Morning Chess Vilhelm Parfumerie

Morning Chess is a fragrance that feels like a deliberate contradiction—intellectually austere yet sensually compelling. The Tuscan leather anchors everything here, arriving with genuine heft rather than the synthetic plasticity that plagues so many leather fragrances. It's partnered with galbanum, that peculiar green aldehydic note that introduces a sharp, slightly metallic astringency; the two create a tense dialogue between worn suede and crushed grass. Bergamot arrives to briefly sweeten the affair, but Jérôme Epinette treats it as a minor concession to approachability, never allowing it dominion. This is no cheerful citrus fragrance masquerading in leather's clothing.

The base reveals the designer's true intentions: patchouli and black amber create a smoky, vaguely unsettling underbelly. There's something faintly animalic about the interaction—not animalic in the sensual musk sense, but rather the smell of old leather jacket sleeves, tobacco-stained fingers, and the distinctive mustiness of a chess club's back room. The spicy accords (likely from the leather and patchouli marriage) add a subtle burn, as though someone's just lit a cigarette nearby.