Rudi Gernreich by Rudi Gernreich c1974

Rudi Gernreich by Rudi Gernreich: launched in 1974 in association with American Essence, Inc..  

Created by Betty Busse and produced by International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF).  

In 1974, the tenth anniversary of the topless swimsuit, Gernreich introduced his signature fragrance. Gernreich said he had been approached before by giant corporations about doing fragrances and cosmetics, but he had always turned the, down, he didn't like that there were "too many clauses and executives."

So when the founder of a two year old company, American Essences, Inc., Peter Diamandis, propositioned him at a later date, he accepted. Gernreich explained that "Peter approached me and I was very drawn to the fact that he's a smart, attractive, charming guy and very honest and I was immediately positive about the thing...it smelled good to me." Diamandis was the former editor at Mademoiselle magazine who left his position to form his own company, American Essence, Inc, a New York firm who also launched Anne Klein's first fragrance in 1974. 

Like other designers at the time, Gernreich wanted to make a name for himself in the burgeoning American perfumery business. His viewpoint was that he wanted to compete against the French perfumers, to prove that American produced fragrances were just as good or better. He said, "There is no reason for the French to have a monopoly on perfume production. This company is interested in creating scents that are distinctly American. I went to them because I agree with that approach."

Gernreich said that," The sense of smell has been underestimated in fashion. Scents are evocative. They have the power - the very subtle power - to emphasize the body, and to make it more sensuous. More attractive." He went on to say that  "Nowadays, people are more aware of their bodies. As body awareness has increased, scents have become an important part of the human environment. The way people react to one another is very often a chemical reasoning - not visual. We know, for sure, that people relate positively to some smells, and are irritated by others." Gernreich admitted that the only absolutely real function a fragrance serves is "to protect a person from smelling really bad."

"I do think that modern perfume is part of good grooming.  I feel very strongly that fragrances should be very body-conscious things. I wanted it to be rather heavy, and animal, and sensuous you know. Americans have done one thing which Europeans haven't. That is, they have concealed natural odors. Disguised them, with deodorants. America has really deodorized smells. I don't approve. I believe that people should smell good. But I believe that natural smells should be enhanced, improved.  A good perfume, if it mixed with your own body smells, becomes very exciting.  Fragrances do change, even on one's body, according to the mood and whether the person smokes or not. That's one thing I hope that this new perfume will do," said Gernreich. 

The fragrance was marketed as  "The Fragrance of the Future."  When asked what was meant by that Diamandis replied, "If you don't like that phrase use 'sex in a bottle.' I just feel there's a need for new smells. With the whole youth-sensuality explosion, people want new kinds of smells. He found it." However, Gernreich himself expressed some dismay and said that Diamandis "never consulted me about it."

Gernreich felt that fragrances were not frivolous trifles, but rather economical luxuries. "Buying a bottle of perfume is a lot more practical than spending a fortune on a bracelet. Perfume is, after all, a very pleasant thing. Fragrances are very successful (that is, they sell well) during times of economic crisis. In depressed periods - it's vert interesting - you buy a bottle of cologne instead of a new dress. Although a woman can't always afford to buy a new dress, she may be able to afford a bottle of something that smells good. Something to pick you up and give you a lift. During the Depression in the '30s the perfume companies were doing extremely well I believe that this is a more legitimate approach to luxury."

Development of the fragrance took about a year Gernreich said. He began discussing what he wanted with a chemist. What he sought was a scent that could be worn by men as well as women. Gernreich explained his idea of a unisex fragrance, "I really believe unisex is also something misunderstood, people confused that with an, ah, 'messing up' of sexuality, but I think it clarifies it a lot. By degrees, certain antiquated attitudes about what people are supposed to be or do are disappearing. Men and women are discovering they are much, much closer in spirit than they may even think. There is less difference in men and women than people believe there is." Diamandis surmised that "I think Rudi's point is that there's not much difference. A nose is a nose is a nose."

Gernreich said that there were frequent meetings in New York with the head chemist [Betty Busse]  from IFF to discuss the newest samples. "It was fascinating because I worked with the chemist for about a year quite actively. First we discussed the philosophy behind what I believed in, and what image I have. So there were a lot of chemicals that were already eliminated before we even attempted to do it."

Gernreich worked closely with the laboratory, refining the scent, testing and making small changes. The chemists in the lab evaluated the samples which helped immensely as Gernreich said "They could detect strong differences. I couldn't. I'm a total layman about fragrances and awed by the enormity of the industry. But you have to get rid of those things. Design is not necessarily a visual medium. Composing is a form of design. Since designing a perfume is an abstraction, there's a mystique about it. But I didn't like the way fragrance has always been played up as a mystique. It has to be very honest and direct. I also didn't want the smell to be trendy."

The fragrance experts told Gernreich that the trend is something fresh, citrusy and green, but that was not what he was looking for. He told them, "No, I want something sensuous." "Heavy smells are taboo today. They told me at that time there were trends in fragrances toward the very fresh, outdoors and green, all very popular now. And I didn't want that. I didn't want something purely related to a plant. I knew I didn't want it flower oriented. I kept screaming about its sweetness. And it couldn't be so specific that it couldn't apply to everyone." It would require a "touch of leather" for the masculine taste. Any sort of strong floral notes were eliminated. He realized after much discussion that what wanted was much more closer to the older styled French perfumes, the strong, long lasting animalic odors.. 

