurs and those reminiscent of the old days still buy and wear it, so if you want a real sweet men’s perfume, that doesn’t smell like every other contemporary perfume release, reach for this perfume classic. Just one little tip, never apply more than 2 sprays, maybe just only one. Of course, if you don’t wanna be the pink elephant in the room.
[Fragrance notes] top notes: bergamot, cinnamon, cherry; middle notes: orange blossom, jasmine, honeysuckle; base notes: sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean, musk, amber. [Fragrance group] oriental fougere.The creator of the perfume is Michel Almairac.