The next frontier in fragrance
Believe it or not, gender-delineated fragrances are actually a relatively new thing. Now many fragrance houses are going back to the future with scents that appeal to both sexes.
A former colleague and I once bonded over our shared love for Le Labo Santal 33. “Have you got our scent on?” He’d ask as I wafted past his desk in a cloud of the woody aromatic scent.
Santal 33, a scent I now instantly recognise on others, haunted me when I first encountered it and I tracked it down with a passionate intent. It turns out, as my colleague proved, it smells as good on men as it does on women.
A representative from Le Labo tells me the gender split on Santal 33 and another cult favourite from the brand, Rose 31 is split 50/50 in terms of gender.
“We never think about who is going to wear perfumes in terms of gender at Le Labo. We think more about the connection, the raw emotion that a scent can evoke. Perfumery has to create an attraction, an addiction, it should be intuitive but doesn’t need to be gender specific.”
Dimitri Weber, a Belgian-Frenchman who worked with international fragrance houses before launching his own brand, Goldfield & Banks, in Australia says gender delineated fragrance is actually a relatively new thing.
Indeed as reported in Vogue it was around the 1930s when advertisements such as one for Fougère Royale with the tagline “Leave the flower perfumes to the ladies” started appearing.
What’s more, there are cultural differences when it comes to fragrance, take the rose — it may be typically thought of as a feminine fragrance in the West, but in the Middle East the rose is associated with masculinity.
A shift toward genderlessness in fragrance again is something Weber is happy to see.
“Genderless fragrances aren’t actually anything new – if you go back to the early days of perfumery, none of the scents were gendered. As far as modern perfumery though, we have certainly come a long way since the early unisex fragrances of the ’90s. Particularly in niche perfumes, we are seeing a return to the art of perfumery and the joy of quality ingredients, which leaves no place for arbitrary gendering of fragrances. I think we will see this trend continuing, which is good because it’s about time people started wearing fragrances they enjoy, rather than what marketing executives dictate they should,” he says.
Anyway, Weber believes all scents are genderless.
“I honestly believe that all scent is genderless, but if you want something that is genderless in a more traditional sense, citrus notes are a great place to start. Citruses don’t have the cultural baggage that notes like florals or woods do, so they are a good start if you are new to genderless fragrance,” he says.
When Weber launched the brand in 2017 his client profile was mainly male but he says this has evolved with more women discovering his fragrances.
Aurélien Guichard founder of French fragrance house Matiere Premiere says there is a difference between ‘unisex’ and ‘genderless’ fragrances.
“The definition of a genderless scent may vary from one perfume house to the other, depending on their aesthetics. There is usually little difference made between a unisex and a genderless fragrance. To me ‘unisex’ implies a certain type of transparence and fluidity, typical of fragrances from the 90s, with the notion that the fragrance is suitable ”for both men and women”. Genderless goes beyond categories, it defines fragrances that have a more rough, inner textured character. It is the stylistic work of composition of the Perfumer that defines whether a fragrance is feminine, masculine or genderless.”
For Guichard genderless fragrances is part of the house’s DNA, rather than labelling some notes for women (say, the rose) and for men (leathery, musky ones) he says the focus is on ingredients.
“[T]he notion of genderless is attached to our mission, which to place the most beautiful natural raw materials at the centre of our fragrances in the highest possible dosage. We believe that, just like anything that can be defined by its specific texture, our ingredients have no gender – like concrete for example. Our composition work is to respect the very texture of the central ingredient, highlight its most beautiful aspects – not to give the scent a gender. Genderless is implied by our approach,” he says.
“Fragrance clients are very often told about what they should wear according to their gender, where they live, what they like … Some of them are tired of ‘blue fragrances for men and pink fragrances for women.’ They are enjoying the freedom of choosing a scent for the scent itself.”
Self-expression with scent is something Laura Curtis, fragrance education manager at MECCA says she is observing more of.
“[W]e are noticing that people are becoming more adventurous with their fragrances, as perfume has become widely embraced as a form of self-expression. Rather than looking for bestsellers or celebrity favourites, many of our customers are searching for scents that reflect their unique personalities, their moods and their personal styles, which may or may not align with a particular gender,” she says.
Curtis says best-selling genderless scents for the retailer include Comme des Garcons, Le Labo Rose 31 and Santal 33 and Swedish brand Byredo’s cult favourite collection of genderless scents. Brands such as Diptyque, says Curtis, have been doing gender agnostic scents for decades.
Curtis believes perfumers will continue to push boundaries when it comes to genderless scents.
“The next frontier seems to be perfumers taking specific ingredients that have been traditionally classed as ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ and turning them on their head, crafting them in a new way to challenge people’s ideas of how gender perceptions shape perfumery – Maison Francis Kurkdjian L’Homme a La Rose and Byredo Young Rose are two such examples. Fragrances inspired by art, history or music – like Vilhelm Parfumerie Poets of Berlin (David Bowie’s formative years in Berlin), Floral Street Sunflower Pop (Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers) and D.S. & DURGA Debaser (alternative rock band, the Pixies) – drive home the idea that fragrance is an art form in itself, one that cannot be defined by gender but should be appreciated and experienced for how it moves or connects with us on an emotional level, just like a song, poem or painting,” she says.
“Another innovation that we’re seeing coming through in this space are fragrances that transcend traditional perfumery to extend into the wellness and self-care spaces – our newest brand Vyrao (launching at MECCA in May), founded by London-based Australian creative Yasmin Sewell, is an example. Sewell has created a completely androgynous fragrance collection based on the idea that scent can shift our energy and create positive emotions, making people feel better on a deeper level and enhancing our overall wellbeing.”
It’s not just independent fragrance houses exploring genderless scents. Mega-brand Calvin Klein launched its first genderless scent CK One, created by Alberto Morillas, in 1994 and was said to sell a bottle every 20 seconds in the ‘90s. In 2020 it launched Everyone, a fragrance for, well, everyone. Gucci launched the universal scent Mémoire d’une Odeur, a blend of woody notes, jasmine and more in 2019 and cult favourite Maison Francis Kurkdjian introduced Gentle Fluidity in the same year. All of Jo Malone London’s fragrances are intended to be genderless and I’ve swiped plenty of my husband’s sexy, leathery Tom Ford scents. And that’s just for starters.
Michael Marzano, national education manager at fragrance distribution business Agence Parfums agrees there’s been a shift when it comes to genderless fragrance, especially when it comes to the notes of a fragrance.
“Genderless fragrances have evolved in recent times from woody or fresh orchestrations to clean/musk/floral bouquets that focus on warm, second skin like scents with delicate powdery undertones of white flowers. Men are veering toward soft, understated fragrances that leave a very sensual trail on the skin,” he says.
As for what makes a genderless scent anyway, Marzano says it’s all about a balance.
“A genderless scent should be balanced in relation to ratios of raw materials. They should create impact, while being understated. Linear accords (blended concentrations of notes of the same family that are the predominant signature) work well for genderless constructions.”
He also believes genderless fragrances are only going to get better, more experimental with ingredients and indeed more ‘rule breaking’ than ever.
“More niche brands are producing genderless fragrances, stay tuned for fruity [and] wood blends coming, fig and lavender in particular.”
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