"The head chemist was very sensuous, a phenomenal cook. She combines French and Chinese cooking. The smell we came up with is animal based, very sensuous and warm and rather heavy, I think. I diminished the flower element and there's a lot of leather in it. It's a non-feminine, non-masculine fragrance. It's an everybody fragrance. It's the first unisex perfume," Gernreich boasted..  He revealed that "Some of the contents have never been used before. I don't even know what they are. I went purely by instinct." The very talented Betty Busse also created Aviance for Prince Matchabelli, Fiamma for Marcella Borghese, and Chloe for Karl Lagerfeld as well as Estee Super and Rivage perfumes. 

He said that he tested 150 samples, living with a number of them and even tried them on friends. Gernreich said his first customer was actress Ava Gardner, who wore it to the Academy Awards. Turns out she was a personal friend of Rudi's, and she told him that she "really" liked it.  After receiving positive feedback he narrowed it down to one. The final product is "a combination of 25 essential oils...new aromatic chemicals similar to natural musk and civet...and additional warmth from a combination of moss, leather and herbs rarely used before."  

The perfume was first launched in I. Magnin stores in Los Angeles, then in New York City and many of the  upscale department stores nationwide.: Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf‐Goodman, Maas Bros., Famous-Barr, Lord & Taylor and B. Altman. At the presentations, models Peggy Moffitt, Leon Bing and Ginny Kaneen were dressed in black and white to match the fragrance's packaging. 

Fragrance Composition:

 So what does it smell like? It is classified as a unisex leather fragrance. It is a mixture of earthy oakmoss, herbs, leather, civet, musk, floral and some 21 other chemically reproduced scents. It is described as "heady and warm" with a "leathery tobacco note."

• Top notes:
• Middle notes: herbs, flowers
• Base notes: Russian leather, oakmoss, sandalwood, amber, civet, musk, tobacco

 

Gernreich said his perfume was one more expression of his individual tastes, "It's not overly florid. I wanted the flower part of it to be diminished. A lot of women don't want that kind of fragrance on their bodies now. Some people will like it, some won't. It is heavier and more sensuous than the trend perfumes. It really lasts. Musk and civet are the two main ingredients, but these have been chemically developed so that we are not taking the animals and torturing them. I can't stand the thought of torturing civet cats to get perfume scents. They don't use the natural bases anymore, so chemicals can be made in one country just as well as in another. The fact that perfume can be made chemically now is why it is being made all over the world."

The scent of the fragrance was based on animal essences because Gernreich said that he related "to what is alive." But he assured us that, no even though this is an animalic fragrance, no actual animals were harmed during the production. "We used chemical, rather than natural bases for Rudi Gernreich perfume. The chemicals can come very, very close to the natural scents of civet and musk, for example. And actually, the chemical bases are more consistent. Natural essences change. They aren't predictable. Chemicals are."

He said he preferred the use of chemical bases for humanitarian and environmental reasons too. "There are no animals tortured or killed for our perfume. This is an ecologically preferable approach. Now I think we are getting into an era when the environment is more important than the clothes we are wearing. We are becoming ecologically aware and that reflects into the aesthetic area."

Gernreich was hopeful that in the future, all fragrances will contain healthful ingredients. When asked if his fragrance did, he replied, " Not yet but it will and I hope eventually to have anti-pollutant elements. We are more aware of health, proper food and exercise and this reflects in our body grooming."

Bottle:

As for the packaging, Gernreich resisted ostentatiousness, saying, "It's like me, very simple and direct." Eschewing flamboyance, he directed the glass production and packaging personnel to create something simple, with clean lines, and nothing like anything else on the market. He said, "I'm much more at ease with the visual." 

The resulting flacon, made up of Pyrex from Corning Glass, is a long, cylindrical chemical beaker shape, something that would be more at home in a pharmaceutical setting. He felt that the chemical beaker was an "honest shape." The perfume was developed in a lab he said so "the honest thing to do is to put it into a Pyrex chemical beaker." Pyrex was chosen to protect the perfume from strong temperature changes and recyclable. Gernreich elaborates, "They're really in Pyrex laboratory glasses, because the glass is very functional, and it withstands extreme heat and extreme cold. I tested some fragrance in an ordinary glass bottle, and the one in the regular glass changed color." 

The bottle is marked in milliliters because he anticipated the United States adopting the metric system sometime in the near future. He said, "And you can use the bottle again. The only thing you can't do is erase my name." 

 The smallest bottle held 12ml (0.5 oz) and retailed for $$20, followed by the 30ml (1 oz) flacon which retailed for $40 and the largest size bottle, a special order, held a whopping 30 ounces and retailed for $250. In addition to the perfume, there was a body massaging cream, bath oil and spray cologne in the same scent. The bottles were packaged in simple black and white boxes with his name in bold print. 

• The 1 oz bottle stands 8" tall.
• The 30 oz bottle stands 15" tall, it is sometimes mistaken as a factice.

Fate of the Fragrance:

Gernreich noticed that the unisex trend he was going for was not taking off as well as he had expected, even though the fragrance was placed in both the men's stores and the women's cosmetic counters, the market for the fragrance had been largely female. This may have had something to with the fact that the fragrance was not being promoted as a unisex scent.  


Discontinued, date unknown. I believe it was withdrawn from production by 1976 as I can find no newspaper ads for it after this date. Good luck trying to find these products now!