I had to recalibrate my expectations when smelling Arquiste fragrances in sequence. It took me a while to understand that I was dealing not necessarily with an edgy New York brand but rather with a civilized Old World one. One after the other, they struck me as the perfumes a serious Italian outfit would do, or would have done before the Xerjoff hordes sacked Rome. Indeed, several of the fragrances, notably A Grove By The Sea, ÉL and L’Etrog Acqua, are the sort of stuff that would agree with an ample white terrycloth robe, breakfast served on a tiny balcony perched above the Sorrento sea, and the prospect of a dive to pay respects to a sunken statue of the Virgin. Once seen from this dolce vita perspective, Arquiste makes perfect sense. I was disappointed not to see Aleksandr among the samples, but I am sure that can be fixed.
For paid subscribers: reviews of A Grove By The Sea, Sydney Rock Pool, L’Etrog Acqua, ÉL, Anima Dulcis, Boutonnière No.7, The Architects Club, Venice Rococo and Flor y Canto.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Luca Turin on perfume etc. to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.