At My Perfume Shop we are giving you a brief history background from the most popular fragrances of the time. You can also find them at https://www.myperfumeshop.co.za/
Perfume to the Masses
Throughout the 1960s people began to buy perfume in quantities. People who had never been abroad before began to spend time browsing in perfume stores and buying perfumes in duty free shops.
Yves St. Laurent launched in 1964, Rive Gauche in 1968. Guy Laroche presented Fidji in 1966. Those old favourites Chanel No.5 and Miss Dior are still the best sellers of all time.
Perfumes for the 1970s
By 1977 Yves St. Laurent had put ‘Opium’ perfume into production and it was a huge success with women all around the world. It was definitely a perfume for those sexy evenings.
Design of the flacon was developed by art director YSL Fabien Baron and Stefano Pilati. The new flacon features a sprinkle integrated inside its stopper. Notes of this edition are bergamot, mandarin, jasmine and myrrh. 1980 Power Perfumes Matched Power Dressers.
New designer scents were marketed fiercely in the 80s and for the first time ever, blatant erotic advertising which generated enormous attention from the media led to the success of the 1985 Obsession campaign from Calvin Klein. Obsession with its heavy smell of vanilla was dominant in the market. It has since been discontinued in retail stores but lucky for those who love it, we still stock the scents for him & her!
It was equally impossible to open a magazine without being overwhelmed by the scent of Giorgio Beverley Hills on a yellow and white striped sample strip. Eventually Giorgio was banned from restaurants because the smell was too dominant over food aromas.
Image and a gimmick were a specialty of the 1980s and Jean Paul Gaultier put a perfume in a glass torso in a tin and continued to produce limited editions and variations of the designer package. Vanderbilt a refined oriental of carnation, rose and mimosa was put on the market in 1982 and was one of the more affordable attractive perfumes. Lou Lou launched in 1987 was a refreshing subtle change from the more oppressive oriental scents.
Some scents of the era like Yves St Laurent’s wonderful rose with violets in Paris have become true classics. Sultry sirens found Givenchy‘s Ysatis and Guerlain’s 1989 Samsara hard to beat. Champagne the perfume caused a court case in the champagne making industry and was eventually taken off the market under that name. It is now sold in similar packaging, but as Yvresse.
Fresher Marine Green 1990s and New Millennium Perfumes
The 1990s saw a whole new range of cleaner sharper scents which probably began with Estee Lauder’s White Linen from the 1980s. Perfumes such as L’Eau d’Issey by Issey Miyake in 1992, Eternity and Dazzling all have a crisper scent. One refreshing oriental fragrance was Sun Moon Stars by Lagerfeld in 1994 and the earlier 1990 Safari by Ralph Lauren was set in one of the prettiest bottles to grace a dressing table. Organza by Givenchy in a great bottle, launched in 1996 has the smell of a long lost much loved scent and was in competition with the now incredibly popular!
The century ended with softer scents such as Cristobal by Balenciaga or unisex perfumes such as CK One popular with urban fashion followers. In 1999 Cacharel launched Noa Noa. Now renamed simply Noa it is a rounded floral oriental that smells divine. New perfumes of the millennium include the lovely Kenzo Flower, Calvin Klein’s Truth, Lancôme’s Miracle, Boucheron’s Initial, Michaels Kors Michael,  and Vivienne Westwood‘s exotic tempting Boudoir.
