Nostalgic '90s Scents

"I wore those Gap fragrances like everyone else. I remember it was one of the first identity markers—my friend who was kind of spacey wore Dream, the goody-two shoes wore Heaven, I wanted to wear Grass because I was into the environment but it smelled way too much like actual grass. A girl I always wanted to be friends with wore Om, which I hadn't even heard of."

— Sarah Sterling, attorney, New York City

"I got Sunflowers for my birthday in seventh grade, as a gift from my parents. It reminds me of the summer before eighth grade, when my girlfriends and I spent our days making up dances, jumping on trampolines, and having sleepovers. I think it lasted through eighth grade, when my older sister, who despised the smell, finally convinced me to move on."

—Maggie Caron, nurse, Portland, ME

"I was this really arty, Doc Marten-wearing, Tori Amos/Ani Difranco-listening, corduroy kid in high school, so Estee Lauder Pleasures was the exact opposite. I think I liked that contrast. And I also liked the bottle."

—Lacey Browne, freelance photo editor, Chatham, NY

"The name Freedom said it all. I wore it and wanted all the 'freedoms' of an adult. My mother gave it to me as a birthday present after I saw it in an ad. I wanted to be different and not wear what everybody else was wearing, like CK One or Tommy Girl. I considered it my signature scent—fresh, sophisticated—and I'd still wear it today if it hadn't been discontinued."

—Phoebe Newman, foreign service officer, New Dehli, India

"Our high school dances took place in clouds of White Musk. I smell it and can still hear 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'November Rain.'"

—Kim Libby, English teacher, Boston

"I saved up babysitting money to buy Ralph when I was a freshman. All of my girlfriends wore the same scent. We loved the model in the ads—she had wavy hair and really natural skin. Her clothes were rumpled preppy and bohemian. I recently asked high school friends if they could remember what it smelled like. None of us really could. We wore it wanting to be the girl in the ads—already nostalgic for teenage summers."

—Meredith Bichsel Winfrey, co-founder Project MM, New York City

"A popular girl from eighth grade wore Victoria's Secret Pear. She was the girl who could have boys over, who wore bras, who had the silkiest blonde-flecked hair. I remember seeing it on her bureau and feeling like I needed to get with the program, but that actually going into Victoria's Secret felt a little over my head."

—Hannah Morrill, freelance writer, Portland, ME

"My mother always used Clinique products, so wearing their scent seemed perfectly appropriate. And I'm sure their cute ad using the song, 'Forget your troubles, come on get happy...' had something to do with it. After Happy, I moved on to Thierry Mugler Angel."

—Casey Fremont, director, Art Production Fund, New York City

"I remember it smelling rich, citrus-y, and a little floral. My mother and I picked the fragrance together at a department store. She often gave me gift sets—bath gel, lotion and perfume. Every time I used it, I remember feeling luxurious, a little extravagant, like I was really pampering myself. It always made me think of my mom, and how she encouraged me and my sisters to be luxurious every once in a while."

—Aimee Wessel, postdoctoral researcher and microbiologist, Paris

"Curve was one of those drugstore perfumes my friends and I would buy with our allowance money and use only on special occasions because it smelled really grown-up (or at least we convinced ourselves it did). It was fresh and citrusy, and made us feel like we were on Felicity, making out with Scott Speedman."

—Cara Sullivan, freelance writer, Chicago

"I remember the ads being super-sexual with skinny models. And maybe I was like, 'Oh everyone wears CK One, I'll be different and use CK Be.'"

—Naomi Leibowitz, digital rights associate director, The Guggenheim, New York City

"One of the coolest seniors kept a bottle of White Love Baby Soft in her backpack, and I remember thinking that if I didn't get it, I'd die. I kept mine at home so she wouldn't know I cribbed her style, but I sprayed it on every single morning before school. In my mind, the sick-sweet, baby-powder scent upped my cool factor by about a zillion percent...which makes absolutely no sense, but what about high school does?"

—Cara Sullivan, freelance writer, Chicago

"When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I was obsessed with the gorgeous Versace ads of Claudia, Cindy, Stephanie, Christy and Nadja. I tore them out and hung them all over my bedroom walls. When I discovered Versace Red Jeans on an airplane to France , I begged my mom to buy it for me and she obliged. I felt so proud and sophisticated to own it, like I was in on a little secret with all my supermodel heroes."

—Madeleine Fawcett, co-founder Project MM, New York City

"Gucci Rush smells like '90s college sex—that's the only possible way to describe it. Think dark lipliner, nightclubs with faux-velvet ropes, well drinks in plastic cups and house music. Even thinking about its heady, spicy, musky-floral scent makes me cringe, but back then it was sex in a goddamn bottle."

—Cara Sullivan, freelance writer, Chicago

"CK One was my first experience with a beauty must-have that was a status symbol. That was the fragrance you wanted on your bathroom shelf."

—Joyann King, site director, meltsflow.com, New York City

"All the cool guys wore Cool Water. We'd stop at that counter at the mall to spray a card just to carry the smell around in our purses."

—Amanda Fritts, real estate agent, Washington, DC

"My best friend's two older brothers wore Drakkar Noir. On weekends, the entire upstairs of her house was just drenched in the smell of cologne. They were in seventh and eighth grade; were in fifth. All the guys wore the same scents...they were the popular guys and we thought they were so cute."

—Jane Spann, independent consultant, Richmond, VA

"The boy I lost my virginity to wore Cool Water, but I think another boy I dated wore Eternity. I'd have to smell it to be sure. I remember he was good at soccer, and went to another school."

—Elizabeth Ray, special events director, New York City

"My routine of getting ready to go out on summer weekend nights always culminated with a single spray of Acqua di Gio."

—Ben Jackson, education consultant, Washington, DC