# Comme des Garçons — Black Eau de Toilette

> Black (2013), composed by Guillaume Flavigny, is Comme des Garcons returning to the woody-incense territory it had already mapped in the Series 3 Incense line - but pushed into something smokier, more

## Essence
Black (2013), composed by Guillaume Flavigny, is Comme des Garcons returning to the woody-incense territory it had already mapped in the Series 3 Incense line - but pushed into something smokier, more peppery and more aggressively "black." CdG marketed it as "an emergency, guerrilla like, spiced-up new scent," and critical coverage's Robin received it as exactly that: "satisfyingly weird... a return to form of sorts." It launched alongside the brand's Black concept stores, with a deliberately anti-luxury presentation - a clear bottle wrapped in a matte-black rubber band, delivered in a mini trash bag - that Into The Gloss documented at the time. The throughline of nearly every serious assessment is the paradox of the name: it is one of the smokiest, most birch-tar-forward fragrances on the market, yet it calms into something genuinely wearable.
## Scent Profile
Black opens with what Robin (critical coverage) called "a highly aromatic whoosh of peppery incense and birch tar" - smoky, strong, with "vague echoes of charred meat." The black pepper is a standout: the trigeminal bite of cracked pepper sits over olibanum smoke and the rubbery, tarry darkness of birch. As it develops, sheer spices and a soft, non-sweet licorice emerge; the licorice is noticeable but restrained, and several wearers read a cool, almost minty quality in the opening hour. The leather is the soft, "retail fashion variety," not animalic - obscured within the peppery smoke rather than dominating it. The drydown settles into dry cedar and smoky vetiver, with the birch tar mellowing to a warm, campfire-by-the-embers coziness. Robin's verdict on the arc: "After about 20 minutes, it's reasonably wearable, but still spicy and earthy enough to be interesting." It is more dry than sweet throughout, and more masculine-leaning than feminine.
## Performance
Performance is the consistent knock. wearers consensus on wearers and wearer discussion describes a strong, high-projecting first two hours of birch-tar smoke that then settles into a softer version and becomes a skin scent at roughly the five-hour mark. One representative wearers review: "only for two hours" at full strength, then "after about 5 hours it becomes a skin scent." It is potent enough up close to be antisocial when freshly applied - Robin warned it's "probably not something you'd like to encounter freshly applied on an elevator on a hot day in August" - but it is not a day-long projection beast. Reserved-to-moderate sillage in the drydown is the rule.
## Wearing Context
Fall and winter, evening, cooler weather. Its smoky, woody profile is described across the wearers as autumnal and nocturnal - "more of a night than a day fragrance." It is genuinely unisex in construction but reads masculine-leaning to most. A vocal wearer discussion review framed it as the modern fragrance for the "vintage purist 'cologne guy'" who hoards golden-age masculines, while others find it wearable and even compliment-getting once the opening blast subsides. The practical advice from those who own it: spray conservatively and let it settle before going out.
## Comparisons & DNA
Black sits at a crossroads of several reference smoky/woody scents, and the wearers names them precisely. The most frequent comparison is to Bvlgari Black (Annick Menardo, 1998) for the shared burnt-rubber facet - though reviewers note CdG Black is "much sharper, more peppery" and drops Bvlgari's amber/vanilla and smoky-tea sweetness in favor of pure peppery incense. Within CdG's own catalog it is repeatedly called the meeting point of the Series 3 incenses (Avignon, Kyoto) plus a tarry, smoky edge; Robin positioned its Black Play flanker relationship and noted Black Tourmaline by Olivier Durbano as the scent of which Black could be "the polite little brother." Other DNA touchpoints cited by wearer discussion reviewers: Le Labo Patchouli 24 (same birch-tar/smoke family, by Menardo), Gucci pour Homme (2003), CdG 2 Man, Body Kouros, and Dior Eau Noire. On the budget-smoke question, a wearer discussion thread on wearable campfire scents concluded Black "is still probably the best and most wearable of them all."
## Reception
This is the most critically and popularly beloved of the CdG releases in this batch. critical coverage's Robin gave it an enthusiastic "great fun, thank you Comme des Garcons" (while declining to buy it only because she already owned "enough incense to last me through several lifetimes"). Into The Gloss raved that it smelled so good "a certain pair of ITG-ers nearly came to fisticuffs" over who got to keep it. wearers sentiment on wearers, wearers and wearer discussion is broadly positive, with the caveats that it is divisive on first sniff (some read it as "black tire rubber with clove & pepper" and unwearable) and underwhelming on longevity.
## Versions & Reformulation
Black is now marketed by Puig (which handles CdG fragrance). Unlike Bvlgari Black - whose discontinuation and reformulation history is extensively documented and lamented - CdG Black has no well-documented reformulation, and a findafragrance FAQ states "No significant reformulation has been reported." Availability has fluctuated; it is a steady but not always front-of-shelf item, generally found at fair prices online. There is one EDT concentration; the related Black Play is a separate, lighter composition rather than a flanker concentration.
## Acquisition Notes
Widely available through CdG stockists. critical coverage (Robin, June 27 2013) noted the launch price directly: "Black Comme des Garcons is available in 100 ml Eau de Toilette, $100." Robin specifically praised its reasonableness relative to CdG's pricier Hinoki/Stephen Jones offerings. Because longevity is modest, the 100ml bottle is sensible for those who'll wear it often. Sample first only if you're unsure about birch tar - those who love smoke almost uniformly find it a strong value.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- The trash-bag-and-rubber presentation is the signature piece of lore, tied to the Black concept-store launch and CdG's anti-glamour ethos.
- The perfumer's identity was initially a mystery - Robin's original critical coverage review ended with an open plea, "I'd love to know who the perfumer was," and only an update later confirmed Guillaume Flavigny.
- Commenters immediately guessed Annick Menardo because of the Bvlgari Black/Patchouli 24 kinship, a telling indication of how squarely Black sits in that smoky-rubber lineage.