The 1990s – a time for ‘modernist dress’, chokers, grunge, crimped hair and the rise of the Internet age. Three words – The. Spice. Girls. And through the midst of some of the dodgier outfits and pop bands, the original super models and celebrity dream-team couples emerged – Johnny and Kate anyone? With an economic downturn at the dawn of the decade, it was about a ‘less is more’ attitude as the world washed down the loud and proud, go large or go home 80s era. For fragrance too, the 90s were a time for change, with fresh, citrusy notes often replacing the bold and spicy, not forgetting the surge in some seriously memorable advertising.
We turn back the olfactive clock to jog a few memories…
1. Closing the door on the 80s with Chanel
2. The aquatic ‘note’
3. Wearing a new, fresh fragrance made you feel like you were practically space age
4. This iconic advert
5. Joop! got the girl
6. The fragrance for everyone
7. The faintest whiff of Acqua Di Gio…there’s a reason it’s still a top selling men’s fragrance
8. Davidoff Cool Water
9. Fulfilling teenage dreams doused in Tommy Girl
10. The hauntingly beautiful moment when Kate Moss said the word ‘Obsession’
11. The birth of the original gourmand…beware of angels!
12. Becoming addicted to Gucci Rush – the scent that smelt like skin
13. One thing’s for sure – there was pure, perfume power
Written by Alice Crocker
