Before there was Charlie by Revlon in the 1970s, there was Tweed by Lentheric.

In the forties, fifties and early sixties, a peek under the Christmas trees of certain young ladies often revealed a bottle of the favorite fragrance of the circle pin set, Tweed by Lentheric. With its chic, iconic logo, French heritage, romantic branding and lady-like scent, Tweed was introduced in the 1930s by the old French firm Lentheric, which was founded in 1795 as a milinery.

Advertised heavily in magazines such as Seventeen and geared to teens, Tweed was often selected by mothers as a "safe" first perfume for their supposedly sedate daughters. It is a commentary on the tenor of those times that this alone didn’t tarnish the brand in the minds of its young targets. Yet this chaste sensibility sealed the brand’s fate during the youth and feminist revolutions of the late 1960s, when it was superceded as a scent by a potent mix of patchouli incense, musk and that original perfume of the women’s movement, Charlie.

When introduced in the 1930s, Tweed was clearly targeting the Town and Country set. Note the horsey, gardening imagery below.

By the fifties, Tweed was at its brand zenith. This ad from 1957 boasts a $60,000 sweepstakes; real money back then, and still impressive for a fragrance promotion even by today’s standards.

This famous "Blame it on Tweed" campaign from the early 1960s ran for several years. Note the holly leaf and Christmas decorations on this iteration, calling out to Mom and Dad and the occasional brave boyfriend:

Today, Tweed is most often found on eBay, where even opened perfume bottles and ads from the Tweed era are favorites of collectors. The "Blame it on Tweed" ad above, and the actual old Tweed bottles and powders below are samples of current and past eBay auctions. On the auction page for the blue fragrance and body powder set, the seller states, "I believe this to be from the 1950s-60s. This was purchased at the estate sale of a very elderly lady in Upstate New York."

Somehow, we all know exactly who she was.

Ebay auctions of Tweed memorabilia can be viewed by clicking here.