Bandit by Robert Piguet (1944)

It's becoming very clear to me that perfumes from the '40s and '50s are those that really call my name. Take Robert Piguet's Bandit, composed by Germaine Cellier and purported to be Marlene Dietrich's signature scent. Bandit is a classic leather chypre whose dominant twin notes — the sting of galbanum with the warmth of leather — encircle any sweetness that could emerge from jasmine or rose. Instead, Bandit uses them to round out and undergird the primary badass butch character of the perfume. I picture a bouquet of flowers wrapped with a black whip instead of a shiny ribbon.

I'm not sure if the bitter green and sharp/sour galbanum, mixed with the other notes, is supposed to come off rubbery-smelling, but it does, and it's a good thing! Bandit's sharp angles make you pause and think. Its cacophanous notes are its appeal, like an instrument playing off-key in an atonal modern music composition or a modernist portrait of a woman with a blue face and green lips. As one commenter on a Basenotes forum put it: "Sharp green + sweet floral + sour vetiver = olfactory mayhem." Mayhem is right!

Wear Bandit only if you like to be brash and loud. This is not an office scent, and I'm not even sure it's a date night scent, unless your date wants to be tied up and pistol-whipped. As one commenter put it on a Basenotes forum, "I love the idea of smelling like a whip-cracking, ball-busting pirate queen."

Dry, non-floral, leathery, sexy, dirty, harsh and rubbery — call it what you will, but Bandit makes being bad smell good.

UPDATE: I got a batch of Bandit that has not turned and whose top notes have not disappeared. All the angles I've talked about are still there, but their edges are worn and fit seamlessly together in this masterpiece of a perfume. It really is the scent of a complicated woman with a past, whose femininity is tantalizing and mysterious (think Isabella Rossellini in David Lynch's Blue Velvet).

Top notes: Artemisia, bergamot, gardenia, aldehydes,

Heart notes: Jasmine, orris, rose, carnation

Base notes: Castoreum, patchouli, vetiver, myrrh, oak moss, amber, civet

(note: Haarman & Reimer guide does not include galbanum or isobutyl quinoline in its list of Bandit's notes. Not sure why...)

Comments

[rk]

I find that vintage Bandit EDT is incredibly similar to original Azuree by Estee Lauder (except in the top and very bottom notes). I wanted to love them both, but that harsh note that many find "leathery" reads to my nose like axl grease. Waaaah... Sadly I love the idea of it more than the actual execution. Definitely an interesting one though. :)

[Perfumaniac]

Interesting, rk. I'll have to compare them. I find vintage Bandit to be relentlessly rubber-green-dirty-ashtray in a way that Azuree is not. Bandit is like the louche bad girl and Azuree a refined vixen from the other (better!) side of the tracks. :)

[Maria]

I love the modern Bandit and would love to try the vintage but where can I buy it?

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Maria,

You can start with a sample from The Perfumed Court, http://theperfumedcourt.com/Products/Robert-Piguet-Vintage-Bandit-EDT-original-Formula__PIGUETBANDITVINTEDT.aspx, and if you like it enough, sometimes eBay has full bottles. They're pricey, though, so it would be an investment, and I would make sure you could return it it wasn't fresh enough. Good luck! Bandit's one of my favorites...

[Alexis J. Lómakin]

What an absolute disappointment with the current version of Bandit de Robert Piguet PARFUM ordered from the http://www.robertpiguetparfums.com/
It's extremely mild and actually not really long lasting (to my standards). Women might like it though.
Current EDP version is definitely sharper and indeed sounds like a true BANDIT! Although I'm not sure whether my EDP was issued before or after 2010 (remember about the reformulation to comply with IFRA restrictions on oakmoss levels).
BANDIT is an artwork, a unique fragrance suitable for both women and men, who are strong, confident, and independent; those people do not tolerate commonplace and conformism, quite often they break the rules, and break them beautifully, deliberately and well!!!

[Alexis J. Lómakin]

Ok, I finally got my order from The Perfumed Court (as far as I know, it’s a trusted source of vintage fragrances).

Now I have the following versions of Bandit by Robert Piguet:
—
(1) Bandit Light Pour Homme EDT (Alfin inc.);
(2) Bandit EDT (Alfin inc.);
(3) Vintage Bandit EDT Original Formula;
(4) Vintage Bandit Parfum Original Formula;
(5) Bandit EDP (Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, LTD);
(6) Bandit Parfum (Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, LTD).
—
Versions # 1 and 2 (manufactured by Alfin inc.) are grossly reformulated, I wouldn’t recommend even trying them, it’s a waste of time and money.

Version # 3, Vintage Bandit EDT Original Formula (obtained from The Perfumed Court): A strong dark chypre, quite oriental, with a mild resemblance of Salvador Dali Perfume by Salvador Dali, extremely powdery with subtile notes of Valeriana officinalis, NO LEATHER AT ALL!!! Ok…Maybe just a little leather. And it actually provokes a headache! The color of substance is dark yellow, even brownish (which is strange, because I saw vintage Bandit EDT on the internet and the color of juice was yellow). So there are three options: 1) it’s not Bandit at all, and The Perfumed Court shouldn’t be a trusted source anymore; 2) the juice is super old and wasn’t properly stored; 3) this is the way Vintage Bandit EDT smells (I really doubt it).

