The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
In 2000, Comme des Garcons launched Series 1 Leaves, five fragrances launched simultaneously, each exploring how reduced and focused a perfume can be. Shiso was the most compact candidate in the series. The brief was deceptively simple: make the shiso leaf the fragrance. Not an interpretation. Not a metaphor. The leaf itself.
The notes reflect shiso's own duality. On one side, the bright citrusy aldehydes: lemon, mint, citruses. On the other, the umami depth of caraway and coriander, the savory, slightly aniseed character that makes shiso essential in Japanese cooking. Cinnamon adds warmth without sweetness. The composition mirrors how shiso functions in cuisine: both garnish and backbone.
The evolution
The opening is all about that metallic, sour green note, the sharp, almost astringent quality of a shiso leaf crushed between thumb and forefinger. Anyone who's chopped shiso for sushi or yakitori will recognize it instantly. Mint arrives within seconds, modulating the intensity, adding that cooling edge the leaf carries in its cell structure. The combination with caraway is the secret: reviews call it amazing, and it is, the savory depth makes the green feel almost edible, like the memory of eating shiso rather than smelling it. Over the first hour, the top notes begin their quiet exit. The mint fades first. The green sour note persists longest, settling into that umami-caraway foundation. By the mid-stage, you're wearing a green-herbal heart that is, according to the community review, almost disturbingly accurate to the actual leaf. The drydown is a whisper. Herbs on skin, barely there, reasserting faintly when you press your wrist to your nose or when body heat rises.
Cultural impact
Series 1 Leaves arrived at a moment when the fragrance industry was still operating in the maximalist tradition of the late 1990s. Five simultaneous launches, each stripped to a single botanical concept, was a deliberate counterargument. Shiso attracted a specific kind of wearer: someone bored by conventional masculine-or-feminine distinctions, someone drawn to herbal, anti-sweet compositions. The fragrance has since been discontinued, which has only sharpened collector interest.
