This is the second part of Derek Mohr’s history of Avon’s men’s fragrances. Part one can be found here.
Women by and large had been the largest consumers of luxury goods at this point in American history, with US men being comparatively barbaric compared to the sophistication of their European peers. Unless you were an executive or self-made businessman in those days, the idea of sartorial wear, let alone the "dress casual" hybrid was lost on you. Guys went straight from their work overalls or uniforms right into jeans and t-shirts, smoker's jacket, or even bathrobe and slippers. We were an uncomplicated bunch for better or worse, and didn't give much more thought to smelling good beyond what our choice of soap, deodorant, and after shave gave us (and they usually matched because we were oh-so brand loyal then), so the idea of a fragrance wardrobe, or even a solitary signature scent seemed unnecessary for most. Avon understood this, and mostly kept their men's offerings sparse and practical up until the beginning of the decade, because something finally started to change.
The single Avon for Men line served adequately and faithfully for well over a decade by the time major changes occurred. Men in the households Avon was traded were happy with it, and the after shaves proved 10 to 1 more popular than the singular cologne entry. Still, with products from Shulton, MEM, Fabergé, Leeming, Swank, Revlon, and Dana gaining traction in men's circles, Avon saw an opportunity to use their huge and growing installed market to get a piece of that pie. They did this by ditching the concept of Avon for Men as it's own separate fragrance line (à la Chanel's Pour Monsieur or Caron's Pour Un Homme), and made it a sub-brand for an entire catalog of separate lines to be sold. The first such attempt at this was 1963's Tribute for Men, a well-studied aromatic chypre exercise that could impressively go toe-to-toe with something like Monsieur de Givenchy (1959) or Moustache by Rochas (1949).
Avon didn't just sit on their laurels with Tribute however, and unlike it's peers, continued to roll out new lines year over year, some of them after shaves, some colognes, and some both, until their variety of men's fragrance products dwarfed the competition much like their feminine lines had for years.
The 1960's were halcyon days for Avon masculines. They were treading new territory, or at least new territory for them with every release, and although there was a lot of referencing other products from other perfume houses, there was also a lot of exploration and innovation too, leading to both good and cringe-worthy results.
Avon had its successes too, lots of them. The outstanding Avon Island Lime (1965), Windjammer (1968), and of course Wild Country (1967). That last one proved to be the biggest achievement Avon would ever have in the men's fragrance market, as it wasn't just a damned good fougère in it's own right, but a cultural icon that brandished for the first time in scent the American country-western themes that guys all over (even in Europe) like romanticizing. Nobody had thought of theming a masculine fragrance this way, and in a so far unrepeated stroke of genius, Avon actually set a precedent that the fragrance world would try to follow, even in designer realms. I mean, without Wild Country, would we ever have gotten Chaps Ralph Lauren (1979) or Coty's equally-iconic Stetson line (1981)? Probably not.
Avon also began a practice in the 60's that would eventually become a stain on it's reputation, and that was the marketing of fragrances in novelty gift decanters. Avon didn't limit this practice to men's fragrance but men received the bulk of them as the idea believed by Avon at the time was that men from the middle-income bracket they served likely wouldn't go out and buy their own fragrance, nor would likely use it if given to them in plain bottles like what much of women's perfume used at the time. However, if a cologne and aftershave set was cleverly disguised as a pair of binoculars or if a singular bottle was shaped like a trophy, pistol, liberty bell, presidential bust, knife, wagon, fish, mailbox, golf caddy, or even a scale model of a sports car, the guy could be subtly coerced into wanting it for a show piece and maybe using its contents later. I barely even touched upon the variety of decanters here, that's how many there were.
Whether this tactic worked or not is uncertain, but the women who primarily bought and sold Avon in this period ordered droves and droves of these tacky gift decanters, flooding the aftermarket with them in later years after they sat neglected by the men who may have liked the smell of the stuff inside, but found opening their bottle of Old Spice easier than fiddling with the spare tire on a glass model of a Packard automobile just to put on some cologne. Potential new customers to the brand would be confused by all this illusion of choice, passing up chess pieces filled with Wild Country for square English Leather bottles with caps they could unscrew without breaking or spilling. Likewise, in subsequent decades, collectors would never grow to appreciate the actual style and quality of Avon's masculine lines because they just couldn't get past all the novelty decanter kitsch.
Seriously, there are longtime collectors that even now, don't realize Avon cologne and aftershave from this period came in normal and practical bottle designs, or at least more normal by comparison. The novelty decanters of the period were just really bad ideas that looked super good on paper, but when executed (and then doubled-down on in the 70's), really started to hurt Avon's still-developing reputation with a growing male audience. Overall, the company would continue to grow hand-over-foot because of 80 some odd years of success with women by that point, but if it wasn't for outrageous successes like Tribute, Avon Leather, and particularly Wild Country (which has never ended production after 50+ years), Avon might not even still be making fragrance for men, all because of how obnoxious these decanters were.
