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In a totally typical of 1970s sensibilities pose and text, this print ad for 4711 Eau de Cologne reinforces the idea of scent as a well-being gesture. A luxury for every day, a quotidian gesture of pleasure after the bath or shower, the complement to your soap.
The scent of 4711 Eau de Cologne typified a whole generation in Greece; everything was bathing in it, it seems. But the memory and generational seal hasn't vanished. There came Greek equivalents like the lifestyle Mirto cologne which came in lemon, reminiscent of 4711, and in lavender, to be shared by the whole family as shown in the below commercial from the 1980s.
"You wear Mirto and you feel the coolness.
You wear Mirto and you feel the freshness.
You wear Mirto and you feel so much better,
Mirto, Mirto, Mirto"
There is also the continuous presence of the concept of Eau de Cologne in a retro style context in contemporary culture too!
Rous (in the music video below) recorded the song 4711 in 2013, in which it's incessantly referenced how the singer loves the trail of his fragrance wafting from his girlfriend after having sat at the back of his motorbike or from his left-over blouse in her apartment and just how much he loves it when strangers ask what cologne he wears. A genuine case of sensory pleasure becoming intellectual stimulus!
But the piece de resistance is probably this incredible commercial for 4711 from 1971 I found on Youtube. Tagged "the Body Cocktail" it puts the fizz in cheese; not a cheesy bone in its body. Enjoy!
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