As Millennials continue to challenge all things traditional, crossing boundaries and breaking stereotypes, unisex fragrances seem to be on the rise, once again.

Even if pink is still a dominant color for many women’s fragrance packages and blue for men’s, there are also many brands challenging these traditional looks. In the same way, perfumers are challenging these traditions as well. Forget woodsy notes for men, and florals for women – some brands are switching it up, especially for 2015.

Mixing It Up

Laurice Rahme, founder of Bond No. 9 New York, says she has always promoted all of her fragrances as unisex – or at least the majority. There are some strictly named “For Him” and “For Her,” but Rahme says true fragrance fans have always been more adventurous and don’t follow “the rules.”

“The unisex trend has been going strong for the last few years. Millennials like to erase barriers between genders,” Rahme says.

Rahme explains how a fragrance’s notes are traditionally gender-categorized. “Florals are assigned to women, due to delicacy, and more woodsy notes, for men,” she says.  “Today, those gender lines are more blurred, especially among new fragrances,” she explains. “You can easily detect female fragrance ingredients in male fragrances, and the other way around,” she adds.

Although Rahme says she considers all of Bond No. 9’s fragrances to be unisex, the packaging never looks “neutral” or boring. Bond No. 9’s new fragrance, B9, named after the address of the company’s Bond St. headquarters, has ultra-feminine gardenia at its heart – but it’s marketed as a unisex scent.

“It’s a whole new spin on a scent that renders it fascinatingly gender-fluid,” says Rahme. “Women will adore it, and men will find it amazingly wearable as well,” she explains. The deep purple bottle designed for B9, even with its flashy gold logo, looks like it will easily attract both men and women.

The Gender Lines Won’t Ever Completely Disappear

Even though it’s been a trend for a fragrance’s notes to cross gender lines, it is doubtful that fragrance marketers will ever completely blur the separation between the men’s and women’s fragrance categories.

Although Rahme is completely in favor of every fragrance being thought of as unisex, even Bond No. 9 New York markets some fragrances in packages designed to appeal specifically to women. Central Park South comes to mind, which is in a bottle adorned with oversized hot pink flowers – and its difficult to imagine a man buying this fragrance for himself, no matter how much he may like the scent inside the bottle.

So pink fragrance packaging probably isn’t going away anytime soon. Brands and package designers know that plenty of women will always love bottles adorned with pretty, feminine details like bows and charms – even if they also like scents that are traditionally masculine.

See the slideshow above that features new unisex fragrances for 2015, and check out how these brands handled the challenge of creating gender-neutral packaging. 

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