12/19/2022
BrianBuchanan
355 Reviews
BrianBuchanan
2
The Green Anti-Glam Chypre
It’s tempting to see T Rex and Sikkim as two sides of the same coin.
They both appeared in 1971, and - capturing something about their age - they were both successful. The appearance of T Rex singer Marc Bolan wearing glitter on Top of the Pops (with Elton John guesting on piano) is held to be the moment that Glam Rock burst onto the scene, a cross-dressing style of pop that was huge in the early seventies.
They were soon followed by Bowie, posing as Ziggy Stardust in multicolour bodysuit, dyed hair and snow white tan; and the campery reached a climax in '73 with The Sweet ... Hard Rock - pouting in lipstick and make up.
While it was getting hard to tell the boys from the girls, (some of) their mothers were revanching into different, more reserved kinds of androgyny - with matching ‘his & hers’ trouser suits (check it out !) and fitted blazers.
Every fashion needs its perfume and there was Sikkim, a cool, formal, starchy green aldehyde, a bit like the original Y (1964) with a dark woody leather.
A dry pink floral and ambery baseline are concessions to ‘feminine’ codes, but it’s so distant from the fruity florals we know today, it’s hard to imagine many women would now think of this tailored affair as a feminine.
The box of the original release - with it’s marbled pale brown Aramis-style pattern, straight lines and square bottle - only serve to reinforce the message; this is not a hearts and flowers pong. Its roots go back to the green chypres of Bandit (1945) and Miss Dior (1947); hard perfumes born of hard times.
But Sikkim was not exceptional in its green androgyny.
GIII (1970), No19 (1970) and Silences (1978) were also part of the green movement, perfumes that favoured unsexy, dark and woody themes; more carapace than cuddly. Even if it was rather dis-gendering, the green chypre - of which Sikkim was an early example - was a conservative trend that distanced itself from Glam and all that it stood for.
Like the present moment, the seventies were uncertain times and it was natural that perfumes - like other artistic and commercial works - reflected them.
So perhaps, with Green awareness and pandemic Social Distancing, this rather phlegmatic style is due for a comeback.
I hope so, it is much more grown up than the fruity gourmands that currently hold sway on the women's aisle.
They both appeared in 1971, and - capturing something about their age - they were both successful. The appearance of T Rex singer Marc Bolan wearing glitter on Top of the Pops (with Elton John guesting on piano) is held to be the moment that Glam Rock burst onto the scene, a cross-dressing style of pop that was huge in the early seventies.
They were soon followed by Bowie, posing as Ziggy Stardust in multicolour bodysuit, dyed hair and snow white tan; and the campery reached a climax in '73 with The Sweet ... Hard Rock - pouting in lipstick and make up.
While it was getting hard to tell the boys from the girls, (some of) their mothers were revanching into different, more reserved kinds of androgyny - with matching ‘his & hers’ trouser suits (check it out !) and fitted blazers.
Every fashion needs its perfume and there was Sikkim, a cool, formal, starchy green aldehyde, a bit like the original Y (1964) with a dark woody leather.
A dry pink floral and ambery baseline are concessions to ‘feminine’ codes, but it’s so distant from the fruity florals we know today, it’s hard to imagine many women would now think of this tailored affair as a feminine.
The box of the original release - with it’s marbled pale brown Aramis-style pattern, straight lines and square bottle - only serve to reinforce the message; this is not a hearts and flowers pong. Its roots go back to the green chypres of Bandit (1945) and Miss Dior (1947); hard perfumes born of hard times.
But Sikkim was not exceptional in its green androgyny.
GIII (1970), No19 (1970) and Silences (1978) were also part of the green movement, perfumes that favoured unsexy, dark and woody themes; more carapace than cuddly. Even if it was rather dis-gendering, the green chypre - of which Sikkim was an early example - was a conservative trend that distanced itself from Glam and all that it stood for.
Like the present moment, the seventies were uncertain times and it was natural that perfumes - like other artistic and commercial works - reflected them.
So perhaps, with Green awareness and pandemic Social Distancing, this rather phlegmatic style is due for a comeback.
I hope so, it is much more grown up than the fruity gourmands that currently hold sway on the women's aisle.
