Champion

Kouros is a 1980s icon precisely because it doesn't apologise for itself: a bitter artemisia-and-aldehyde opening, a jasmine-orris-geranium heart, and a thick, animalic base of leather, honey, civet and oakmoss that reads as simultaneously dirty, soapy and clean. It has huge projection and all-day longevity, and it's genuinely divisive because of how loud and vintage-masculine it is. Champion takes a much gentler route to a similar leather-and-honey mood, opening with artemisia, bergamot and coriander, moving through a softened jasmine-orris-geranium heart, and settling into a leather-patchouli-honey-musk base. It captures a recognisable leather-and-honey warmth but strips out the aldehydic sharpness and animalic civet that make Kouros so unmistakable, resulting in a tamer, more generically masculine scent with noticeably less projection and staying power. A solid, wearable leather fragrance in its own right, but not a faithful stand-in for the real Kouros experience.