Drakkar Noir

Drakkar Noir is a men's fragrance by Guy Laroche created by perfumer Pierre Wargnye. The fragrance was introduced in 1982 and is manufactured under license by the L'Oréal Group.^[1] It won the 1985 FiFi Award for "Most Successful Men's Fragrance (Limited)"^[2] and, in 2010, the Canadian Fragrance Awards' "Hall of Fame Award - men's".^[3] In 1991, it was the bestselling men's "prestige" ($20+) scent worldwide.^[4] The name is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable "Dra-CAR".^[4]

There is a song on Phoenix's fifth studio album, Bankrupt!, titled "Drakkar Noir".

Drakkar Noir also has a courtroom scene in the 2006 movie "Let's Go To Prison".

Product overview

Name

According to New York Times, the name derives from "a flat-bottomed Viking ship".^[4]

Description

The fragrance is an aromatic fougère, with top notes of bergamot, rosemary, lavender, middle notes of cardamom and geranium, and a dry down of vetiver, cedar, and fir balsam.^[5] The top note includes prominent dihydromyrcenol, a synthetic odorant with a metallic citric-floral character, typical of the fougère family fragrances.

I do believe the secret behind this fragrance is the emotion of its construction as well as the power feeling that it evokes. It’s still very modern nowadays due to its timeless contrasting and its sensual masculine power.

— Pierre Wargnye, perfumer; creator of Drakkar Noir^[6]

Marketing

The first ad featured a close-up of a man's hand and a woman's hand grabbing the fragrance erotically.^[7]

From 1986 to 1991, a TV commercial for the fragrance featured an athletic yuppie-like young man about town, doing activities such as archery and nightclubbing.^[4] From 1991 to 1993, another TV commercial featured a boxer and his girlfriend, played by supermodel Stephanie Seymour. The print advertising campaign was photographed by Herb Ritts.^[8] In 1994, a new commercial, shot by director Jean-Baptiste Mondino, was introduced. It depicted a rock star amongst his wildly excited fans.^[9]

In 1993, Guy Laroche offered a promotional CD, Best of Rock, with every purchase of Drakkar Noir. The CD featured tracks by Jimi Hendrix, Rod Stewart and others.^[10]

In 2013, a new commercial was released featuring the Brazilian football player Neymar Jr., photographed again by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, promoting social inclusion through sport.^[11]

In popular culture

Due to its ubiquity in the 1980s, the cologne is often associated with the decade in modern popular culture, often to indicate that the wearer is either from a culture just experiencing the decade due to cultural diffusion or just generally behind the times.

In the 2008 movie Taken, the phrase "good luck" in English was used by Bryan Mills to identify the kidnappers who had sold his daughter to sex slavery in France. The scene was later parodied in a 2012 episode of the popular animated series Family Guy, titled "Leggo My Meg-O," where the parody played on the stereotype of Persian/Middle Eastern men using too much cologne. The phrase the kidnapper said to Peter Griffin on the phone was "Drakkar Noir", partly as an homage to the voice over from the 1980s-1990s era Drakkar Noir commercials, and then later used by Stewie to match the kidnapper's voice, like Mills did in Taken with the phrase "good luck."

In a season 1 episode of Shameless, Frank Gallagher mentions that all he could smell upon waking up in a Toronto park was Drakkar Noir.

In a first-season episode of Breaking Bad, entitled "...And the Bag's in the River," the character Hank Schrader cites that a drug dealer's car "smells like a Drakkar Noir factory" during a discussion with his partner, Steve Gomez, about whether or not Hispanic culture is still as rich as it was during the time of the Conquistadors.

In the season 3 episode of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, "Mac's A Serial Killer", while spraying the fragrance on himself, Charlie is told by Frank, "That stuff stinks." to which he replies, "It's Drakkar Noir, man.", and continues to overapply it to himself. In a season 10 episode, when the gang is on a game show, Mac suggests Drakkar Noir as a popular grooming product.

On Phoenix's fifth studio album, Bankrupt!, the sixth track is titled 'Drakkar Noir'. On the album commentary, a band member describes the reference: "I remember precisely this moment... I told Thomas to 'Sing Drakkar Noir'... And then it started from this little emotion... but we tried to keep close to this first impression.... We loved the fact that it is a very cheap perfume. When you are young you want to talk about beautiful or luxury items, but now we like to talk about really cheap things".^[12]

Drakkar Noir was mentioned in a How I Met Your Mother episode called "Rabbit or Duck." Ted states that Lily and Marshall are the best at picking people to date because they picked each other. Lily than states, "Oh well with the slight assist from the Wesleyan housing department." in which Marshall follow up with, " And a healthy splash of Drakkar Noir."^[13]

Drakkar Noir is mentioned in Bret Easton Ellis's novel American Psycho.

Drakkar Noir is mentioned in the Showtime television series Californication, during Season 3 in Episode 5, "Slow Happy Boys".

Drakkar Noir is mentioned in the Showtime television series Weeds, during Season 7, in Episode 8 titled "Synthetics," in which the character Dimitri calls it the best cologne "for moving products" (i.e., conducting drug deals).

Drakkar Noir is also mentioned in the television series Raising Hope, first season, episode 22 titled "Don't Vote for This Episode." The episode recounts when the main character Jimmy turns 18 and is going through a goth phase. At the breakfast table his mother refers to him as Jimmy and he tells her that if she is to address him she must call him "Drakkar Noir," to which she replies "Like the men's perfume, right?"

Season 6, episode 18 of American teen drama television series Dawson's Creek refers to the Drakkar Noir as a hint of the career success of Pacey Witter.

In season 4, episode 4 of American television comedy series Community, Jeff tells the German students to "Please leave and take that mushroom cloud of Drakkar with you."

In a season 3 episode of Psych, Drakkar Noir is described by Shawn and Gus as "the cologne we wore in high school."

In the first-season episode of The Office "Hot Girl," Michael Scott has a "perfect smell-alike" of Drakkar Noir from Rite Aid.

References