Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz
Johann Maria Farina gegenüber dem Jülichs-Platz
101 votes
A unique visual signature based on accords, character, and seasonality
Bergamot and lemon crackle across the skin with immediate brightness, supported by a crisp basil note that feels almost herbal-green. The initial accord is fresh and bracingly aromatic, almost cologne-like in its opening vivacity.
The leather emerges gradually, not in a sudden leather-bomb fashion but as a warm, spiced envelope. Cinnamon and cedarwood layer beneath the leather, creating a distinctly woody-spicy heart, whilst carnation adds a subtle powdery softness that prevents the composition from becoming one-dimensional.
The fragrance's performance limitations become evident here, as projection diminishes considerably. What remains is a quiet, skin-close marriage of leather, musk, and moss—an intimate, almost whispered version of the earlier composition, with styrax and vanilla providing subtle sweetness without sentimentality.
Russisch Leder is a fragrance that wears its age with conspicuous dignity. Hugo Janistyn's 1967 composition captures the precise moment when leather fragrances were transitioning from purely animalic brutalism into something more architecturally considered—a leather that's been shaped and refined rather than merely skinned and splashed on.
The opening brightness of lemon and bergamot doesn't coddle you; instead, it acts as a sharp counterpoint to what's coming, a clarifying agent that prevents the leather from becoming oppressively dense. The basil adds an unexpected herbal astringency, almost medicinal, which heightens the olfactory contrast before the heart notes fully declare themselves.
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4.0/5 (202)