OSMOZ - a new look at fragrance

Hippie Birthday 1968 - 2008

Flower Power, the summer of love, rock ‘n roll, fresh eaus, patchouli… a sweet scent of the sixties is floating in the air lately. In the news, and in the world of perfumes, too, references abound to that era of freedom, rebellion and creativity. A special anniversary report.
Special report by Nicolas Olczyk

Rebellion and creative renewal

References to 1968 in the media have been popping up around the world in 2008. Current events are interpreted as echoes of that tumultuous year of revolution and liberation. Once again, America is bogged down in a foreign war (Vietnam vs. Iraq), students are protesting, but there is also new hope for emerging nations, cultural renewal and an ecological, back-to-nature trend. And let’s not forget that most famous of slogans from the era, ‘Make Love Not War.”

From a fashion and fragrance point of view, the 1968 protests had a huge influence on artistic creativity. 1968 and the years that followed saw the emergence of new olfactory trends, like patchouli. Its distinguished sweet woodsy note is very trendy once again, for both him and her. While many niche brands have been featuring it almost pure, patchouli is also a strong presence in the trails of fragrances from several bigger brands, like euphoria men intense yb Calvin Klein, elle by Yves Saint Laurent, and for him and for her, by Narciso Rodriguez.

Another olfactory trend that emerged from that tremendous upheaval: fresh eaus. After the launch of Eau Sauvage (a creation from 1966 that is still a best-seller today), several other designers started launching their own eaus over the next few years. O de Lancôme (1969) and Eau de Rochas (1970), are the most famous of those that can still be found at perfume shops everywhere.
In 1968, in Paris’s Latin Quarter, just a stone’s throw from the Sorbonne and its cobblestone-throwing student revolutionaries, a Parisian house launched its first fragrance, an ‘Eau’ as well, but a quite full-bodied one. This May, that house, Diptyque, is celebrating their Eau’s 40th anniversary with the launch of a new, fresher version, christened ‘L’Eau de L’Eau’.

And finally, 1968 was also a year of sexual revolution, and of change in relationships between men and women. While women were demanding their rights, men started seeing fragrance as something that could go beyond after-shave. 40 years later, there are no more taboos: men can wear sweet, oriental fragrances and even floral notes. The hippie ideals of sexual equality and no rules have become an olfactory reality.