Ralph Lauren: Lauren

Vintage Vibes: Revisiting an Unconventional Chypre from the 70s and 80s

I don't usually write about vintage scents, because I'm not a collector of them. What few bottles I do have are mostly only there because they were either my mom's or my grandmother's. Lauren was my mom's. I grew up with that plum colored cube being ever present on my mom's vanity table.

I won't pretend to have understood what it smelled like back then, except that I associated it with date nights, which were, unfortunately rare for my parents, but that made my mom's perfumes seem all the more exotic to me--there were some she only wore for nights out, and Lauren was one of those.

My concepts of it are entangled with things like leather (purses, fancy shoes), faux fur (jackets), velour (sweaters), hairdryers, curling irons, gold jewelry, rhinestones and color palettes that always included some dark brown or deep amber with tones of coral and rosey pink. Dark, chocolate brown with gold has always felt glamorous to me because of that era (late 70s/early 80s).

And I wouldn't be surprised if this bottle of Lauren, along with its perpetual neighbor, "J'ai Ose", played a role in helping to build that impression.

Note-wise, my perfectly preserved bottle still gives me the same mental images: the smell of freshly shampooed hair being dried, a soft humidity emanating from the just-used shower beside a bathroom sink where all sorts of fancy costuming happens. The smells of various hair products, makeup, lotions, skincare...even freshly polished shoes and mouthwash. All of these things would be crowded around the room, adding their own unique nuance to an overall fragrance of what can only be described as the smell of clean, chic excitement.

But to try and put a more concrete description on it: Lauren is an unconventional chypre. While it still has the obligatory oakmoss and carnation, rose and vetiver, it also surprises you with a super dewy greenness that sort of takes over the entire composition in a way that makes it feel as though it's deliberately being rebellious. The 1980s may have been all about women in "power suits," but Lauren seemed to be saying, "yeah, but I can still be soft and refined." It wasn't 80s "femme fatale," it was polished and bold, but with a luxe sense of romance.

It's profile lists cyclamen and lily of the valley, which are always, always around when I compare a perfume to a "bubble bath scent." They don't add a sporty, marine aquatic note, nor a seaside salty sense of water, but rather a smooth and rounded dewdrop feel, like a perfect droplet of rain sitting on the greenest leaf.

Lauren can shift seasons, too, sometimes feeling like an evening in a grassy spring garden, and sometimes like a crisp autumn night when summer has just ended. Either way, it does always strike me as more of a night time scent.

I realize a lot of you will have never smelled it before, and for others it's been so long that you don't totally recall what it was like. But there are some beautifully preserved bottles out there and while any vintage is going to have changed somewhat over the years, it's still very possible to find one that's wonderfully close to original (just make sure sellers explicitly say that the smell hasn't changed significantly). If the clean, dewy aspect is still in tact, you'll know you got a pretty good bottle.

I hope Lauren finds some new fans through this post, and that those who were already fans can reminisce a little! I'd love to hear your memories about it.