The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Crime takes its name from Dostoevsky. A sensory invitation to temptation and mystery, the brand's own words, and they mean it. Bruno Herve designed this 2018 release as part of the Rock & Riot Black collection, where Franck Boclet keeps company with Tobacco, Ashes, and other fragrances with something to say. Not a safe entry. Not a polite one. The name is the program.
The unusual pairing of bread and dark chocolate is what makes Crime stand out in a crowded field of chocolate fragrances. The oud brings a medicinal quality that transforms that sweetness into something addictive rather than cloying, the kind of combination that keeps pulling you back in for another skin test. It's the kind of structure that rewards attention.
The evolution
The opening is dark chocolate and bread, which creates an unexpected accord that sits between marzipan and something almost medicinal. Then heliotrope and leather take over, and the drydown is chocolatey-woody and subtly sweet, oud and dark chocolate walk hand in hand from opening to the very end, never quite letting go. The oud is the tell. That's the medicinal edge of two materials working together in what were, ten minutes ago, sweet and strange. The brand didn't hide it. The brand made it the opening.
Cultural impact
Crime sits in the Rock & Riot Black collection alongside Tobacco, Ashes, and other fragrances with something to say. The 2018 release appeals to wearers who want something with real character, not a safe blind buy, but a fragrance that rewards attention and sparks conversation. It is a statement piece.