Version # 4, Vintage Bandit Parfum Original Formula (obtained from The Perfumed Court): an absolutely gorgeous three-dimentional fragrance which olfactorily complies with canonical chemical design for Bandit by Germaine Cellier. But again, I saw a few vintage Bandit pure parfums on the internet, the color of juice was brownish (a cognac-like color), however, in my case, the sample obtained from The Perfumed Court is light yellow (a champagne-like color). So it’s a bit of conundrum whether I should trust The Perfumed Court.

Versions # 5 and 6 (Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, LTD) are currently on the market. Both are very similar to the vintage vesrion of Bandit Parfum Original Formula obtained from The Perfumed Court, but Bandit EDP from Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, LTD is stronger, sharper, and more leathery and green [at least on my skin] (and as a man, I like this version of Bandit most of all).

I’m still interested in trying Vintage Bandit Parfum and EDT Original Formula versions from sources other than The Perfumed Court .

For now, I would totally stick to the current versions of Bandit de Robert Piguet manufactured by Fashion Fragrances & Cosmetics, LTD in the USA. I’ve heard that their current nose, Aurélien Guichard, trained in Givaudan, was really carefull in going back to the perfume formulations by Germaine Cellier and in trying to recreate Bandit as close as possible to its original.
Note, they make only Bandit EDP and Bandit Parfum, no EDT!

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Alexis,

It sounds like you have every version of Bandit under the sun! I appreciate your tenacity. From my experience, the vintage EDP is nicer and more complex than the vintage EDT, and sometimes EDTs top notes can oxidize over the years, not holding up as well as the EDP. I've tried the current Bandit version, and although I'd wear it just to get a hint of the vintage, it just doesn't have the multiple dimensions the vintage has. It's green, it's bitter, but the intense bitterness, leather, and je ne sais quoi of the original aren't there.

[Alexis J. Lómakin]

Yes, vintage pure parfum is a three-dimensional (3D) fragrance, but the current pure parfum is kind of 2.3-2.5D :-)

[Robert]

I've some vintage Bandit (thanks, Jody from NYC), and I'm reminded of Guerlain Derby. Hardly much of a consolation, given the latter's pricing, but availability is less problematic.

[Srormy]

Hello there!
I have contemporary Bandit EDP & contemporary Bandit Parfum, as well as vintage Bandit EDT & vintage Bandit Parfum (2 mL-mini from Paris). They are all so different from each other, but one could still see that they are variations on the Bandit theme.
Some time ago, I've received a few samples of vintage Bandit Parfum and vintage Brigand Parfum (In 1945-1947 Bandit was marketed in the USA as Brigand). The both samples smell almost identical. The Bandit is just a bit sharper. The owner claims that they are from the 50s-60s, 100% genuine, and well-stored. The juice is dark brown. The smell is just divine! It's a very dark chypre, deep, not super-sharp, green-woody, with just a hint of roses, a lot of oakmoss, very musky, some vanilla and benzoin notes are there as well; and there is even some sweetness to it + powdery character. Really elegant, animalic, mysterious, and lady-like. But the smell has really nothing to do with vintage EDT or contemporary EDP or Parfum (maybe drydown is somewhat similar). It's almost another fragrance! For example, I can't detect artemisia and carnation at all; galbanum is there, but not really obvious. I suspected that due to aging, all top notes are gone, and this extra-sweetness is due to oxidation or something. However, the owner insists that the majority of top notes are there, and this is how a vintage Bandit Parfum should smell like.
Well, my 2 mL-mini of Bandit Parfum from Paris, when it dryes down, does smell somewhat similar to those samples, but it has prominent artemisia and carnation notes, really easily detectable! So the owner thinks that the version I have from Paris is b.s.
Any experience with vintage Bandit/Brigand parfum?
I'd really appreciate your comments regarding this issue.

[Perfumaniac]

Hi Robert,

Thanks for your message, and I apologize it has taken me this long to get back to you. I do have experience with vintage Bandit: I smelled an early mini EDP from the 40s, and I have a couple minis of what must be the 50s or 60s vintage EDP. They're amazing and deep. I review them here.

I also have an early vintage EDT. It's sharper, and you can smell the isobutyl quinoline (the tobacco-leather note it was overdosed with) best in the EDT.

When it comes to vintage perfume, certainty is a difficult game, what with reformulations and the difficulty and expense of getting perfumes. (I've been collecting and writing about it for a few years, and your mention of Brigand is literally the first I've heard of that!) Stay tuned on my answer, or at least, my opinion about Brigand.

And finally, I think with vintage, you know it when you smell it if you have enough experience. If you want to experience the Bandit that Germaine Cellier created, I'd say find a 40s bottle, or a decant from a 40s bottle. (The bottles are insanely expensive now.) The 50s/60s versions are pretty true to that one, and you know my opinion about the reformulation. It sounds like you've had an experience with pretty much every version! Lucky you.

I have also smelled the reformulation, and while it has a similar character, it has none of the depth of the original. I sniff it just because it makes me remember the original, but it really doesn't have that rich base. I have never smelled Brigand, and I can't believe I've never heard that it was sold as Bandit in the 40s in the US. Where did you hear that?? I'm going to have to do a sniff test as soon as I get my hands on some Brigand. I'll come back and say something here!

[Benjamin M]

I must confess, I am a neophyte. I adore, love, am addicted to the Alfin Bandit EDT and Light pour homme.
I cannot live without the insanely intense Green.

[Benjamin M]

I must confess, I am a neophyte. I adore, love, am addicted to the Alfin Bandit EDT and Light pour homme.
I cannot live without the insanely intense Green.