The 1990s were a defining decade. Supermodels became household names, Alexander McQueen ascended to fashion royalty, and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was immortalised as New York’s ultimate It-girl.
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Meanwhile, shopping centres were the true temples of scent. Girls stood at perfume counters, lusting over Thierry Mugler’s Angel – the original gourmand fragrance, with Jerry Hall as its utterly glamorous muse. Or, they’d sneak into Victoria’s Secret and spend their pocket money on those intoxicatingly sweet body sprays. But if budgets did not allow, a fragrance education would come from swiping your mum’s copy of Vogue and pressing the perfume samples to your wrists. Those were the days.
As nostalgia returns with full force, we’re revisiting the best women’s perfumes of the decade and the ’90s fragrances that still deserve a place in your fragrance wardrobe. From Calvin Klein’s Eternity to Lancôme’s Trésor, these are the timeless scents that have stood the test of time.
Angel is the scent of party girls and enigmatic women. Its creator, French designer Thierry Mugler, defined it best: “I wanted to have such a sensual contact with this perfume that you would almost want to eat the person you love.” In this refillable star-shaped bottle is a sweet and addictive elixir with notes of honey, apricot, plum, peach and jasmine, along with sensual notes of patchouli, vanilla, caramel, tonka bean musk, amber, chocolate and sandalwood.
In 1990, women discovered an elegant new signature scent in Lancôme’s Trésor. Encased in a crystal-like bottle and filled with amber-hued aroma, the fragrance opens with a delicate bouquet of rose petals, bergamot, peach and pineapple, unfolding into warm notes of vanilla, apricot, musk and sandalwood. Timelessly feminine and effortlessly classic, it also boasts impressive longevity.
1993 was the year that changed everything. Jean Paul Gaultier launched a perfume that would be impossible to eclipse – Classique. Its crystal bottle, inspired by the busts used in couture ateliers to create the most seductive garment of all, the corset, became an instant icon. Gaultier, the enfant terrible of fashion, created a provocative and sensual perfume with notes of orange blossom, gin and vanilla. Both the bottle and the fragrance itself became instant classics.
Although this perfume was created in 1948, it reached its peak of popularity in the 1990s. The French house launched it after World War II as an elixir of optimism, and an ode to peace, love and freedom. Inside, it has notes of jasmine and rose and is considered to be the first spicy floral perfume in history. Although its name is L’Air du Temps, this olfactory icon is unmistakably timeless.
The year was 1988, and 19-year-old Christy Turlington was everywhere as the face of Calvin Klein’s Eternity, which launched her into superstardom and earned the brand $35 million in its first year. The fragrance went on to define the 1990s, an aquatic floral inspired by enduring love and relationships. It opens with bright notes of pear, bergamot and blackcurrant, then blossoms into peony, rose and jasmine, before settling into a sensual base of musk, patchouli and amber.
First launched in 1978, Anaïs Anaïs had a predominant place on every perfume shelf throughout the 1990s. Light, ultra-feminine, and utterly timeless, it opens with bright top notes of orange blossom, lavender, bergamot, blackcurrant, lemon, white lily, hyacinth, honeysuckle and galbanum. At its heart, the scent evolves with lily of the valley, Moroccan jasmine, carnation, tuberose, ylang-ylang, iris, rose and iris root. The base settles into warm, sensual notes of cedar, patchouli, amber, incense, musk, leather, sandalwood and vetiver.
You may remember it for its golden elixir, its crystal cap, or its unmistakable red box – but one thing is certain: this perfume has been, and perhaps still is, a staple on many women’s vanities. Created by perfumer Dominique Ropion, it unfolds like a sensory journey that goes from plum and mandarin to white flowers such as tuberose, jasmine and gardenia, and finally closes with a warm, enveloping base of sandalwood and vanilla.