"...kinda young, kinda now – Charlie… kinda free, kinda WOW! – Charlie!"

This is my tribute to a fragrance that made more of an influence on me more than any other. No matter how many beautiful perfumes I get to try - the original Charlie fragrance will always be special.

I had the opportunity to purchase a bottle of the original fragrance recently - not the Charlie Blue you can buy anywhere which is a poor and almost artificial version of the original.

The herbal citrus top notes and intricate floral mid-notes are low-lighted by soft musks, oakmoss and sandlewood - a combination that has always suited my skin. The powdered longevity is what makes it so appealing. I am so glad to have had the chance to try it again.

Charlie, named after Revlons own Charles Revson, was released in 1973. It was originally launched to compete with Estée, a fragrance released by Estée Lauder.

Ad campaigns for the scent featured models Shelley Hack, Charly Stember and Darnella Thomas.

Television ads featured jingles sung by Bobby Short. Young, working women were set as the target audience, and the ads were said to represent the "new woman" of the era. Hack and Stember wore pantsuits by Ralph Lauren and were the first women to wear pants in fragrance ads.

Positive reponses proved to be profitable for Revlon, as Charlie became the world's top selling perfume within three years. However, a later ad, showing a female model patting a male model on the backside, was controversial. While some praised the ad as being "playful" and representing "female self-sufficiency," others called it "sexist" and "in poor taste." Subsequent advertising in later decades featured Lauren Hutton and Cindy Crawford, with jingles sung by Little Richard.

Charlie is classified as a floral-aldehyde fragrance. It is composed of citrus, bergamot, hyacinth, green leaf, tarragon, peach, and aldehyde top notes, cyclamen, carnation, orris root, lily of the valley, jasmine and rose middle notes, and sandalwood, musk, vanilla, oakmoss, and cedar base notes.

Darnella Thomas in her groundbreaking ads from the legendary Charlie fragrance campaign in the 1970s made her the first African American woman in history to be featured in a cosmetic company's advertising.

Although Darnella shot at least four ads for the Charlie campaign, she was not signed to a contract. “Every time I did a shoot for them I would get paid whatever the day rate was; it was never a contract. A contract would have entailed them giving me the television commercials, which is what I really wanted. I know for a fact that the reason I did the second, third, and fourth ads was because they got a lot of letters about me."

Oprah Winfrey dedicated a segment of her talk show in 2007 to discuss the impact of Charlie advertising. She stated that the ads inspired her. She wanted to be "confident and fabulous" like the "Charlie girls."

A commercial was filmed with Shelley Hack, striding confidently and smiling dazzlingly, on a night out in New York; in the background, Bobby Short was singing, “...kinda young, kinda now – Charlie… kinda free, kinda WOW! – Charlie! “ Her commercial debuts and is an immense hit. Overnight, Shelley became known as the ‘Charlie Girl’ and the campaign, supported by print ads and personal appearances, was a huge success. By 1977, Charlie became the No.1 Fragrance in the world (the 1st American-made international bestseller) and Revlon sales figures passed the $1 billion mark.

Shelley became the embodiment of the modern, gorgeous, sexy, young, woman in charge of her own life. And everyone wanted to be a Charlie Girl. For almost seven years hence (1976 to 1982), Shelley Hack, who appeared in more Charlie commercials and print ads, was synonymous to Revlon Charlie.

During the 1960s and early 1970s, popular media images reflected the changes taking place in women’s lives. A most significant change was that women were portrayed as having a life outside the home, with concerns and aspirations other than being a wife and mother. The purpose of this research is to explore the role that a specific fragrance, “Charlie” by Revlon, had, not only on the perfume and advertising industries, but on the way in which women viewed themselves.

In 1973, Revlon Inc. introduced “Charlie” perfume, with its advertising campaign featuring model Shelley Hack striding confidently alone across pages of magazines and television screens. Although “Charlie” was developed partially in response to the women’s movement, she in turn, helped to popularize the image of the independent woman. In the years between 1963 and 1975, fragrance companies experienced strong growth in sales, encouraged by social changes in America, such as the “youth culture,” “women’s liberation” and the “sexual revolution.”

The simple packaging for “Charlie” contrasted with the elaborate ones for most designer and French perfumes. It was in a plain glass bottle with a slim gold or silver screw cap, rather than a stopper. Its curved, yet simple, shape made it functional rather than ornamental. The signature “Charlie” script across the bottle appeared casual and friendly, rather than formal and fashionable.

This unimposing package made the product appealing to a wide variety of women. One of the important contributions “Charlie” made to the perfume industry was to make women more aware of and interested in fragrance. It encouraged the expanded usage and “democratization of consumption” of fragrances. “Charlie” never tried to have an exclusive image; nor did it depend on the cache of a designer’s name. Revlon wanted “Charlie” to appeal to all women who thought of themselves as liberated.

Revlon’s “Charlie” represented the most successful entry into this lucrative business and became the bestselling fragrance in the world. It was built around a lifestyle image which appealed to the modern woman and was supported by the aggressive marketing efforts of Revlon. It combined an elaborate product introduction with massive in-store promotion and extensive advertising in a variety of magazines and on television. The advertising image of a young, liberated woman striding confidently across the page appealed to women of the 1970s. “Charlie” had become an integral part of “women’s liberation.”

A Fragrance to Empower Women: The History of ‘Charlie’  A CHARM article archive.

Deirdre Bird, Helen Caldwell, Mark DeFanti.

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