I’ve complained already about the recent output from Comme des Garçons — they’ve become a kind of go-to house for variations, sometimes minor variations, on wood and/or incense.¹ Mind you, they know how to do wood and/or incense, and in all truth, when they do break out of that rut, I don’t always like the result.² So I have mixed feelings about their most recent launch, Scent Three: Sugi. It’s their third fragrance in collaboration with Monocle magazine (see Scent One: Hinoki and Scent Two: Laurel), and like the others, was developed by perfumer Antoine Maisondieu. And I do love it. It’s beautifully done, and I’d very much like to have a bottle — please, Santa, send the other two Monocle fragrances while you’re at it! — but unless you have the sort of never-ending interest in woody fragrances (and Comme des Garçons) that I do, you might not find it an absolute must-try.

I’ll start by repeating the press stuff, because it’s spot on…

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