To be fair, I can see how No. 5 or Youth Dew may feel dated to some, the same way 2010s sandalwood scents smell very “of a time” to me. Mainstream perfume preferences fluctuate with time, ping-ponging from light and fresh to sweet and gourmand to woody and spicy and back again. Right now, we’re in an all-gourmand-everything phase, where vanilla sillage bombs are forming the fragrance palettes of our youth. But what I don’t understand is why bathing in a grand bouquet of symphonic florals automatically constitutes “grandma”—or, more importantly, why people are so opposed to being perceived as one.
There’s some cognitive (or is it olfactive?) dissonance here, and I can see where it comes from beyond ageist biases online. While perfume notes still play a major role in how fragrances are marketed, I’ve noticed a shift from scent-forward descriptions to a focus on “vibes” among brands in fragrance content. If you spend a little time scrolling through PerfumeTok or Fragrantica, you’ll notice users describing scents with evocative and sometimes niche language; they’re asking for scents that feel like drunk texting your ex at 4 a.m. or flying through the sunset on a unicorn. But I’ve witnessed little of the same approach when it comes to classic fragrances, which are ripe for all sorts of fabulous storytelling. Why would you want to smell like a liminal space or a chlorinated hotel pool but not a faded cocktail lounge singer chain-smoking cigarettes in a ratty mink coat, or the most famous movie star of all time (that’d be Marilyn Monroe, a known No. 5 devotee)?
Then there’s the constant churn of new: new aesthetics, new trends, and countless new fragrances hitting the shelves every week, spurred by social media’s sped-up microtrend cycle (which, mind you, was not how things worked prior to this decade). Our culture is all about chasing the next big thing; trying on a look one day and discarding it the next for something that promises to be bigger, better, more. It makes sense that classic scents would get a little lost in the mix and overlooked in favor of something that promises to be more exciting, youthful, and modern.
Whether it’s a fear of growing (or smelling) old, feeling intimidated by the bold fragrance profile of a classic scent, or a preconceived idea about how these fragrances smell, that shouldn’t stop you from experiencing the beauty these so-called “grandma” perfumes have to offer. To me, appreciating classic perfumery is like sitting down to listen to your elders’ stories and absorb their knowledge, even if it isn’t always the most relevant to your own life. If you’re lucky, you will also be old enough to be a grandma. If you’re a young person who can’t live without Pafums de Marly’s Delina, Ariana Grande’s Cloud, or whatever vanilla scent is trending right now, know that one day someone much younger than you may call those “grandma perfumes,” solely because you happen to still like them and just happen to be old. That is, if those fragrances wind up having as much lasting power as true classics like No. 5, which endures in part because it was so groundbreaking.