Nowadays folks over at Etsy go nuts for these things (empty or full), just like Beanie Babies or Barbie dolls, but when is the last time you ever said to yourself that you wanted your signature fragrance to come from the knicknack adorning your mantle or coffee table? Probably never. The 60's might have given birth to some of Avon's best classic masculines, and it's most popular, influential male composition (Wild Country), but it wasn't Avon's most successful decade; that honor goes to the 1970's, but that had more to do with explosion in interest than their offerings, and Avon just being in the right place at the right time to scratch an itch for cash-strapped guying wanting to strut their stuff at the Disco or Rollerderby.
Part three will be coming soon…
Very interesting take on Avon in the '60s - I had never thought of the decanters as such counterproductive sales crutches, though it makes perfect sense.
They seem fun and whimsical looking back now as collectors, but when your products are competing favorably on quality to quality with the best of Europe, they probably contributed the wrong kind of brand recognition.
I'll see about getting some at some point! I don't actually have that one!
Yeah, and having opened a great many of these, I'd say they're designed more for show than use. The standard bottles seem to be harder to find full, telling me they got used up!
So tell me - what fragrance would most likely get me that flintlock pistol design? :wink:
I have a backup bottle of Everest in that design. Deep Woods and Clint also came that way. Basically all the mid-70's colognes
Wow. These prices fit my lifestyle, too. I could theoretically go back to wanton purchases with used Avon. For the price of a 6" oxide drill bit.....
It was the gateway to where I am now.
I actually like the kitschy bottles and enjoy displaying them, but I admit that I pretty much always decant the contents into other empty aftershave bottles for ease of use.
Some of them are easy to use if you know the tricks, but many are just a pain to use if you want to use both hands to apply..
I bought the regular bottles (sometimes empty) to refill with the decanters.
Fantastic article again! I think what shied me away from even trying Avon fragrances was their MLM association and having grown up a military brat our military community was saturated to the max with stay at home spouses selling something to each other and my parents forbid it in our household after losing friends due to pushy pitches. But due to your reviews and articles I have taken another gander at what Avon offers for the perfumes only. I noticed Ilias Ermenidis, who did Haiku Reflection for Avon also did Le Vestiaire des Parfums : Cuir for YSL and two for Calvin Klein.
Avon didn't start using outside noses until the 80's when they began to offload some work from their in-house chemists, but all their really vintage stuff back from that was composed by uncredited anons working in their in-house labs. Most of their stuff is still manufactured by them locally in the market where it is sold, and since it is sold direct, skirts IFRA (but not EU regulations, so don't expect oakmoss in Euro Avon).
I can't edit it now, Grant will have to!
Avon didn't really use outdide noses or even credited noses until the 80's!
They're everywhere!
You're welcome!
Loving part 2! Keep 'em coming!
Luckily, I have the Spartan-head full of "Tribute" ... that one is halfway cool.George Washington is dignified, though he's got a head full of Tai Winds (for some reason. Wild Country, I could understand!)
Some, like the ugly school bus, the hammer/anvil or the classic cars I don't know: I just wanted the Deep Woods, Tai Winds, Oland or Blend Seven ... going to move these bottles along when contents are gone!
Really great articles , I love collecting Avon fragrances , personally I like the tacky decanters!!!
Thanks guys!
I talked about this in the thread about your very first cologne, but Zealot, do you happen to know the name of an old old Avon boys cologne?
It came in a brown, horseshoe shaped, plastic bottle with a western design on the front.
Sounds like a novelty decanter and not a stock release. Wild Country, Leather, and Clint came in that bottle.
You won't regret it. If you're getting a splash, cap needs to be silver. If you're getting a spray, make sure it has the older logo on the sticker (curvy letters surrounding a steer).
Thanks. I'll have to look those up.
Older logo....go vintage? Is it better than the current Wild Country?
It is drier, muskier, a pinch more leathery, and mossier than current.
Actually, I kept searching and found out it was BUCKAROO! lol
I did an image search of avon vintage boys cologne. Now I'm trying to get ahold of some of it.
Thanks, again, ZC.
Oh that was one of the cringey attempts Avon made to pitch cologne at boys. They had an Avon "Rookie" too. They used pre-existing compositions (Rookie was Avon Lover Boy), so I bet Buckaroo was still either Wild Country, Leather, or Clint. Something appropriately cowboyish
Oh yeah? Ok. That's good to know. It'll be a while but I'll be circling back to this to try to find some older bottles of these.
Thanks!
Creed made perfume for babies, so it gets weirder than that.
Cologne for kids doesn't seem too out of the ordinary. But babies? Ha, that sounds like one of those fake SNL commercials.
It really does.
Quite possibly! I know it was celebrity endorsed back in the day!
I wish I had grabbed my mom and dad's before they threw them out. They had a few of the busts, a couple race cars, and a hand gun, I believe.
BTW, Primrose, do I know you from another forum somewhere??
So many of these were pushed as gift options back in the 60's and 70's, then bought for that reason and never used by their recipients (to keep them "collectable"), that it's likely we will see the world end before the surviving stock dries up.
Goodwill, flea markets, antique shops, I do indeed see them everywhere!
Those bottles! They look fantastic!