I’ve been testing things left and right, but honestly I like to test things more than once to get a real feel for them, so it’s taken me a bit longer to offer reviews of that wee pile of samples (and the F & M set). So, here now, a short review of a sample: 19-69’s Kasbah.
19-69 is a new house, with a set of offerings meant to evoke particular times and places.There is a certain self-consciously hip counterculture flavor to its copy and offerings, but I do quite like that the founder named it after his birth year, as a fellow Gen Xer born in 1969. The copy on Kasbah suggests it was inspired by the international jet-set party scene in Marrakesh in the ’60s and ’70s. This was the time when young Westerners were drawn by a breathless sort of Orientalism and the promise of cheap digs and plentiful mind-expanding drugs to places in North Africa (mostly Morocco), India, Thailand, et al. — parts seen as “Eastern.” But not too uncharted, generally. This whole movement upgraded from earnest and threadbare hippies to trust-fund bon vivants and sophisticated types: Yves Saint Laurent (with his beautiful Jardin Majorelle and its spectacular colors), Mick Jagger, assorted people named Getty. All of these folk are mentioned in the copy.
Thus, we know not to expect something that an actual Maghrebine would wear. We also know not to expect the true and unalloyed dirty smelly hippie scent. Both of these things will be evoked, but both will be filtered through the rarefied air of the haute-bourgeois bohemians.
The notes listed for Kasbah: ” Sweet orange, lime, white honey, geranium, amber, patchouli, vanilla, tonka beans, guaiac wood, leather accord, sandalwood.” Some of these come as no surprise: if you’re going to have an indulgent Boomer-era take on North Africa, of course you’ll have patchouli and sandalwood. Of course. They are ubiquitous for this kind of thing; good thing they’re lovely. Leather? Because you’ll be shopping in the souk. Surprised — a bit — that there’s no obvious evocation of kif or hashish, although perhaps that’s where the guaiac, with its tobacco tones, comes in. The sweets and the fruits are a bit less obvious, however.
So how does all of this smell? Well, it is a bit dirty hippie. It has to be, with that patchouli and sandalwood. But then it is actually surprising, and really quite fun to wear.
First, the citrus opener is really pretty brilliant. It’s unisex, crisp, and fresh. No mean feat for it to win out over over dirty-sweet patchouli. Then it has the sweetness of vanilla, honey, amber, and tonka smoothing and soothing the hippie heart within, with that dusty tobacco (guaiac?) note. Yes, this is the 60s and 70s in Marrakesh for the American and European kids on 5 dollars a day or 500 dollars a day, but it’s a beautifully smooth and bright modern interpretation. There is a sense of sunshine in this, helped by the sharp herbal floral note of geranium, which is quite distinctive.
The longevity on this is quite good (as to be expected with sandalwood and patchouli); the sillage should be addressed with caution (because hippie). The citrus is remarkably effective for a remarkably long time, fading to merge with the sweeter elements.
There’s little to this that really reminds me personally of North Africa (as I have my own particular and idiosyncratic smell library attached to Algeria…and it includes Algerian pizza, by the way), but I can see exactly what it is meant to evoke: a very particular someone else’s North Africa. And really, it’s quite lovely, and not just a stinky-rich-hippie scent at all, which would have been so so easy to do. Full marks, 19-69, for hitting an unexpected note here. This is at least worth a shot; I found myself wanting to wear it again.
P.S. I don’t have anything against hippies or anything. I just find the word and general concept of hippiedom enjoyable to deploy wherever appropriate, and there are many opportunities herein for that.
Maryam Payne, Writer & Editor 