There are quite a few contemporary scents that I like. Among the, it seems, thousands of perfumes that arrive on the market, there is sometimes a unique creation. Yet I get the feeling that of these "thousands" of new creations, only a few are truly innovative. I was recently in a big city to go shopping with my daughter and wherever I went, I could not escape a number of the same scents. Oud, caramel and coffee, jasmine and tuberose and especially a lot of Ambroxan and Evernyl, the latter is the well-known hospital/plaster component that became famous through Baccarat Rouge 540. Although I understand very well that certain scents are very fashionable and that many people therefore use them, I cant help but get the feeling that most wearers think they are very unique, while in my humble opinion, the opposite is actually the truth.
When I was younger, it was really very different. There were far fewer perfumes on the market anyway, but people often bought a scent that they felt suited them perfectly, instead of a scent that everyone wore. In a large group of girls/women, not many people wore the same scent. Of course, there was already advertising for big perfume launches back then and every time period had its own characteristic scent that was more common than other scents and therefore could be "detected" more often on the street.
What I like about certain vintage perfumes is the timeframe they bring with them. As the title says, some fragrances really belong to a time capsule, when you smell the perfume, it not only brings with it certain emotions, but most certainly also a memory of a certain time and then especially a memory of the time frame, what was happening in the world, what fashion we wore, what music was popular and what we did at that time.
There are so many perfumes that I feel carry an era with them, but some are very characteristic of a certain time. Take Thierry Mugler's Angel, love it or hate it, but it will always be the very first perfume that brought with it an innovative bottle design and the very first total gourmand perfume. It was an eye-opener like the whole 90s were an eye-opener. We lived on the edge of old and new, good and bad. We lived freely, because although the digital world was emerging, we were still quite free from all digital techniques. We were free and loud, we smoked and drank and we went to all the underground dance parties that existed. Angel is exactly that, loud and present, full of life. When you smell Angel, you simply smell the 90s.
Or what about Yves Saint Laurent's Opium, you literally smell a bazaar. Amber, patchouli, resin, incense, sandalwood and the name itself literally speaks volumes. It is a typical 70s scent. When I smell it, I see the struggle for freedom, hippies, festivals, weed and protest actions. This perfume is the complete opposite of all the sweet flowery perfumes that were assigned to women in the years before. Rough, intoxicating and protesting. Although it is now often worn by "posh ladies", I really have a completely different image in my head smelling it, but then again I'd like to think that these ladies were also young once.
The 80s also produced such great perfumes. The famous 80s, known for colours, shoulder pads and of hairdos "bigger than life itself". The perfumes of that time were often also flashy and sweet, but more peach syrup sweet. I often found this to be in contrast with the fashion of that time. On the one hand flashy, but on the other hand also somewhat architectural. If I had to choose perfumes that embody this time as contrasts, they would be Boucheron Femme and Giorgio Beverly Hills versus Montana's Parfum de Peau. Boucheron Femme and Giorgio Beverly Hills perfectly embody the hairspray-covered big hairdos, coloured clothing, from necklaces to earrings, brooches, gloves and hats. Both perfumes are coloured yellow, as if they want to radiate exuberance and are both oriental floral with an exuberant tuberose note in it. Thick, big and huge. On the other hand, you also saw a lot of fashion with a certain architectural style, certainly Thierry Mugler, but also very well known at that time was Claude Montana. His designs were very characteristic of the 80s including large shoulder pads, but often much more smooth and more architectural in nature. His first perfume Parfum de Peau is truly a reflection of his style. A very advanced bottle design with a floral leather perfume in it. Still loud, but already much more androgynous (and maybe even "dirty") than most perfumes at that time.
Talking about androgynous. Towards the end of the 90s, a shift occurs, the world is already starting to change, digitalization is more on the rise. The differences between the sexes are already starting to fade and with this, the more androgynous perfumes also come onto the market. The precursors of our current "Ambroxan" fragrances. CK One is of course the most famous and unique example, followed by Calvin Klein's Escape and Issey Miyake's L'Eau D'Issey. They came onto the market earlier in the 90s, but became popular at the end of the 90s and in the 2000s. The same goes for Calvin Klein's Eternity, which in my opinion set the tone for the rise of the so-called fruitchouli's in the 2000s and beyond.
In my opinion, fruitchouli entered the scene in the early 2000s, think Coco Mademoiselle, Miss Dior, Flowerbomb. This entire first period from 2000 onwards is a kind of separate transition period in my memory. I think of reality TV series, Paris Hilton, R&B and Hip Hop, Uggs, the rise of Topshop, Primark and Forever 21, skinny jeans, DVDs and many more things. It also seems like this phase doesn't really have any specific characteristics and lasted much longer than some other periods. Maybe people just lived and didn't specifically adhere to a certain movement. Fruitchouli didn't seem to end until Maison Francis Kurkdjian came up with the famous Baccarat 540 rouge in 2015. A perfume dominated by Evernyl, which has the characteristic of bringing with it a kind of hospital or band-aid-like smell.
Baccarat Rouge wasn't immediately that popular. I think it happened a few years later. People had to get used to the transition from fruity patchouli to something that almost smells medicinal. However, after the scent started to gain popularity, there was no stopping it. I think precisely the difference in this perfume, its uniqueness, that attracted many people. We are in an era in which people really want to be unique or think they are. People spend a lot of time on social media and their behavior is largely determined by influencers. Being hip means following everything on social media and often what is seen is also copied. There is a whole movement going on in the field of gender neutrality, healthy living and being unique. In my opinion, this actually takes away a bit of uniqueness and identity and creates more of a total image. People all look (and in this case smell) the same. But maybe a Baccarat Rouge or a Xerjoff Lira would go very well with this. Both beautiful scents, but without a specific identity. Or if you look at it differently, perhaps with a very strong identity, that of coming together and being one, everywhere.
So, vintage doesn't always mean old, outdated and musty. Some well-known perfumes are still available and still very popular, but can be called (almost) vintage. Something that is vintage means that it is 25 years or older. Flowerbomb is now 20 years old and Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle was launched 24 years ago. Thierry Mugler's Angel is also still popular and was launched no less than 33 years ago. But secretly Baccarat Rouge is also turning 10 this year, so who knows, maybe in 15 years time someone will be looking for a vintage Baccarat Rouge 540 to relive that time of yesteryear... by means of a real time capsule...
Judith
Founder