Annick Goutal Tenue de Soiree: fragrance review

 Goutal Paris has been through a few changes in the last few years, which we have been following with the rapt attention of someone journaling a favorite artist's track. From changing hands to redirecting their aesthetics, the Goutal brand has surprised fans with its rebranding, but also disappointed some of the acolytes of its distinct style. A quartet of their fragrances, of which Tenue de Soirée is the object of this review, deserves more attention, as it didn't get the interest it merits when they first launched. 

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The series under Amore Pacific was initially called Oiseaux de Nuit (Night Birds), a name with inescapable and erotically-charged Anais Nin overtones, and was later renamed Les Parfums de Géraldine, following the heritage of the deceased founder of the house, Annick Goutal, who made a career under that name in the 1970s. 

 Tenue de Soirée is the most suggestive, flirtatious, and subversive of this series. The hint of blackcurrant liqueur wraps the chocolate patchouli of the composition in the pleasure of night romance, revealing it in a silky garment (with leather straps) full of promises. The sensuality is close to that of Bottega Veneta's eponymous and sadly discontinued fragrance, with hints of eroticism rather than overt displays of flesh. Notes of powder, vanilla, and the freshness of bergamot (which unexpectedly emerges AFTER the scent of edibles has subsided, like dewdrops of the first dawn) make Tenue de Soirée fragile, sensitive, truly lacy. It is feminine without clichés. The sweetness and bitterness are distributed in equal amounts in Tenue de Soirée and do not betray the quality expected of Goutal perfumes.

The perfumer is Mathieu Nardin and the concentration is Eau de Parfum, available in 30, 50, 100 ml sizes.