When Ned (William Hurt) visits Matty at home for the first time, he can’t help but open her husband’s bathroom cabinet. The bottle he removes from it is interesting.
Halston Z-14 sounds like an unusual choice for a shady businessman like Edmund Walker. This leathery fragrance was created by Vincent Marcello and Max Gavarry, and launched in 1974.
The camera moves and reveals another bottle: it’s Old Spice Original cologne, created by Albert Hauck and launched in 1938.
There’s a bottle of YSL Pour Homme eau de toilette on a marble counter in Matty’s bathroom.
This woody aromatic fragrance by Raymond Chaillan was launched in 1971.
The play Beth (Mary Taylor Moore) and Calvin (Donald Sutherland) go to see at the theatre is Same Time, Next Year, a 1975 romantic comedy by Bernard Slade. The protagonists are a man (George) and a woman (Doris) who accidentally meet, have sex, and decide to meet every year at the same hotel for one weekend together. This goes on for 26 years.
During a conversation, they discuss Doris’ signature scent: it’s Lanvin My Sin [1].
This powdery musky fragrance was created by Madame Zed and launched in 1924.
[1] The Bernard Slade play was adapted into a film in 1978: it was directed by Robert Mulligan and starred Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn. Here is my post about the same conversation in the film.
We return to Bret’s bathroom. Most of the products in it were spotted in the first two episodes.
The spray can with yellow and orange disc on the front is Dial long-lasting deodorant.
At this point it’s clear Guy Laroche Drakkar Noir is his signature scent. Unfortunately this fragrance hasn’t been given any space in the narration. It’s a choice that makes sense, though: Bret is an internal narrator, but he’s not particularly reliable, and he tends to hold back specific personal details, especially those regarding his parents. He observes and notices everything about the people around him, but he is rarely the object of someone’s observation, besides Robert’s.
The half-hidden spray can with yellow cap is Gillette The Dry Look hairspray.
The half-visible jar on the right is Noxzema medicated skin cream.
Debbie (Hayes Warner) is getting the most out of the blackmailing scheme she’s forced her father to accept. Her requests include a pool boy who applies tanning oil on her. Her product of choice is very specific – Bain de Soleil, a brand originally created in the 1920s in France [1]. It became popular in the U.S.A. for its low-SPF products.
The imagery of Bain de Soleil is so in line with the luxury and the hedonism which characterise the whole TV show, so one tends to think the mention of the brand is followed by an appearance of the actual product, right?
What did we get instead? A generic plastic bottle! I think I need a word with the prop masters of the show…
[1] Here you can read an extensive history of the brand.
The illustration Patricia is working on is very interesting. It advertises a fictional fragrance, Senso. A fragrance with the same name already exists, though.
Created by Jacques Polge and launched in 1987, Senso by Emanuel Ungaro is an amber floral fragrance. It was originally housed in a fluted bottle decorated by a cord with tassels. Nastassja Kinski was the testimonial.
The bottle the woman in Patricia’s illustration is holding exists in real life, too. It’s a flacon montre by Guerlain. Considering the front disk is black, the fragrance it is supposed to contain is Liu eau de cologne, a floral green creation by Jacques Guerlain launched in 1929.
Even if I understand the creative effort behind the illustration, I wonder why they mixed elements belonging to real fragrances, instead of creating a completely new (and properly fictional) one.
The two Homecoming episodes have an uncharacteristic protagonist: a perfume. Giorgio Beverly Hills appears in another scene (set in Liz Schaffer’s bedroom) and is mentioned in two conversations. In this case, Robert (Homer Gere) gives it to Susan (Kaia Gerber) as a gift.
He gives her the extraordinary spray cologne version, which I cannot date with precision, but the packaging is historically accurate, at least judging by the front logo.
Susan is overjoyed: she probably sees this fragrance like everybody else did in the early/mid 1980s — a synonym for luxury and exclusivity. A box of it was spotted in her own house, but clearly she’s never had a bottle for herself.
When she sprays the perfume on her wrist, we can notice a minor mistake: the stopper is faceted, which means that this specific bottle is not the 1981 one.
This is the original bottle: you can see the stopper is smooth.
This is the bottle currently on the market: you can see that the stopper is faceted. The prop masters mixed things up here: they selected the original box and paired it to a contemporary bottle. Weird choice.
Robert has been flirting with Susan since he first met her, so it’s not surprising that he rubs her wrist on the side of his neck: he wants to smell like her. This is not just a tactic of seduction, though, because there might be something else at play.
A possible explanation is revealed during the Homecoming ceremony, when Susan wins the title of queen, but gives it to Rhonda (Ivy Wolk). The girl smells Giorgio Beverly Hills on Susan’s wrist and finally things become clear: she sensed the same fragrance during her captivity. That’s why she accuses Susan of being her kidnapper. The truth might be darker and point towards other characters.
Liz is not the driving force behind Rhonda’s makeover, but when she decides to step in, things improve. Her speech to the future homecoming queen is an ode to confidence and self-awareness.
We have already seen several cosmetics and beauty tools on Liz’s vanity; among them, there’s also a spray can of Silkience hairspray.
The most important moment in this scene is the revelation of Liz’s new favourite fragrance: it’s Giorgio Beverly Hills, which we know her husband and his assistant wear.
Bold, loud and impossible to hide: this white floral bomb was created by Francis Camail and launched in 1981.
In the same drawer there’s a Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick, definitely not a 1980s cosmetic.
Debbie (Hayes Warner) doesn’t hide her dislike for Giorgio Beverly Hills, but thankfully Liz ignores her.
She’s happy because the fragrance is exciting, is new, and is a gift from her husband.
When Rhonda (Ivy Wolk) smells the perfume, she has a moment of realisation and recognises it as the “girlie smell” she must have sensed during her captivity.
A very popular trope in teen movies is the makeover, the physical transformation of the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. In this episode, Susan and Debbie take Rhonda under their wing, and convince her she can be the next homecoming queen. Their beauty intervention happens in the sancta sanctorum of the Schaffer’s mansion — Liz’s bedroom.
The first object the camera pans on is the infamous bottle of Versace Dylan Blue, historically inaccurate but looking good in a 1980s context.
We can also see a Revlon lipstick, although the name of the brand has been blurred.
Other two products sitting on Liz’s vanity are a spray can of Miss Breck hairspray and a bottle of Jean Naté after-bath splash.
This unusual round box contains a vintage Philips beauty set, which includes tools for shaving, manicure and pedicure.
The two tiny tubes are Maybelline lash adhesive. The tube shown above is from the 1970s, while the ones in the TV show have a more modern packaging.
The hot pink tube is Lip Smacker Piña Colada lip balm. Previously seen in Debbie’s vanity drawer, it’s the only lip colour Rhonda will accept wearing.
Fans of time travels, this is for you: there’s a Westman Atelier mirrored compact (containing Vital pressed skincare face powder) on Liz’s vanity. A product launched in 2022 makes its appearance in 1981 — a magic trick that is possible only in the fictional worlds created by Ryan Murphy.
