Kenzo Jungle: Kenzo's spicy elephant... In 1996, Kenzo made an impression with Jungle, a powerful spicy floral that plays on its facets to leave its mark on its era with an elephantine imprint.
Kenzo Homme, or Ça sent beau, offered European and Asian effluvia of extraordinary floral beauty. Kenzo would suddenly change direction to offer, in 1996, under the guidance of two geniuses of perfumery, Dominique Ropion and Jean-Louis Sieuzac, an opulent Kenzo Jungle Eléphant, burning with torrid scents. Its presence is noticed, its aura unique; Kenzo Jungle Eléphant is still today one of those fragrant "UFOs" that leave an indelible—elephantine, one might rather say—trace of their passage.
Kenzo Jungle, or the explosive encounter between two heavyweights of perfumery
Fate made them cross paths several times in one lifetime; Jean-Louis Sieuzac and Dominique Ropion were meant to compose together a phenomenal fragrance, a surprising and opulent perfume that would symbolize the union of these two masters of perfumery. This fragrance would be named Kenzo Jungle.
Indeed, Dominique Ropion already knew Jean-Louis Sieuzac, having worked for him. While Dominique Ropion was still a young perfumer, Jean-Louis Sieuzac, on the other hand, was already recognized the world over for his powerful creations, bursting with originality, such as Coriandre, Opium, or even Fahrenheit. A few years later, both would work at the same perfumery company, and finally the master would compose alongside the pupil turned creative talent, the beautiful and indescribable Kenzo Jungle Eléphant.
Kenzo Jungle Eléphant makes no attempt whatsoever to resemble other fragrances; it breaks the codes, treads beyond refined juices and opens the doors to a living nature and animality, so much so that one could almost imagine them by our side, or at least within a cyber-nature so close to Kenzo's world.
A bath of spices and cashmeran for a burning Kenzo Jungle
Dominique Ropion admits with delight that, for the first time, he dared in Kenzo Jungle Eléphant to play with an overdose of cashmeran, a raw material he is particularly fond of for its strength and its animalic quality, which plays with the boundaries between women's and men's fragrances.
There are fantastic materials. I have always loved cashmeran, which I used in a very large quantity as early as Jungle Elephant, in fact. It was the first time I had put so much of it into a fragrance. And I find cashmeran fantastic, Dominique Ropion states.
Moreover, Kenzo Jungle Eléphant does not seek to set gender boundaries and is intended for both a female and a male audience, as long as one wishes to tame it! This majestic elephant nonetheless leads the wearer to believe it can be docile, with fresh top notes of mandarin. But the heart quickly reveals itself in a cocktail of wild, deliciously spicy scents. Still, heliotrope, clove and mango come to blend with these vibrant spices, offering their soft, gourmand and delicate notes. Then the fragrant wild animal fully reveals itself, carrying the wearer in its footsteps toward ultra-powerful depths of cashmeran, of course, but also of patchouli and vanilla, gourmand touches once again counterbalancing the wild strength of this monument of perfumery.