How Did The 70's Smell?

 By Kamila Kilian

Perfumes accompany our daily life for thousands of years - some say that we used them as long as humanity exists. Looking at the history of fragrance, we can see how they portray their times, whether it was the spiritual role of incense in ancient times or Santal 33 on the tube during peak hours.

The twentieth century can be easily described through the stories and smells of the most popular perfumes of those times. 

To paint a picture of life during the seventies, I often asked myself, how did the seventies smell? I imagine the smell of marihuana, less smog in big cities.

What changes the society has been going through at the time? 

In the seventies, perfume and cosmetics brands were becoming bigger and global. Duty-Free at the airports was created in the 60s and was becoming an extremely important part of the fragrance sales, helping boost a brand’s international recognition. Wider distribution and mass production helped to lower the prices, so perfumes were becoming more and more affordable and for all. It means we can also look at the most popular or just premiered commercial perfumes to discover the smell of seventies. 

Barbara Herman, author of “Scent & Subversion”, a book that discusses twentieth-century perfumes notices how the fragrances in the 1970s were fresh and breezy and ties it directly to the feminist movement.

We always come back on the pages of Disco to feminism and discuss how it was changing and developing over the years. Just as much as nowadays there are commercialised elements of feminism, a similar thing happened before. As the woman’s role was changing, so was the way she wore her perfumes. Clever brands spotted this tendency and called it a trend. They started to cater to a new customer.

The seventies' marketers, just as much as some do it nowadays, used the liberated woman trope so that it worked for them. Sometimes not in an exactly appropriate way. Carven's ad from 1972 gives us a mixed message, but it is also an adequate representation of the perception of perfumes during many sad decades. 

The history of perfumes in relation to women is extremely problematic. It was always about alluring men, about smelling good for others and essentially, about covering the bodily smell that was considered unpleasant. 

Lizzie Ostrom, in her book titled "Perfume. A Century of Scents" describes Rive Gauche by Yves Saint Laurent (created by Jacques Polge and Michel Hy) as "the original fragrance for the multitasking woman" - the one who climbed the career ladder, voted, took the pill, all of this simultaneously trying to look and smell good. 

Rive Gauche would also be the first one that she would buy it for herself rather than get is as a gift from her husband. As Sali Hughes discusses in "Pretty Iconic", previously perfume bottles were embellished heavily to attract men's attention as much as women's. Rive Gauche can-like bottle was rather surprising. And so was the smell, based on aldehydes floral - formal and clean. A professional fragrance one would say. 

There was also an iconic Charlie by Revlon. Accessible, significantly cheaper than YSL and other premium brands. Seemingly, the advert does not differ so much from the narrative of other perfume ads: a beautiful woman smiling at the camera. But look at her progressive outfit! This creme jumpsuit screams liberation. The fragrance itself is a green floral with citrus notes and almost chypre-like base, thanks to oakmoss and cedarwood. Chypre is this note in perfume that you would usually consider quite vintage. 

Now, if we smell the perfumes from the seventies, they don't seem modern and liberated as they did for our mums and grandmas. Many of them are still available to buy, often in a reformulated version, stripped-down of some ingredients. Or you can try your luck and try to hunt the original version on eBay. But you won't be the only one, so don't expect bargains. 

About the author:

Kamila is a part of The Disco Mag team since the first issue. A perfume consultant and researcher, she received her master’s degree in Fashion Criticism from London College of Fashion, University of the Arts. Currently a brand manager at Bel Rebel, a niche perfumery in London.