Teenagers and Perfumes

From "tribal" perfumes to flirty fragrances, teenagers are in search of an identity. Wearing a fragrance comes naturally to the younger generation, but they are less self-assured when it comes to actually choosing one! From the fragrance itself to the bottle, teenagers are looking for their bearings and for role models. Psycho-sociologist François Blanchemaison explains why.

By Justine Hossano

In this day and age, fragrances have become a veritable social phenomenon. There's nary a soap bar nor a shampoo that's not imbued with vanilla or mouth-watering fruit flavors. Even household cleansers are peach- or grapefruit-scented nowadays, adding a fragrant note to everyday life. So it is little wonder that our children take up the "spritz" habit from an early age, and never let go. Quite the contrary, although one would half-expect them to go against such social codes upon entering rebellious

What are teenagers really looking for in a fragrance?

"Oddly enough, the same thing as their parents, though they would vehemently deny it: personality, identity, acknowledgement of their powers of seduction," explains François Blanchemaison. "The only difference lies in the way they choose their fragrances. Teenagers behave the same way in the fragrance department as they do at a clothing shop. They are looking for their bearings and for a way to assert themselves in society." With fragrances as with everyything else, they are fickle, their tastes changing as they mature. This is what makes it practically impossible to get this group to be loyal to a brand or a product.

Baggy pants and sneakers: the androgynous look is all the rage among junior-high-school kids. Indeed, for the youngest members of the teenage tribe, the "sexless" look is de rigueur. "At puberty, sexual identity becomes more physically obvious, but often neither boys nor girls are ready to deal with it yet. So they wear 'camouflage' clothes," explains this teen specialist. This is also the age when they start to put some distance between themselves and their families, creating a new unit with their friends, another safeguard against the outside world. This clan phenomenon goes hand in hand with a cultish attachment to brands with easily recognizable logos, worn as a sign of belonging to the clan.
As far as fragrances are concerned, 11-15 year-olds aren't trying to stand out, but to show that they belong to a clan. Whenever possible, they choose unisex fragrances, adding to the ambiguity about their sexual identity. Some perfumers have
managed to cater to this desire by creating fragrances with a clean, fresh smell, with tart green-tea notes, light fruit scents and white musks. The groundbreaker was CK One, followed by Dalimix by Dali, Paco by Paco Rabanne and Gieffeffe by Gianfranco Ferré. These new fragrances are in fact updated Colognes, captured in bottles designed to appeal to a new generation.

Girls are the first to let go of the co-ed look and start playing by new rules. No surprises there. Along with stretch jeans and tight-fitting tops, a new olfactory register becomes a must. To underscore this budding seduction, those little "Lolitas" often choose mouth-watering, deceptively innocent fragrances, which comfort the little girl still hiding inside them, while also suiting their newly blooming bodies. Eden by Cacharel, Hot Couture by Givenchy and Libertine by Vivienne Westwood were designed with them in mind. At the same time as they are testing new scents, these young temptresses often eye their mothers' perfumes. It's a well-known fact that the first real perfume most girls spray on is their Moms'. Those "grown-up" fragrances appeal to them because they practically scream "woman". "Half of the female customers for Chanel Nº5, Femme by Rochas, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Angel by Mugler are very young girls," says Vanessa, beauty adviser at a major Parisian perfume counter.

Boys,too, start wearing more masculine scents, often through shaving cream or after-shave. "Young males pamper their nascent beards, because they are the most obvious sign of their virillity," says François Blanchemaison. "Using a fragrance has more to do with performing a masculine gesture they are very proud of than with the fragrance itself."