In Leather Man (2003)
by Etienne Aigner

A true leather scent, no doubt, with just enough brightness to keep it from smelling like a factory showroom floor filled with leather sofas and ottomans. This is a deep, honest-to-goodness leather, yes, but it lacks longevity and sillage alike. I'll give it a thumbs up, but only with that proviso.

Hmm.. When I try In Leather Man by Aigner, I find it a somewhat smokey and slightly harsh leather. While I find Curon has a slightly sweet conditioned leather scent. Like the others, I find the In Leather Man is just leather, without much more. Not the treated leather like in Fahrenheit with it's gasoline smell, nor the leather handbag and belt smell of Demeter leather. It seems to me to stay close to the skin with it's deep aroma. While strong at first, it seems to fade after an hour or so, maybe two hours tops. An interesting scent, well made, but not sure if I would wear it to work or in the evening. It seems to be missing the rest of the fragrance to round out the smell.

An initial blast of citrus followed by very pleasing, smooth leathery, spicy notes.
Very different to Knize Ten, which left me almost gasping and I'd need to be in a very brave mood to wear, or Cuiron which seems a much rougher more masculine leather.
Unfortunately the leather basenotes seemed quite weak for me, didn't last many hours and the sillage was very poor. Perhaps I got old stock?

Sometimes I have to ask what drives the fascination with leather and leather scents. Is it something passed down to us from the age of the caveman? Leather after all must be one of the oldest clothing materials. Is it then a distant memory passed down through our genes of a time when we walked around wrapped in leather, hunting mammoths during the last Ice Age?

Where masculinity is concerned, leather is closely tied with the male ego. Many symbols of masculinity are made from leather – holsters, saddles, boots, jackets, you name it, if its made of leather, it can effectively convey the masculine ideal. Leather just oozes machismo in a refined, suave way. The link with the sexual is also worth exploring. Is there anything more sexy than a lady in leather or a man in a leather racing biker jacket. What was the one accessory that made Neo so sexy in The Matrix? You guessed it, the leather and black shades.

But what is it about the smell of leather that just evokes a sense of mystery, darkness and crossed boundaries? There’s just something so dark and alluring about it that’s hard to resist. So many scents manage to capture this aspect of leather. I hear Knize Ten does it very well indeed and so does the classic range offered by the Pierre Cardin Centaure series, especially Cuir Fougere, Chanel’s Antheus and Trussardi Uomo, all offer variations of the sexy leather theme. These classics truly capture the opulent, aromatic nature of leather.

The difference with Aigner’s offering, In Leather Man, is in the execution of the leather note. There is a brief citrusy topnote that lasts all of 5 seconds and then the scent gradually sheds its citrus coat to slowly extend its leather heart. It is 95% leather and nothing more. Where the classics capture the mysterious sexiness of leather, Aigner distils its brighter embodiment of refinement, the sublime note of a Porche’s leather interior. This is the antithesis of the traditional dark leather scent, the clean, modern version that exudes the right mix of opulence and elegance. Still, I don’t dare wear more than a few spritz of this scent, lest I smell like a walking leather sofa set. A touch is enough for a wild night out on the town in my black leather jacket and denim jeans. The ideal image to fit the scent. Leather requires more than a little confidence to wear, luckily when you’ve wrapped In Leather Man around you, the scent does the rest.