The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
A13 built its foundation on opposites. Out In The Open arrived in 2021 as the debut fragrance from a house that named its first two releases as conceptual twins, one about exposure, one about concealment. The naming was deliberate: Miguel Matos designed this fragrance as an argument for visibility. Not the performative kind. The kind that comes from walking into a room and letting people smell exactly who you are.
What makes Out In The Open structurally interesting is its pyramid inverts the typical floral trajectory. Where most floral fragrances soften as they dry, this one builds. The opening is gardenia and apple, bright, familiar territory. But the heart of mimosa, broom, and jasmine sits in beeswax, not a clean musky backdrop. And the base, civet, leather, tonka, doesn't soften down so much as deepen into something that occupies space rather than merely filling it. Orris root adds a powdery violet root quality that bridges the florals and the animalics, giving the composition a thread of something almost savory beneath all that sweetness.
The evolution
The opening announces itself within seconds, gardenia's creamy white petals alongside apple's crisp fruit and saffron's dry spice. The saffron lingers longer than expected, adding a subtle medicinal heat that most floral compositions avoid. Around the 20-minute mark, the heart arrives: mimosa blooms warm and golden, jasmine adds depth, and the beeswax begins to register as something between honey and church candle. The orange blossom keeps things clean at the edges while the civet emerges quietly beneath. By the second hour, the leather takes over as the dominant impression, not cold or harsh, but present, warm, like a well-worn jacket. The drydown holds for hours. On fabric, the vanilla and sandalwood surface the next morning, soft and intimate, the kind of scent that clings to a collar rather than announcing itself.
Cultural impact
Out In The Open arrived in 2021 as part of a broader niche fragrance moment when houses were moving away from safe, broadly-appealing compositions toward more challenging territory. The combination of white and yellow florals with animalic leather represented a specific kind of confidence, floral enough to be approachable, animalic enough to have a point of view. Wearers who connect with this composition tend to describe it as the fragrance of someone who has nothing to prove and knows it.
