CK Be by Calvin Klein
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“Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping…”
Transfiguration can be a beautiful thing. Were summers really sunnier as a child? Were they really whiter at Christmas? Was life really so much more carefree? I thought about it for a long time. As a child of the 1990s, I am very much of the opinion that we still regularly had white Christmases back then. Photos from that time can prove it. But as far as summers are concerned, they are certainly just as hot and sunny today as they were then. Nevertheless, I am of the opinion that the summertime of the 90s was a special one. Probably mostly because of the lack of internet. Meeting friends was arranged over the phone, if at all. Most of the time, however, people just met spontaneously – either in the backyard of the new housing estate, on the playground or on the basketball court. And when the ice cream man rang the bell on particularly hot days, there was a race to see who could reach his apartment first, talk his parents out of 50 pfennigs for a scoop of vanilla and then secure the front places in the queue in front of the ice cream van.
I love those memories. As the years went by, I gradually realized that I was transfigured. My parents, for example, found the 90s very stressful and nerve-wracking. I think a little bit that anyone who can claim to have had a wonderful childhood is transfigured. Unfortunately, the word is rather negative. But I think transfiguration is a wonderful thing – it is one of the greatest functions our brain has: Preserve the positive and sort out the bad in the best possible way. This ability enables us to travel in time. Journeys into those phases of life that we unconsciously carry within us every day – and how beautiful it is when we specifically remember those beautiful experiences that we once had. Especially since we can trigger this optimally: Through photographs and films, through music – and through smells. This is where “CK Be” by Calvin Klein from 1996 comes into play. Randomly selected? No, quite deliberately. “CK Be” is one of those fragrances that have the trigger effect mentioned above. It catapults me back to the summertime of the ’90s.
I perceive “CK Be” as a very fresh scent. Two or three sprayers from the deep black bottle and immediately iced mint water opens up with a light tangerine in the background. After about two to three minutes, the juniper berry comes out and the fragrance develops in a deep woody direction. However, we are not talking here about fresh juniper berries served as a still life on a noble dining table – rather, the impression is created as if a bottle of gin had broken in the building materials and wood department in the Hornbach. 🙂 However, this is not meant negatively at all, because this combination really has something independent and extremely pleasant. I like the freshness of mint, which is always preserved, best. This makes the “CK Be” very tangy and light. Now there is of course the question: You didn’t wear it as a child, did you? The answer is yes and no. My brother (almost five years older) used to wear a light eau de toilette every now and then when he was a sportsman. The whole range of AXE was there, “Cool Water” by Davidoff was there – and so was “CK Be”. I didn’t consciously apply it, that’s true – but I stole a small sprayer every now and then when nobody was looking (as perfumes probably did as children). This was probably never noticed, because even back then the “CK Be” was of the very quietest kind: It doesn’t last half an hour on the skin, a sillage doesn’t even exist shortly after spraying it on.
However, the factors mentioned do not bother me in this case, because Calvin Klein’s “CK Be” is not a fragrance for me to wear. It serves me as a little half-hour time travel into my past. It causes a headache for me. My brother belonged to the soccer faction at that time, I tended much more towards basketball. When I smell CK Be today, I think of playgrounds and football fields where football and basketball are played. I think of scorching hot summer days, of my tattoos, of my yellow and black Gum Watch from Crazy Planet (who else knows it?), of the ringing of the bell of the ice cream van with Bugs Bunny printed on the front. Speaking of Bugs Bunny: The “CK Be” also brings back memories of the movie “Space Jam”. And of course memories of my brother. Running around together on the sports fields and in the backyard, countless abrasions, his ghetto blaster, with which he used to play ball games. 🙂 But also on the quieter summer evenings, when we as a family sat outside for a barbecue or when my brother and I built whole towns out of Lego bricks together in the children’s room. I love it when scents manage to bring the most diverse images into my memory. Unfortunately, as I said, the experience of “CK Be” lasts only a very short time. But I forgive him for that. I am very happy that he still exists today and I am always happy when he lets me travel in time for a few minutes.
If Calvin Klein were “CK Be” music:
“Fly Like An Eagle” by Seal
“Ready Or Not” by Fugees
“Lonely” by Nana
“Don’t Let Go” by En Vogue
