Calvin Klein
CK One
Ck One: Calvin Klein's unisex fragrance Calvin Klein is a house that has always shown profound audacity combined with an almost innate sense of business development strategy. Thus, the launch of CK One came with colossal resources! The success of this campaign exceeded all of the house's expectations and earned it the Grand Prix des Trophées Stratégie du Marketing the following year.
- Brand
- Calvin Klein
- Launch year
- 1994
- Perfumers
- Gender
- Men
- Olfactory family
- Citrus
- Secondary family
- Aromatic
- Concentration
- Eau de Toilette
Where to buy
Nevertheless, this success would be nothing without a product living up to all its promises. Today, CK One is considered one of Calvin Klein's biggest successes. Focus on this juice, regarded as the icon of an entire generation.
CK One, a fragrance woven with androgyny
CK One was born in the mid-1990s, more precisely in 1995. In reality, to create it, Calvin Klein observed his children. He noticed that over time, trends were evolving toward increasing androgyny. Indeed, today many men take care of themselves by using, for example, cosmetic products. Women, on the other hand, no longer want to give up their pants! So, to accompany this blending of genders, Calvin Klein decided that a fragrance was needed to reflect this image. This is how he created CK One. This fragrance is considered a “social fragrance”. It speaks to all individuals seeking authenticity and sharing. CK One cultivates open-mindedness and honesty. It speaks to all those who live their lives as they see fit and who dare to be nonconformist. The message instantly resonated with young people, and CK One's sales took off from the moment of its launch. This juice can boast of having unleashed a wave of transparency at the heart of the 1990s. It became the cult fragrance of an entire generation and transformed the sense of smell of thousands of teenagers.
The aromatic and emblematic freshness of Calvin Klein
Perfumer Alberto Morillas is behind this olfactory creation. He chose to create a kind of modern Eau de Cologne. CK One is built essentially on freshness and opens with an accord of green tea refreshed with bergamot. Likewise, CK One has a slightly exotic facet thanks to the sparkling, juicy presence of pineapple. Its heart is more elegant and floral. Its transparency results from a blend of rose, violet, and hedione. In this sense, it is a slightly powdery juice whose effect recalls that of jasmine. Spices then come to stir everything up. These are dominated by cardamom and nutmeg. Finally, CK One gradually warms up, ending in a more sensual sillage of amber and musk. Its bottle has also become particularly famous. It takes the shape of a flask heavily inspired by a Jamaican rum flask. Its silhouette is also completely androgynous. Its frosted glass is very pleasant to the touch, and the whole is topped with a screw cap similar to that of a simple water bottle.
Olfactory pyramid
- Top notesThe first minutes
- Heart notesThe heart of the perfume
- Base notesWhat lingers
What the community says
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The advertising
Released in 1994, Ck One is one of Calvin Klein's greatest successes. The first unisex fragrance, Ck One rides the androgynous trend of the 1990s. On the agenda: freedom, mixing, equality, and excess! Always very open-minded, Calvin Klein here gives new momentum to perfumery. Ck One is truly a reflection of the 1990s, shaped by the blurring of gender lines. Ck One is more than a fragrance, it is a genuine concept… Is it a girl? Is it a boy? Ck One cultivates doubt and ambiguity, and offers a musky fruity floral fragrance.
Ck One, The Only One advertisement
To present this unisex fragrance, Calvin Klein offered a commercial of an entirely new kind. Indeed, both bold and provocative, the commercial shows men and women of every nationality, all very different from one another. Here, men kiss men or women, who themselves kiss either women or men… Among the participants, many obviously play on their androgynous side, and it is hard to tell whether they are boys or girls. In the previous commercial, the message was much the same, and one could hear sung: Girls who are boys, who like girls to be boys, who do boys like they're girls, who do girls like they're girls. This means that CK One is a fragrance that can be borrowed from a girlfriend or a boyfriend. CK One arrived at the perfect moment, that is, just as homosexuality was beginning to come out into the open.
The Ck One ad, the star of fragrances
A star fragrance of the 1990s, CK One represents the androgynous spirit of that decade. Provocative and bold, the 2015 commercial proves that Ck One suits everyone, regardless of age, sexual orientation, or nationality. The first unisex fragrance, CK One is more than a fragrance, it represents a concept, a way of living and thinking.