As long as I live the green-bottled Polo will forever be “my father” in my memory. Now and long after he passes away I will keep a bottle to remind me of him. That said, I’m in my 30’s and I don’t mind wearing this selectively around the holiday season. It will never be a daily go-to or even one that gets more than 2 or 3 wearings in a year for me, but it has it’s place in my collection. This is miles away from playful and easygoing. It is serious, dark, earthy, a bit rough, but also fresh and clean.
It was my only fragrance for 30 years. I have gone through so many bottles, I have lost count. The Warner bottles were the best fragrance ever made.
I am not sure if it is my imagination but it smells much more pleasant that what it did in December. It could be that the contents had to settle or mature in the bottle as is the case with my Aventus and other fragrances. It is almost like the spicy notes are coming through better now as I could mostly Polo Ralph Lauren t shirt only smell a wet green grass note before. So I do think it comes across as a lot more balanced and richer now. First thing that hit me was a blast of tobacco; not the fresh kind, but resinous, dried tobacco. Took me right back to my grandmother’s house, sitting next to her while she smoked.
There is no more iconic bottle in all of perfumery. The original powerhouse formulation would fill the whole room. My father wore this in the 80s, 90s.
Every time I purchased a bottle, I would be gifted Polo bags and other gifts . I still have several of those bags in the classic green canvas to this day. I used the canvas briefcase for my first job out of college in 1984. The satchel bag I have still has the paper surrounding the shoulder strap tucked under the flap, and it looks brand new.