The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
The President's Hat by Gorilla Perfume arrived in 2014 as a portrait rather than a provocation. The name is not a joke, and it's not a political reference either. It's an image: someone in a room where decisions are made, but the decision-making happens quietly. No flash, no announcement. Just the weight of being there long enough for the room to forget you arrived. The fragrance sits firmly within Gorilla Perfume's catalog of compositions that refuse to behave like easy commercial releases. Where most launches lean on bright openings and friendly citrus to lure you in, this one skips that chapter entirely. It opens where others end, and that asymmetry is the whole point.
The composition draws from a specific palette: cistus, labdanum, myrrh, oakmoss, patchouli, and vanilla absolute. These are the sticky, resinous, slightly animalic materials of incense and old apothecaries. Mark paired them deliberately, and the result refuses to behave like a 2014 release. There's no bright top to distract you. No citrus to make it friendly. It opens where most fragrances end, which means it asks something of the wearer right away. That ask is the point.
The evolution
Patchouli and cistus arrive first, and they arrive with intention. A dense resinous heat hits immediately, thick and slightly smoky, almost like stepping into a room where someone's been burning something for hours. There's an animalic edge here that some will read as dirty and others will read as honest. Both readings are correct. Then something interesting happens as the hours pass. The incense and myrrh come forward, and the composition shifts from confrontational to contemplative. The dryness increases. The vanilla absolute doesn't sweeten, it just smooths. What remains after extended wear is oakmoss clinging to skin like a second layer, warm and slightly bitter, the kind of scent that fills a sleeve when you reach for something. The next morning, there's still a trace. A faint resinous shadow on the wrist that persists long after application. It doesn't project by then.
Cultural impact
The President's Hat sits in a strange corner of the fragrance world. It wears like something far more considered than its category would suggest, a composition that refuses to simplify itself for broader appeal. Among Lush's own lineup, it shares DNA with Death and Decay and Breath of God, but goes further into resinous, old-world territory than either. The kinship with those other Gorilla Perfume releases is clear, yet The President's Hat pushes deeper into incense and dried-material territory, making it a more austere and meditative option for those drawn to that direction.
