If you don’t know Vaquera by name, you definitely know them by eye. The New York–based brand has become known for their contorted hoodies, tongue-in-cheek slogan tees, and mischievous trompe l'oeil garments that have cut through the fashion noise in recent years. Founded on a drunken whim with a sewing machine bought online and YouTube tutorials, and later cutting their teeth through Tumblr debuts, Vaquera has always been about DIY spirit.
Now the brand’s co-founders, Patric DiCaprio and Bryn Taubensee, are taking that same DIY charm into the fragrance world. Collaborating with Comme des Garçons Parfums ahead of their SS26 show in Paris, their debut fragrance, Classique Perdu, which translates to “lost classic”, lives up to its name.
Classique Perdu is a scent intended to pull you back to unique pockets of nostalgia: think freshly dried hair after a shower, the cold metal of your old car’s air conditioning, and the glint of a summer fountain. The aromatic, floral, and green composition includes notes of permanent marker accord, tomato leaf, sandalwood, and suede accord. Personally, we’re detecting an almagam of vegetable garden and fashion cupboard flashbacks.
In line with what Vaquera describes as “a rediscovered classic, found where you least expect it,” the perfume is enclosed in foamy packing peanuts and plastered with clearance stickers, designed to resemble a forgotten treasure pulled from the back shelf of a stockroom or a lone survivor of the DSM annual sample sale. It’s quintissientially Vaquera.
Classique Perdu is available from September 30 at Comme des Garçons Paris, Dover Street Market Paris and London, and at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris