<\/p>\n
Gap is rereleasing its \u201890s fragrances in 2026, but don\u2019t expect them to smell exactly like the original eaux de toilettes. Before we get into our first impressions of the new scents, we need to talk about what the original scents meant to fragrance lovers in the \u201890s.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s some background for Gen Z: The pop culture moments of that decade had many of us defining and redefining who we were. We took quizzes in magazines to find out which hair color best matched our personalities. (I typically landed on brunette.) We were all trying to decide which Spice Girl we\u2019d be (I was Sporty, sometimes Posh). And the starter Pok\u00e9mon we chose in the new GameBoy Color games spoke volumes about who we were in 2D and IRL. (With Aries rising, I always picked Charmander.)<\/p>\n
In beauty, it was Gap\u2019s fragrances. The apparel brand launched its first four scents in 1994, which formally introduced us to Heaven and Grass. Dream followed in 1995, and Om arrived a year later. A leisurely walk through the mall revealed Dream girls, Heaven fans, the extra-cool Om crowd, and the nature-loving Grass group. My mother wore Grass, and because I often raided her beauty stash, I wore it too. These scents slowly disappeared off Gap shelves, but could still be found in Gap Factory Outlets.<\/p>\n
Now, more than three decades after we first met Grass and Heaven, they\u2019re back, along with Dream and a new addition to the lineup, Harmony. Deb Redmond, head of beauty at Gap Inc., recognizes how nostalgic this collection is for so many people, and that it couldn\u2019t be reimagined lightly. \u201cThere is definitely an emotional foundation there,\u201d she says. \u201cYou’ll recognize that emotional connection in the new eaux de parfums, but the scents definitely have a new modernity to them that I feel is more of what the beauty customer today is really looking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasked with bringing these fragrances to 2026 were DSM-Firminich master perfumer Honorine Blanc\u2014who worked on the 1996 Om\u2014and principal perfumer Nicole Mancini. Blanc brought the new Om, plus Dream and newcomer Harmony, to life, while Mancini is behind today\u2019s Heaven and Grass.<\/p>\n
The idea of bringing these scents back from the \u201890s was years in the making, says Redmond, but once Gap had these perfumers on board, the formulations took about two years. \u201cWe didn’t rush this at all,\u201d she says, adding that the team really prioritized consumer testing. \u201cWe put [the fragrances] in front of individuals that are familiar with the scents that we had in the ’90s, as well as the customers of today.\u201d The goal, says Redmond, was to determine, whether someone was an original fan or not: \u201cWas there still that emotional connection?\u201d<\/p>\n
Working on these new fragrances, Blanc was very tuned into the notion of nostalgia. \u201cIt\u2019s very important today,\u201d she says. \u201cSince 1996, we had Covid, a different war, we now have [better] technology, AI, a smarter consumer\u2014huge changes. This new generation is looking for what was in the \u201890s because there was this comfort. The ’90s is becoming today like the comfort, the safety,\u201d both for people who lived the \u201890s and those who were born years later.<\/p>\n
Bringing a beloved line of fragrances from the \u201890s to 2026 isn\u2019t all warm, fuzzy feelings and rainbows, though. Of course, \u201cSome of the original raw materials and methods from the ’90s aren’t used the same way now,\u201d says Blanc. The OG Heaven, for example, used polycyclic musk\u2014the same note behind the clean laundry smells of CKOne and The Body Shop White Musk.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gap is rereleasing its \u201890s fragrances in 2026, but don\u2019t expect them to smell exactly like the original eaux de toilettes. Before we get into our first impressions of the new scents, we need to talk about what the original scents meant to fragrance lovers in the \u201890s. Here\u2019s some background for Gen Z: The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beauty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}