Paradigm
Avon (2002)

Paradigm by Avon (2002) is a fresh leather chypre scent that really went quite counter to what was gaining popularity in 2002, but that seemed to be the modus operandi of Avon anyway. After a decade of pretty much trying and failing to play hardball with the big designer brands, Avon had reached peak malaise before management shakeups lead to Andrea Jung becoming CEO, the first female CEO in the storied company's century-plus history despite carrying the banner of being "by women for women". With Jung at the helm by 1999, it was decided that what Avon needed to be more competitive with with upscale perfume and cosmetics brands was a physical retail presence inside department stores like traditional brands such as Lauder and Arden, which Avon achieved with its Mark stores within JC Penny. Meanwhile, variety and expansion of product assortment was the name of the game for the catalog sales, plus a huge doubling-down of celebrity and designer cross-ventures like what Avon had dabbled with in the 80's to some success via celeb-scents for the likes of Cher, Catharine Denevue, Billy-Dee Williams, and so on. For Avon's own house-branded products, no more creative negligence would be tolerated too, and since Avon was now sending briefs to the big oil houses courtesy of Ann Gottlieb's creative direction a decade prior, the company could put many irons in the fire simultaneously. This mean that while Avon did pursue more youth-oriented men's products, they no longer had to do so at the expensive of their mature legacy market, since they weren't doing all the heavy lifting of creating fragrances in house and then trying to manufacture and market them too. Paradigm was one such swing at capitulation taken towards mature men who had stuck with the brand for decades.

What's really funny about this, is that you can tell Paradigm was built to have traditional masculine fragrance values but within the context of modern design, materials, and budget, like someone trying to make a fragrance akin to a 1960's designer but not with 1960's materials. As such, we get a bright aldehyde opening like you'd expect from Aramis by Estée Lauder (1965), but with a clean modern soapy edge in the heart that reads more like Boucheron pour Homme (1990) than Aramis. Basil, thyme, and sage all meet the aldehydes and bergamot in the opening, before a sharp sour isobutyl quinoline leather note is detected, mixed with dry clean bits of aromachemical wizardry borrowed from 90's citrus freshies, with linden blossom named as the responsible note in the pyramid. Jasmine is listed here but I don't get much of that (maybe hedione), but I certainly get juniper and coriander. Labdaum and a camphoraceous patchouli mix with Iso E Super "woods" and a bit of oakmoss and a dry red sandalwood-like woody material. The leather remains, and the herbs combined with the soapy facets make for a scent that reads like a classic Italian masculine in theory, but executes in practice like an adjunct of Jean-Claude Ellena's clean minimalism, just not shy with the sillage like Ellena's "transparent" compositions can sometimes be. Paradigm is anything but transparent, and will pierce the air with a zip and zing, settle in to something clean and refined, but with that sour punch of leather and herbed citruses which hearken back to things like Capucci pour Homme (1967). This classic chypre stretched over modern bones has impressive performance and longevity, considering it is listed as a "cologne", but is a bit of an acquired taste as a "bastard sword" of old-school design with modern materials. Best use is pretty much all seasons as a signature, except for maybe the dead of winter.

Avon saw fit to release this in the UK as Class Act, and Aspire in the South African market, then change out the bottle and re-release it as Aspire again in South America, so for many of you, this is one of those and not "Paradigm". As Paradigm, this fragrance only lasted a short while in the US and Canadian markets, as it wasn't particularly successful; not that any Avon masculines from then really were. since all the men's market releases that flooded the Avon catalogs served to overwhelm buyers and compete against each other for sales. Avon also launched a serious of more mature-minded chypres and green ambery fragrances that each came into the catalog then disappeared to be replaced by another, and Paradigm was just one of such ephemeral but highly-unique anachronistic gems from the period. Others like Avon Uomo (2000), Avon Modern Balance (2001), and Avon HisStory (2003), all had their fifteen minutes of relative obscurity. Of these, Paradigm is my favorite because it blends so deftly the citrus aromatic chypre of old with it's aldehydic leather counterpart of the same period. Who really cares if there aren't oodles of real sandalwood or unfettered bergamot oil, birch tar, or whatever else floating in the ether of this scent? The modern soapy edge also makes Paradigm rather unique in my opinion and I have never in all my years exploring fragrance found anything that comes remotely close, at any price point, from any other brand. I just wish I could thank Pierre Negrin for really breaking the mold on Paradigm, although he has since attained reknown with brands like Amouage and Tom Ford, so he probably doesn't need it. That this scent didn't become a successful evergreen like Avon Black Suede (1980) is even more of a shame. Thumbs up

A better Lagerfeld Classic. The opoponax in LC is too much and not very well balanced. In Paradigm, it is well contrasted with other manly ingredients to make it very beautiful. I can see this as an easy signature scent, especially with its hints of Macassar. THis is one of those Avon scents that is worth a full bottle purchase. Thumbs up!

What a weird and slightly unpleasant mixture. Smells like Vetiver mixed with sweet synthetic caramel spices. It's not horrible, but definitely not something I would like to smell like considering all the wonderful fragrances out there. To top it off, there is also a slight soapy quality to this...strange and synthetic indeed. Pass.

Paradigm is a wonderful mix of Italian like woods and spices. Appropriately enough is that on the sample packet I received of this, there's a rather dapper Italian man on it. one of the few scents from Avon that I've found surprising considering the fragrance company. Cheap with a thumbs up.

This is a very spicy woodsie mix. I kind of liked it, but my hubbie didn't & he's the one that had to wear it, so I wouldn't purchase again. I agree with the first reviewer, Avon does make some great fragrances. I've tried many designer fragrances and some of Avon's are still among my favorites!

Not a bad fragrance, however when I first applied it, I was reminded of some cheap drugstore type scent. Once the initial blast of alcohol goes away, it emerges as a spicy warm scent with some sharp bits still present. Seems to me more of a casual weekend scent, itís a little too much for office work unless you go very lightly on the application. Maybe good in the afternoon or evening on colder days.