Popular culture may be high on the nineties now as a ubiquitous trend, but one in all its era-defining beauty products born 25 years ago has stayed at the highest of its game: CK One, Calvin Klein’s iconic unisex fragrance. While on paper it reads like an olfactory overdose (citrus-based with top notes of pineapple, mandarin orange, bergamot, cardamom, lemon and papaya), its mix has strongly courted mass appeal since its inception: not simply because of its scent alone, but in addition due to its all gender allure. CK One was one in all the primary beauty products openly marketed as unisex: for a young, gender fluid customer in addition to for many who discover as male or female. Quite simply, it was—and still is—for everybody, and its messaging reflected that democratisation: “One for all.”

Today, CK One’s packaging stays intentionally pared down, including its clean, minimal sans serif font used for the brand and the varied versions of the fragrance since its initial launch. CK One’s bottle and box don’t deviate from form: its frosted silhouette capped with a silver twist-off top each lack any male/female nuances. The identical might be said about its essence: CK One doesn’t enterprise too fruity nor sweet, and it doesn’t exude overpowering masculine wood ingredients. As a substitute, its mix encapsulates an equal combination of floral and musk, and its creators, Alberto Morillas and Henry Fremons, striking the fitting balance of notes.

“When CK One originally launched in 1994, it helped redefine the boundaries of the trendy fragrance since it blurred societal, gender boundaries and offered a freedom from convention and the established order, a breaking of rules,” said Simona Cattaneo, Chief Marketing Officer, Coty Luxury, the wonder company that owns Calvin Klein fragrances, in an announcement last yr.

But the wonder masterminds at Calvin Klein didn’t let the fragrance just speak for itself. It needed an impactful visual campaign that might go straight to the hearts of a youthful Gen X within the 90s, its original target market. And since Calvin Klein as a brand is not any stranger to sparking controversy— think the Nineteen Eighties jeans commercials with a teenage Brooke Shields purring “nothing gets between me and my Calvins” or the Mark Wahlberg and Kate Moss topless underwear images in 1992—the CK One print and tv ads attracted enormous attention and seduced everyone. At its peak over 20 years ago, 20 bottles were sold per minute (now it’s 15 based on Cattaneo), and even when Gen X didn’t buy the fragrance, it actually “bought” the messaging. CK One attempted to get “Eau de whatever” in a bottle, and at the least from a monetary and artistic standpoint, it worked.

Sharing his concept for the CK One campaign, shot by Steven Meisel, Calvin Klein said it was rooted within the Recent York arts community. “The initial vision was inspired by 1969 photography by Dick [Richard] Avedon, Andy Warhol and members of the Factory,” he says. “I desired to capture a liberal and rebellious attitude, featuring unique people, for our anti-perfume. I knew Steven could do this.”

With the grunge trend still in full swing, Meisel infused hints of grunge into the photography with models posing with messy tresses and wearing distressed jeans, basic tank tops and bras—or simply topless. Kate Moss was front and centre, an announcement in itself as Moss was the antithesis to the prolific, ultra-femme 90s supermodels like Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista. Alongside Moss was a various group of models including an androgynous, towering Stella Tennant and openly queer Jenny Shimizu who once dated Angelina Jolie and had been romantically linked to Madonna. Though the style and sweetness industries have made noteworthy strides during the last 25 years with trans models like Andreja Pejić, Teddy Quinlivan and Hunter Schafer, Shimizu was a trailblazer and one in all the primary to bring a discussion of gender fluidity and queerness to the fore. Referencing her profession, Shimizu has said, “I’m Japanese, 5’7″, a dyke, tattooed, have little hair, and I don’t wear feminine clothes. Nobody like me had paved the best way.”

Twenty-five years on and no other gender fluid fragrance has arrested the industry in such fashion. Not Le Labo’ Santal 33 and Bergamote 22, nor Byredo’s Elevator Music, Escentric Molecules Molecule 01/Escentric 01, D.S. & Durga Vio-Volta, all Jo Malone colognes, Comme des Garçons Black Pepper, Eris’ Mx, Abel’s range of unisex fragrances. All great fragrances, but none as groundbreaking as CK One. Though how can they be? CK One represented an explosive moment in history, when Kate Moss was on the cusp of redefining what it meant to be a model, when grunge and counter culture was at its coolest, and when gender fluidity was finally emerging from the shadows. Wearing CK One was a small subversive statement one could make without having to crossover and spray a conventional men’s fragrance on a girl and vice versa. It anticipated that individual who blurred gender when those discussions weren’t so open as they’re today. “I used to be at all times attempting to appeal to a wide range of individuals: gay, straight, young, old,” Calvin Klein told Marc Jacobs in an interview back in 2011.

CK One continues to be iconic, but will it remain so in the long run? In response to Cattaneo, today it’s all about digital and experience-based marketing. “CK One holds a market leader position, notably in Spain, Italy, Germany and China,” he says. “We’re connecting with today’s millennials and Gen Z audiences through authentic digital and physical moments. Whether it’s leveraging influencers who live the DNA of CK One, or through synergies with fashion (for instance, gifting at Coachella), or by innovation with plans to bring one other first-to-market in fragrance in 2020.”

Within the last 25 years, there have been quite a few off-shoots of CK One: CK One Electric, CK One Gold, CK One Graffiti, CK One Summer, CK One Scene, and CK Be, to call a couple of. A few of these iterations included campaign photography that attempted to mimic the look, feel, and level of fame as the unique, but really, were any of them that memorable? Because it goes with sex, you always remember the primary one.