Black Cashmere

by Donna Karan, 2002, good

Another sadly discontinued perfume that both renowned & mourned. Until I happened across an unopened sample vial at a yard sale, I was a little mystified what the wailing & gnashing of teeth was about for what I thought had to be yet another mere flanker –in this case of Cashmere Mist, an otherwise good but unremarkable all-purpose scent. Black Cashmere is head & shoulderpads above its Cashmere Mist origins, with its sister, Chaos (also very sadly discontinued) the only other Donna Karan fragrance able to hold a candle to it.
As I inferred above, there’s an old-fashioned style to it, strong, assertive, a bit loud, with a deep voice, it’s not at all wispy nor demure like every other scent DK has put out (the Be Delicious line is candy, the Women/Men line is trying to be CK One, and Pure is nonexistent). As I inferred above, it has shoulderpads in its tailoring, but these aren’t 1980s shoulderpads, but 1940s shoulderpads. It’s the sort of scent people would think Joan Crawford would’ve worn, before they knew about the wire coathanger-mediated child abuse.
Spice & incense rounds it off to an elegant winter’s night on the town. It goes well with leather & fur. It achieves this rounded, assertive, earthy, strong yet mellow, slightly sweet pushy elegance by containing oakmoss. Real oakmoss, the stuff that smells like a hardwood forest on a damp autumn day. The stuff that has been a staple of quality perfumery since perfumery existed as an art & business, a necessary ingredient in classy chypres, is an excellent basenote, and the stuff that the European Union recently outlawed as an ingredient. Oh @*!$%^
Well, there’s you’re problem. Bureaucratically-mediated stupidity. We lack the magnificence of Black Cashmere and its sister Chaos, another DK scent with strong similarities and the same base accord, due to politicians and overly-cautious regulation. Thanks for nothing, EU. Thanks.
Can be found on eBay and other etailers for both an arm and a leg, payment plans for firstborn not out of the question. Still worth it. Reformulations of both using oakmoss substitute recently made available, but seriously not worth it. Thin & weak, the notes go seriously off in about an hour.
Nothing lasts.