![]() In fact, many of the niche and artisanal labels that have gained widespread appeal have never assigned gender to their fragrances. “Gender neutral” and “genderless” have become mainstream concepts, integral to fashion, makeup and fragrance, and no longer on the fringes.Īn uptick in unisex and genderless fragrance followed. Remember the Calvin Klein Eternity ads from the 1980s with Christy Turlington and Ed Burns? What about that sultry Gucci Guilty campaign from 2010 with Evan Rachel Wood and Chris Evans? Both seem heteronormative in today’s cultural climate.Ī younger generation with more fluid interpretations of what constitutes gender, sexual orientation and romantic relationships is leading the conversation. Traditionally, perfumes were designed for men or women - rarely both - buoyed by multimillion-dollar campaigns depicting traditional gender norms or hypersexualized images. So, when did perfume stop being about sex? Evolving Gender IdealsĬulture, above all else, has had the most far-reaching effects on the perfume industry, especially in the last five years. Harlem Nights from World of Chris Collins takes wearers to a speakeasy with notes of musk and rum that evoke cigars, top-shelf liquor and 1920s nightlife. Other fragrances take customers on a different journey. According to its website, the scent will “grow with you no matter where you are in your personal evolution” because it’s “not a finished product. This journey could be one about self-empowerment or being the best “you,” which is what Glossier sells with Glossier You. It’s not a competition for which perfume is the sexiest it’s about which one can elicit the strongest emotional connection.Īccording to Rachel Herz, a neuroscientist and the author of “The Scent of Desire: Discovering Our Enigmatic Sense of Smell,” perfume went from marketing “direct themes” like power or sex to encouraging a “personal journey.” Smaller, niche perfume brands like Byredo or Le Labo are advertised as “gender neutral.” These brands don’t play to outdated gender constructs and singular messaging about sex and sexual orientation. Today, brands talk about fragrance in terms of places and how it will make the wearer feel. “Now we all feel like, ‘This advertiser is going to tell me how I’m supposed to feel or that I want to have sex because of their fragrance or that I want to become an object because of their fragrance?’” “It just feels really old fashioned and kind of offensive,” Ms. Fragrance was a bottled way to help someone find a mate, a construct that feels incredibly irrelevant since we now have dating apps, a more efficient and consistent way to find a partner than having someone catch your scent and fall in love with you. The whole marketing ideal has changed: Most designers and brands aren’t using sex to sell perfume - and people aren’t buying perfume to have sex.įor decades, the marketing around perfume made seduction a priority. It was like an orgy.”Īn event like that seems unimaginable today, and not just because unchecked hedonism became taboo after #MeToo. It was like a ball pit one might find at a children’s birthday party, except bigger, alcohol fueled and packed with nearly naked adults. Ford’s soiree to a “human aquarium,” teeming with models “writhing about” in their underwear. Linda Wells, the founding editor in chief of Allure and a partygoer, likened Mr. The fragrance was called Nu, French for “nude.” When a new Yves Saint Laurent perfume came out in 2001, Tom Ford, the creative director of the house at the time, threw a sensational party at the Paris Stock Exchange, where he put a gaggle of practically nude models on display in a giant plexiglass container. ![]()
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