Pierre Cardin — Style
Essence
Style is a 2013 woody-aromatic eau de toilette for men, released under license from Coty (Europe only) as half of a two-piece “duo” alongside a companion women’s fragrance of the same name. It belongs squarely to the budget-designer tier of a house that, in its modern incarnation, is best understood as a low-cost drugstore label rather than the avant-garde couture name of Cardin’s 1960s-80s heyday. The brief, per Coty’s own launch copy, was to “mix the modern and the timeless,” with the men’s edition positioned to exude “warmth and modern elegance.” In practice it is a sweet, soft, geranium-and-amber aromatic built on a creamy tonka-sandalwood base - an inexpensive, pleasant, unchallenging scent rather than a statement piece.
Scent Profile
The composition opens aromatic and lightly fruity, the lavender knit to a crisp green-apple and mandarin brightness. The most distinctive thread through the heart is geranium - reviewers consistently single it out - leaning rosy and slightly sweet against labdanum and a quiet jasmine. The drydown is where the fragrance settles into its identity: a warm, creamy, faintly “dirty” sweetness from tonka bean and amber, rounded with sandalwood. One reviewer captured both the appeal and the awkwardness of this arc, describing it as if “someone by accident drowned a potted flower in cream fudge” - a vivid shorthand for the floral-on-gourmand-sweetness tension that defines the scent. The overall effect is sweet, soft, and a touch ambiguous in gender: another reviewer half-joked it might suit “men that would like to wear Chanel 5, but the ladies’ scent is too bold for them.”
Performance
Performance reports are split and inconsistent - a hallmark of a budget EDT. One enthusiast described “a huge fragrance with a powerful staying power,” noting it is especially tenacious when sprayed onto clothing as well as skin. Another reviewer reported the opposite: “quite poor sillage and longevity on me,” adding pointedly that even Lacoste Style in Play, a fragrance notorious for short wear, outlasted it “three times longer at least.” The reasonable expectation, then, is modest-to-moderate longevity that varies considerably with skin chemistry and application, with better persistence on fabric than skin.
Wearing Context
This is a daytime, casual, warm-weather scent. The most positive wearer framing calls it “the perfect deal for a spring casual wear.. not overwhelming, nor intrusing, and really pleasant.” The sweet, soft profile makes it inoffensive for office or errands, while its lack of projection means it is unlikely to register as a deliberate signature. It is a “smell nice, spend little” everyday option rather than an evening or occasion fragrance.
Comparisons & DNA
The fullest comparison in circulation comes from a single reviewer, who framed Style as taking “the classy, distingued part of Davidoff’s Silver Shadow” and mixing it with “Lamborghini’s Prestigio for the delicious, playful, very sensual white chocolate part.” That triangulation - a polished, slightly sweet aromatic with a creamy gourmand-adjacent base - is the most useful DNA marker available. Beyond that, the geranium-amber-tonka spine places it loosely in the lineage of sweet aromatic designer masculines of the late-2000s/early-2010s, without distinctive originality.
Reception
Reception is best described as minimal and mixed. Coverage of this specific release is genuinely sparse: it has no major critic reviews, no wearer discussion, and no user reviews in surviving reviews or surviving records (both list it as a database entry only). The handful of surviving reviews range from “absolutely gorgeous fragrance” to a frank “one of the scents I don’t really know why was devised, or for whom.” The wearer verdict, such as it exists, is that this is a competent, cheap, pleasant scent that few people feel strongly about in either direction.
Versions & Reformulation
No reformulation history is documented. Style was issued as a 50 ml EDT men’s edition within the Coty-licensed 2013 duo (the companion Style for Women was released as an EDP in an oval clear-glass flacon with gold detailing). No flankers or concentration variants of the men’s edition are recorded.
Acquisition Notes
Style appears to be out of active production: one listing gives it as “last marketed by Coty” (past tense), with no “still in production” label of the kind it assigns to other Pierre Cardin entries. There is no significant secondary-market premium - as a budget designer scent it traded cheaply when available, consistent with the broader Pierre Cardin modern catalogue, where 50 ml EDTs were routinely discounted into the single-digit-to-low-double-digit dollar range. Buyers should not expect collector value; this is a “buy it if you find it cheap” proposition. Identity is confirmed by the catalogue page matching the catalog facts (woody-aromatic EDT, 2013, the listed note pyramid).
Notable Facts & Lore
- Style launched as a coordinated men’s-and-women’s duo in the Coty licensing era.
- The men’s scent was positioned around modern warmth and elegance.
- Its European budget-label context explains the scarce record and low aftermarket stakes.