Today I Will Be Wearing: L'Homme by Roger & Gallet

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It was the mid 1980’s - as I made the very early morning walk from Charing Cross through the old market to the Covent Garden General Store, where I was a buyer, my sense of excitement would increase with every step. Ahead of me lay a day fraught with challenges but full of fun, right there in the middle of the most happening part of London.

The fruit, vegetable and flower market had moved out in 1979 but a residue from its past remained. As the last surviving flower seller set up stall on the cobbles, people spilled out from pubs which still kept licensing hours set to suit the schedule of the market porters. The newly renovated retail units had been assigned to independent businesses, chains were not granted leases, and I would marvel at the strange and varied window displays; each one vying to outdo the next.

I would be buzzed into the store’s staff entrance and walk across the well worn wooden floors, Blondie would be blaring around the closed shop as the recovery team restocked from the night before – The Covent Garden General Store was open to midnight every night. As I do daily now in Roullier White, I would pause to decide what tester I was going to spray. Invariably it would be L’Homme by Roger & Gallet (1979). Having struggled to close the heavy grill gate of the freight lift I would fall back against its wall, my wrist pressed against my nose, as the lift slowly and jerkily chugged its way up to the offices.

L’Homme by Roger & Gallet will for me be forever indelibly linked to that time of change, opportunity and optimism. A woody scent bursting with vitality; mint and lemon sparkle around a triumvirate heart of lavender, clove and ylang-ylang cushioned on a bed of rich, sensuous vetiver, oakmoss, sandalwood and patchouli.

Today I am working for another client and as I walk through Covent Garden past the largest Apple Store in
Europe and Marks and Spencers, on the site of the old General Store, I will no doubt contemplate how much times have changed - but as I push my wrist to my nose, and a few ghosts dance across my briefly closed eyelids, it will be nice to know some things never change.

I bought L’Homme By Roger & Gallet from the wonderful and delightful  Burgins of York.

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