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.
Victoria Frolova (Bois de Jasmin) finds it fresh, as soft as a flannel shirt and without equal; Christopher Stocks (The Sniff Box) loves it, between sweetness and wood, despite reformulations.
Olfastory’s review
Bois de Jasmin: a flannel shirt
On October 17, 2013, Victoria Frolova describes a fragrance that stays fresh without ever seeming thin or sanitized, as comforting as a flannel shirt, wrapping its wearer in a soft cloud and seeming to float above the skin in gentle waves.
She imagines scented talcum powder, creamy soaps and shaving brushes, the toilette of a classic gentleman, and considers Grey Flannel a fragrance with neither model nor copy, still singular and memorable.
The Sniff Box: between sweetness and wood
On February 24, 2015, Christopher Stocks praises a deep, rich fragrance that balances sweetness and woodiness; too sweet for some, he loves it all the same, even reformulated, and finds the pairing of violet leaf and fresh materials clever.