Ô de Lancôme

Ô de Lancôme was released in 1969, the year of Woodstock and the moon landing, when feminine perfumery still lived on heady sillages. Lancôme took the opposite stance with a clear, green water, worn as one splashes water on the face.

The gamble of a cologne for women

Three years earlier, Eau Sauvage had established the chypre cologne for men. Lancôme wanted the same frankness for women, without the vocabulary of heavy seduction that then reigned over the counters of French perfumery.

Robert Gonnon, a perfumer at Firmenich, signed the formula. His name remains attached to a handful of fragrances: Empreinte for Courrèges, Sikkim for Lancôme, Anaïs Anaïs for Cacharel, Métal for Paco Rabanne. Ô de Lancôme belongs to this short list.

A chypre disguised as a cologne

The memory one keeps of it is that of a summer splash, neutral and refreshing. On testing, the surprise comes from the base: the citrus opening passes quickly, and what remains belongs to the green chypre, with plenty of oakmoss.

This chypre reading illuminates its descendants. Eau de Rochas in 1970, Diorella in 1972, Cristalle in 1974: feminine perfumery of the seventies explored increasingly complex green territories, and Ô de Lancôme opens the way.

Lancôme addresses it to women, but nothing in the juice confines it there. Anglo-Saxon critics judge it as unisex as the waters sold without gender, and it is worn today on both sides without anyone finding it surprising.