ELLE Editors Try the New American Psycho Perfume
There are more than nine fragrances mentioned in Bret Easton Ellis’s novel American Psycho, and 19-69 perfumer Johan Bergelin doesn’t think the main character, Patrick Bateman, would use any of them. There are multiple threads on Reddit devoted to what the hyper-styled Bateman would wear. Some believe it’s Platinum Égoïste by Chanel (an easy guess, because of the name), while others are faithful to the movie’s depiction of his medicine cabinet and think it’s YSL Pour Homme.
“In my mind, he never smelled like [any of those scents],” Bergelin tells me over Zoom, even though the book even references other well-known scents of the ’80s like Obsession and Drakkar Noir. To know what he smelled like for sure, you’d have to go back to the source. Thankfully, now Ellis and Bergelin have collaborated to create the first official American Psycho perfume.
Over the course of many months, the two worked together to create a perfume that they believed Bateman would actually apply. Bergelin wanted the scent to be contrasting, surprising, and accurate (thus, no aromatic references to blood). He imagined that “there would be some underlying scent of detergent or cleaning products, to clean up the mess in his very precise apartment—and himself.” In addition to the fresh notes of bergamot, sage, and jasmine, Bergelin created a sparkling water-like accord that is central to the scent and references page 77 of the book. Meant to depict iciness and frozenness, it’s a subtle nod to Bateman’s fitting preference for chilly, frosty sorbet and the ’80s time period, when the usage of notes derived from non-natural sources first became popularized.
This is just the first of a few collaborations between Bergelin and Ellis, as the two are working on more scents that befit his novels, including Glamorama and Less Than Zero. Below, ELLE editors took the scent for a spin—and gave their initial impressions.
“You might be wondering, Why would anyone want to smell like Patrick Bateman, an image-obsessed sociopath with a fragile ego and a compulsive need to conform? And what would that even smell like? According to 19-69, it’s a blend of bergamot, jasmine, and cedarwood. I’m not entirely sure how that evokes Bateman’s personality, and to be honest, it’s a bit too woody and leathery for me. Still, I suppose it’s better than the alternative...like the scent of a decomposing body.”—Claire Stern Milch, digital director
“Having known many a finance man, I can tell you that most of them smell like either Santal 33 or a Polo scent that their mom bought them when they were 15—there’s really no in between. I think that this scent would be a welcome refresh for the men at Goldman Sachs, especially because I do think it really captures the lifestyle. It’s clean and fresh with a sort of sparkly veneer, but there’s something a little sinister about it—almost a vague Windex-y hint at the end. It also is just a tad too strong, which feels a bit on the nose. Smelling it makes me think about an office building with floor-to-ceiling blue-tinted windows and crisp, freshly-pressed suits.”—Katie Berohn, beauty editor
“Smelling this perfume felt like a sneak peak into a world that I was never meant to see, let alone understand. The first word that came to mind when I smelled this was corporate. I pictured pristine offices and perfectly tailored Armani suits worn by men droning on about ‘crunching the numbers.’ The scent is fresh and clean and, at the first whiff, smells like a your standard finance bro cologne with classic sandalwood and bergamot notes. But then it dries down into something much more complex, darker, broodier even, as notes of pine, vetiver, and sage emerge. Though it came on a bit strong in the beginning, after settling for a while on my skin, the perfume began to warm up, revealing a sweeter scent that I didn’t mind at all.”—Tasha Nicole Smith, beauty assistant
“One sniff and I said to myself, ‘Yeah, a guy on Wall Street would definitely wear this, but so would a girl in Soho.’ Scent has become the great equalizer, women dipping into colognes and men dabbling in parfums, so why not make one for all Bateman-aspirationals? The scent is crisp, clean—the signature combo for a busy New Yorker.”—Alex Hildreth, fashion news editor
“The kind of perfume that a West Village Girl would love to smell on her Hinge date, and I say this in the least shady way possible.”—Kathleen Hou, beauty director
“I’m in a rented white Porsche Boxster doing 80 down the 195 crossing the Biscayne Bay into Miami Beach. I have on my vintage Levi’s 505 Orange Tabs, a torn white Margiela T-shirt, a pair of brown leather penny loafers from Alden, Wayfarer-style sunglasses from Thistle, and of course, a few sprays of the new 19-69 x Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho cologne. The scent is warm and cool at the same time. Approachable but a little uneasy. I’m not sure it smells exactly how I’d imagine Patrick Bateman—who conjures spearmint, paper, and dry cleaning chemicals—smells, but it’s unmistakably someone from the Ellis universe. Confident and hollow, something that feels impossibly vacant and yet, somehow deep. Borrowed luxury, unearned suntans, going just above the speed limit. Is there such a thing as erotic boredom?”—Harry Gassel, art director
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