Launched in 1975, Grey Flannel is Geoffrey Beene’s first men’s fragrance, composed by André Fromentin and named after the grey flannel the American designer loved. Victoria Frolova smells a lawn of violet leaves lifted by lemon, a violet heart softened by mimosa and geranium over mossy woods; the fragrance won a FiFi Award in 1976.
Geoffrey Beene does not divide Grey Flannel’s notes into layers. In 2013, Victoria Frolova described an opening of violet leaf and lemon, a violet heart softened by mimosa and geranium, and a base of moss-covered woods.
Violet leaf and lemon at the top
Frolova smells a freshly mown lawn of violet leaves and a touch of lemon, crushed leaves and dried peels with a metallic edge. Christopher Stocks stresses that violet leaf, both sweet and woody, keeps the fragrance well away from any prettiness.
Violet, mimosa and geranium at the heart
Mimosa, geranium and other gentle flowers soften, in her view, the breath of the woods and mossy green notes, and fill out the violet heart. Now Smell This had already made violet the undisputed star of the composition.
Woods and moss at the base
The base rests on moss-covered woods, Frolova writes, a balance that keeps the fragrance fresh from start to finish without making it thin or sanitized. Now Smell This counted oakmoss and sandalwood there, along with citrus and sage.
What remains outside the declared accord
The galbanum and bergamot named by Stocks, the sage and sandalwood of Now Smell This, and the orange, rose and cedar cited by Wikipedia have no established layer. The house publishes no ingredient list.
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