What’s That Swell Smell? The Mayor?

Life is smelling sweet for the mayor of Moscow these days. “Mayor,” a new cologne honoring Hizzoner, made its debut in Moscow stores last week.

“Mer,” as it’s called in Russian, is redolent of musk and wood, citrus and floral - all the scents, apparently, that bring to mind Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a stocky, outgoing populist.

“Whether you like Luzhkov or not, no one can deny that Moscow has a real boss now,” Nadezhda Petrukhina, the head of product development for the Novaya Zarya perfume factory, told the English-language Moscow Times.

“Maybe after Russian women give their husbands this fragrance, it will inspire them to be more like Luzhkov, to get off the couch, take charge and make the lives of Russian women easier.”

Luzhkov, a popular, commanding mayor with a flair for the flamboyant - he sprained an ankle last year while practicing for a trapeze act - is considered a future presidential contender, no doubt the only one with a fragrance named after him.

The Novaya Zarya factory described the cologne as “fresh and masculine,” created for a “modern man, who combines composure and energy, stability with dynamism, confidence with sensitivity.” It also is relatively cheap. A 3.4-ounce bottle costs $7.