Just Dandy: One Oeillet Open

As I tried to convey in last week's Just Dandy posts, it is essential that the dandy–he or she–treat accessorizing as an activity of freedom and personal judgment. In the speeding up of today's fashion scene, many of us can easily lose our way when well-meaning salespeople attempt to assemble for us a "complete" look. Putting this jacket with those pants with that tie and those shoes does not make for being stylish–it makes for being new. The art of dressing is about those touches which we decide on at the last moment, touches that at first might not appear to work but, in the end, do. The same can be said for fragrance: some constitute a complete look, others merely a tuning-up of what is already there. Prada's No. 2 Oeillet parfum falls into the latter category. The carnation (Oeillet in French, dianthus in Latin) note is rather straightforward: soft, white-blue, sparkling, even pretty. In the background, and on the drydown, lurks some delicious spice, and benzoin lends a creamy amber note to the scent's delightfully lingering personality. Oeillet reminds me of a time when a nattily dressed man would amble into the local florist on his way to the office and pick a small dyed carnation or bachelor button for his lapel. He feels the morning sun on his face, against the panels of his suit ... and the world is new again.

No. 2 Oeillet is sold exclusively at the Prada boutique in Soho, as well as at Harrods, Printemps and Galleries Lafayette.