Gap Dream’s sniff brings me back to my childhood bedroom. It was 1996 and I am familiar with the latest issues of my best friends Diana and Tiger Beat Magazine. (Hello, jtt!) For those like me who have held the scent of your dreams for over 20 years, scatter those frost bottles for a memorable lane journey. All the Gap perfumes of the 90s can be purchased again.
But before we get into what we’ve come across as a brand new set of these nostalgia-inducing fragrances, let’s talk about why these perfumes were such a big deal 30 years ago. In November 1994, the gap in apparel brands expanded into the beauty realm with the development of grass, Japanese, earth and heavenly fragrances. Grass, Days and Earth embodied the meaning of unisex, but heaven was traditionally a light flower that leaned against something feminine. In particular, Heaven was a top seller of the brand. I joined the Gap Fragrance family in August 1995.
“We named it flower, but when I started to say the word ‘flower’ it was very flat,” Gary McNutton, former VP of personal care and design development at Gap, told WWD at the launch of Dreams. In addition to the transparent floral composition of the fragrance, the periwinkle blue liquid was the brand’s departure. McNatton also told WWD that the launch was “the most important thing we’ve done for the scent of the gap.” I agree.
Later, riding on the waves of the grunge movement, Gap released OM in 1996 as a unisex fragrance. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, fragrance marketing focuses on youth demographics, with scented bracelets being distributed at rock concerts and university campuses. “They matched the tone of 10 years. The 90s stripped things up. Fashion was minimal. The interior was clean and the beauty was leaning towards softness,” says Romy Kovalewski, the fragrance and founder of 27 87.
