TIME CAPSULES

With the launch of Calvin Klein’s latest fragrance, SARAH DANIEL looks back at the designer’s greatest hits.

FRAGRANCE PREFERENCES ARE

personal, but some perfumes resonate on a larger scale, striking a chord with the masses and achieving a Chanel N°5 level of stardom. Made available during WWII, the iconic perfume’s status was cemented when it survived, and came to symbolize, a world of glamour and beauty that everyone was fighting for, writes Tilar Mazzeo in The Secret of Chanel No. 5. In fact, the spirit of a moment in time has often informed perfumers. “As with everything in pop culture, fragrance flows with the zeitgeist,” explains perfume historian Elena Vosnaki. “There are certain needs which are expressed through a certain mood.” And few have captured a mood as successfully as Calvin Klein. Many of his provocative ad campaigns are burnished in our collective memory and a handful of his fragrances are considered pop cultural touchstones by many.

Klein’s knack for reading the public pulse and translating that into blockbuster scents came after his first two fragrances—Calvin Klein and Calvin, now both discontinued. »