Matthew Herman got into the fragrance business when he realized that scent can be a way for people to feel safe expressing and playing with their personal interpretations of gender. That, and he has a sense of humor. “Let’s call it Boy Smells and put it in a pink box—it literally came out of my mouth in three seconds,” he says of naming the brand of candles, fragrances, and, most recently, underwear that he founded with David Kien.
Their fragrances are well-packaged cocktails of traditionally female florals, typically masculine musks, and every accord in between—plus the occasional whiff of weed. With names like Polyamberous and Broken Rosary, the scents are sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, a puzzle to define, and undeniably fun—like gender at its best.
As we have been dreaming…
