The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Like Father Like Son arrived in 2019 from Mohammadreza Kazemian, an Iranian perfumer who built the composition around a figure from the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. Fereydoun, a hero defined by courage and eventual kindness, became the blueprint for the scent's emotional arc. Kazemian read Fereydoun as bold at the entrance and gentle at the heart, and structured the composition to mirror that descent from bravery to warmth. The name itself nods to an old Persian poem or verse about sons not carrying their father's mark, a tension between inheritance and reinvention that quietly informed the work. Green chypre structures were fashionable in his fathers' and grandfathers' era, and he wanted to rebuild that language for a modern wearer without losing its rooted character.
What makes this composition worth attention is the deliberate collision between citrus and deep earth. Kazemian opens with bitter orange and citrus brightness, then pulls the composition down through patchouli leaf, oakmoss, and earthy accords before landing on cedar and labdanum. Cashmeran adds a soft, mineral warmth that keeps the green from going sharp or ferny. The structure borrows from classical Persian green chypres while pushing them toward a denser, more resinous register.
The evolution
The opening hits sharp and unapologetic. Bitter orange zest and citrus fruits arrive first, almost bracing, cutting through the air with a clarity that feels intentional rather than incidental. Within the first stretch of wear, the green notes and oakmoss surface, and the composition shifts from citrus-forward to something denser. Patchouli leaf rises through the heart, joined by earthy accords and cashmeran, giving the mid-phase a mineral, almost metallic warmth. Cistus and labdanum arrive next, softening the edges without dulling them, their resinous sweetness threading through the green and grounding the composition further. As the hours pass, cedarwood takes over, and the drydown settles into a woody, mossy close that clings close to skin.
Cultural impact
Like Father Like Son anchors itself in Iranian literary heritage by building its composition around Fereydoun, a hero from the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. The choice of a Shahnameh figure as the creative backbone gives the fragrance a cultural specificity that shapes every element of its structure, from the bitter orange opening that reads as bold and courageous to the gentle warmth of the cedar and labdanum base that echoes Fereydoun's eventual kindness.
