The Peacock Revolution: A Beautiful and Secret Scent

We enjoy the openness with which men, women and non-binary people can dress nowadays, a freedom of expression is for all, be as tailored or excessive as your heart desires. Yet over the centuries, there have been many periods when men’s dress and toilette were far more extravagant than women’s. During the late medieval period, the Renaissance, and particularly the 17th and 18th centuries, men’s dress was often at its most flamboyant. The male peacock is still alive and well, even now, with a freedom of dress and an invisible accessory to boot. Find out more in The Peacock Revolution: A Beautiful and Secret Scent

The term “male peacock” when talking about comes from the actual behaviour of the male Peafowl, who display their elaborate and vibrant tail feathers to attract female peahens. In colloquial terms, it means a man who dons colourful clothing and is well-groomed. In Western history, men’s dress was often more extravagant than women’s during the late medieval period, the Renaissance, and particularly the 17th and 18th centuries.

Several times over Western history, the male figure has consistently been a dandy. This would also include grooming and scent. This saw the blurring of the lines of gender identification in clothing; the movement also challenged the idea that certain scents were exclusively “masculine” or “feminine”.

The Peacock Revolution was a 1960s menswear movement challenging traditional masculinity through flamboyant, colourful, and often androgynous fashion, featuring velvet, floral prints, and bell-bottoms, inspired by Mod culture, music, and counterculture to express rebellion and new ideas of manhood, shifting from drab suits to vibrant self-expression. Led by designers on London’s Carnaby Street, it brought a “dandy” style to the mainstream, influenced by youth culture and anti-establishment sentiment. 

Brioni was the first luxury Italian tailors for menswear to use bold colours and lighter material, introducing new silhouettes using slimmer shapes with natural shoulders. In 1952, Brioni staged the first menswear fashion show in the modern history of fashion, inside the Sala Bianca at Palazzo Pitti in Florence, where its interpretation of the Peacock Revolution was introduced.

The shift in men’s fashion was part of a broader cultural movement of self-expression and the breaking of traditional gender norms. This expanded the male consumer market beyond simple utility and had a direct impact on the beauty and grooming industry:  The movement led to a wider social acceptance of varied head and facial hair lengths and styles in the workplace, which, in turn, drove demand for a greater variety of men’s grooming and cosmetic products.

It also saw the challenging gendered scents, by blurring the lines of gender identification in clothing, the movement also challenged the idea that certain scents were exclusively “masculine” or “feminine”. This paved the way for more diverse and complex fragrances not confined by traditional gender binaries, a trend that is still seen in modern “gender-neutral” fragrance marketing. The general increase in fashion-consciousness meant men were more likely to use fragrance as a tool for self-expression, as if becoming an invisible accessory.

Since the Italian Brands’ early days, it has consistently had fragrances as part of its offering. But come 2021, a real renaissance in the house’s expressions through scent. Working in partnership with lalique the house brought to the fore new elixirs with some of the most acclaimed names in perfume. In 2021, Brioni by Michel Almairac was created as a beautiful expression of Green Citurs. The resulting fragrance, a simple and clear scent with few ingredients, perfectly captured the essence of a Brioni bespoke suit. Elegance, minimal with exceptional materials. Since then, there have been four more in the story, including Brioni EDP Parfum Intense, Brioni EDP Eclat, Brioni EDP Essential and The EDP Parfum Suave. All of these are men’s extrait, still a relatively unexplored area within perfumery.

In early winter this year, the house presented the next exploration in its history of scent. Les Extraits de Parfum, a collection of four luxurious, highly concentrated fragrances, each centred around a single, noble key ingredient and reflecting the brand’s artisanal minimal tailoring values. 

Starting out is Les Extraits de Parfum Labdanum Brut by Perfumer Mylène Arlan.

An exploration of the sticky brown resin from Mediterranean Rockrose shrubs (Cistus species). Valued for centuries in perfumes, incense, and traditional medicine, it provides a rich, leathery, ambery, and balsamic scent, and initially here, it has a slight plumy hint at its opening. It is exposed and melded with Rose, with an opening of citrusy Bergamot and soft spice of Pink Peppercorn and Cardamom. Its heart is earthy and rosy, with deep Patchouli, softened by Rich Rose oil and a flash of Rosemary. Its final point of settlement brings a comforting caress of Cistus, softly tinged smoke of Vetiver and the comfort of a soft Musk.

Les Extraits de Parfum Encens Minéral by Nisrine Bouazzaoui-Grillié.

An exploration of smoky incense, with a lightness of touch. It sparkles at its opening with Bergamot, fused with aromatic spice of black Pepper oil and pink Peppercorn, bringing a crisp and clean freshness. Unexpected in its heart find, Lily of the Valley with its ‘watery-floral’ facets, which mingles alongside Incense and the woody elegance of soft Cedarwood, meaning that the very heat fills almost light and aquatic. Finally, it settles, a softened smoky Incense that melds with earthy rooyy Vetiver aloingside a soft cloud of white Musk. This is a soft and gentle take on incense that is like wrapping a cool, calm, invisible cloak around the body.

Les Extraits de Parfum Papyrus Éternel by Alexis Dadier

A celebration of papyrus, or as it is better known in perfumery, Cypriol. Here, the hero ingredient is melded with green notes, Tea and Cardamom. Making this opening bright, fresh and slightly herbaceous.

The heart fills with a green and woody papyrus, meeting again a different smoky green of Mate leaves and enriched by a lingering veil of an almost smoky green tea facet. Its finale is that of more vertiver meeting with the slight warmth of Amber. Melding together into a rooty green with a gentle facet of a soft woody veil. Finally there is

Les Extraits de Parfum Iris Exquis, a partnership between Perfumers, Karine Vinchon-Spehner and Michel Almairac

Iris, one of the most noble and loved ingredients in perfumery, is reworked here in a perfumed partnership with Arine Vinchon-Spehner and Michel Almairac, who created the first of the new batch perfumes from 2021. His signature is about open, minimal scents, of which he is a master. And this scent smacks of his fingerprint. Here, he explores Iris, bringing new facets to enjoy.

It opens with the joyous light of bright lemony green via Verbena, alongside the watery green with facets of slightly metallic notes via violet leaves and a hint of black Pepper, which then meets a sweetness of carrot seed with powdery, earthy suede-likeIris and powdery, soft herbally hints from lavender. The dry down culminates in earthy-rooty Patchouli and is finished off with a delicate slice of Mate and a touch of Suede-like animalic softness. A graceful, almost herbaceous link to powdery Iris.

All fragrances of Les Extraits de Parfum Collection are presented in a sculptural faceted flacon, monolithic and octagonal in form. Crafted in Italy, both the cap and the bottle are made from the same heavy glass featuring our distinctive Martellato hammered texture.

These are not shouty, flashy scents; they are not here to grab the headlines or stop a room, they are about the quiet confidence of an elegant cavalier who needs no flashy entrance as he knows his worth. Not unlike the gentleman dressed in the refined elegance of a Brioni outfit. A quiet, assured intelligence that only a well-dressed man can carry. The quiet luxury of a dapper, suave, sophisticated gent, the secret accessory as opposed to the showy glamour of the peacock.

To find out everything about these new fragrances, please visit brioni.com here

 If you enjoyed reading The Peacock Revolution: A Beautiful and Secret Scent, then why not read Tis The Season To Sparkle here

.Cent Magazine London. Luxury Mindset