The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Annick Menardo created Style in Play in 2004 as part of Lacoste's expanding fragrance line, a house that had been translating its athletic heritage into scent since 1984. The green apple top note was the statement: not sweet, not safe, something that made you pay attention in the first five minutes. The apple itself is crisp and tart, more reminiscent of a freshly cut fruit than any candy-like interpretation, giving the opening an immediate brightness that feels energizing without being saccharine. Thuja added an herbal edge that kept it from becoming a generic fruity fragrance, bringing with it a slightly medicinal freshness that cuts through and prevents the composition from feeling soft.
The green apple and thuja opening is what makes this composition unusual. Thuja, an herb with a fresh, almost medicinal character, adds an edge that most fruit-forward scents avoid. Together they create an opening that is tart without being sweet, herbal without being sharp. The heart brings pine tree and jasmine together, which sounds incongruous on paper but creates a cool-floral tension in practice. Cedar anchors the middle, giving it weight before the drydown arrives. The white musk in the base is present, blending with the other notes to complete the composition.
The evolution
Style in Play opens sharp. Green apple and thuja hit together in the first thirty seconds, bright, tart, almost aggressive before the herbal note in the thuja tempers the sweetness. The opening doesn't linger. Within ten minutes, the pine tree begins to take over, and cedar follows shortly after. The jasmine appears as a whisper, a white floral note that occasionally surfaces when the light hits right. By thirty minutes, the composition has settled into its heart phase, where the coniferous notes dominate. Cedar provides the structural foundation that keeps everything feeling cohesive and grounded. The white musk and vetiver arrive in the base, with vetiver adding an earthy green undertone that echoes the pine without repeating it. The patchouli adds a subtle earthiness that anchors the drydown.
Cultural impact
The green apple and jasmine combination sets Style in Play apart from its contemporaries, with a composition that makes bold choices rather than defaulting to category conventions. The fragrance avoids the typical aquatic-citrus vocabulary that dominated masculine scent in that era, instead building its identity around tart fruit, cool florals, and coniferous woods. This specificity in approach gave the fragrance a distinctive character that appeals to those looking for something that doesn't follow the expected playbook.
