RSVP briefly wore a unicorn horn in it's original red glass presentation (which had wood box coffret to boot) after it failed to market well and was cut, but unlike other big designers that leave discontinued dark horse faves for dead, Kenneth Cole actually relaunched this with a black bottle. Tom Ford was still a year away from his Tom Ford for Men (2007), which would really steal the show away from mid-tier ambers like RSVP, at least until Dolce & Gabbana The One For Men (2008) came along to become the middle-road amber darling, robbing RSVP of any chance to redeem the Kenneth Cole house, but for the price I still maintain that you can do worse.
Rsvp kenneth cole full#
I can see how the trail of this can garner compliments if that's why you wear fragrance, but for me it feels like RSVP goes for a tobacco-less take on Versace The Dreamer (1996) with the iris note, but then ads in a hefty cedar to dry it up before ending in an ambery base that mimics Gucci Pour Homme (2003), but stuffs it full of synthetics to lighten it up. The base of amber, vetiver, sandalwood, patchouli and musk feels more natural and cozy, while the synthetic cashmeran give the citrus, iris, and woods a plush bed of pillows to land on. The cedar overtakes the synthetic iris note, the latter of which is another soapy love or hate note among male fragrance fans, with a synthetic "orchid" accord filling the gaps in a floral equivalent to what the "fern" accords at this time also were. Pepper and sweet lavender finish the brief and soft opening that then moves into a heart of iris and cedar, which gives RSVP most of it's quietly romantic poise. I get it guys, this is phoned-in but for me it's a well-done kind of phoned-in performance, like a rehearsed live band performance for Saturday Night Live. RSVP opens with that Kenneth Cole grapefruit/cypress note you either love or hate, and from the looks of things, mainstream fellas love it but more refined noses consider it a cheap shot like the reuse of aerial dogfight stock footage in an old WWI movie. Besides, Frank Voelkl made this one as well as all those named (outside of New York), so it's only natural that they all share similar chemistry. I'm not trying to paint RSVP as a hidden gem it isn't anything more than a soft woodsy amber oriental take on the main Kenneth Cole masculine theme, meant for romantic or evening use where others from the line won't do, unlike the more-formal Kenneth Cole Signature or casual Kenneth Cole Reaction (2004).
"Colognoisseurs" used to their expensive niche or esoteric and often discontinued vintage designer fragrances often forget that a "house note" tying all of a perfume maker's creations together has been employed since antiquity by even distinguished like Guerlain, and if Kenneth Cole is to blame for anything, it's that his love of dry woodsy grapefruit accord over (mostly over cypress) was very "en vogue" during the decade he used it most, and sometimes worn a little too much on his sleeve as a house note, but thankfully it's actually quite subdued here in RSVP. I go against popular opinion among male fragrance aficionados, as I rather enjoy Kenneth Cole's fairly unique grapefruit-powered 2000's masculine output.
Kenneth Cole RSVP (2006) was hot on the heels of Frank Voekl's Kenneth Cole Signature (2005), which itself was a woodsier reorchestration of the garish and misunderstood Kenneth Cole New York Men (2002) made by Steve Demercado, meaning that RSVP was the culmination of this more-oriental train of thought but with Cole's trademark grapefruit house note stapled on.