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Eau FactsHouses and their firsts

Was CK One's cap inspired by a bottle of Coke?

The short answer

Yes, according to Fabien Baron, who designed the bottle. He told System Magazine he asked what gesture every kid in America was making, answered that they were opening a bottle of Coke, and gave CK One a twist cap “just like a bottle of Coke”. It is his own account; no second source confirms it.

By the Fragnatique team2 min read6 sourcesUpdated

A frosted CK One flask beside its loose purple twist cap, under the question was CK One's cap inspired by Coke?Watch on Instagram

Key facts

  • 1994CK One launches as a fragrance for a man or a woman.
  • Fabien BaronThe designer who says the twist cap came from a bottle of Coke.
  • Frosted flaskA simple pocket flask in frosted, colourless glass.
  • Alberto Morillas and Harry FremontThe perfumers behind the scent.
  • 2024Coty and Calvin Klein still cite the original screw-top flask.

Who designed the CK One bottle?

Fabien Baron, working directly with Calvin Klein. System Magazine says he designed it to resemble a simple pocket flask in frosted, colourless glass. Airmail described it in 2023 as a frosted flask designed to look anonymous. Phaidon counts CK One, from 1994, among Baron's best-known works.

Why was CK One made for men and women?

Baron says that for Klein the wearer's gender did not matter: youth was female and male, youth was youth. CK One launched in 1994 with the line “A fragrance for a man or a woman.” Its perfumer Alberto Morillas told The Gloss that a shared, unisex fragrance felt quite radical, and that the apothecary-style bottle said it was meant to be shared rather than owned by one gender.

Who made the CK One scent?

Alberto Morillas, with Harry Fremont. Morillas told The Gloss they built it from a few key ingredients rather than a dense, complex structure. The Fragrance Foundation lists CK One among the 284 creations attributed to Morillas, alongside Marc Jacobs Daisy and Carolina Herrera 212.

Does CK One still have the screw cap?

The house still points back to it. When Coty and Calvin Klein introduced a new CK One in August 2024, their release said the design was grounded in the simplicity of the original CK One screw-top flask. Thirty years on, the soda-bottle gesture Baron described is still the reference.

The full storyCK One: The 1994 Unisex Fragrance and Its Soda-Bottle Cap8 min read in the Fragnatique Journal

Sources

Primary sources only. Every statement on this page restates one of them, read by the Fragnatique team.

  1. System Magazine, Hero Campaign: CK Onesystem-magazine.com
  2. Coty and Calvin Klein press release (1 August 2024)stocktitan.net
  3. Airmail, All for One (2023)airmail.news
  4. The Gloss, The 90s are back: why we're wearing CK One againthegloss.ie
  5. Phaidon, Fabien Baron in 4 groundbreaking fragrances
  6. The Fragrance Foundation, Alberto Morillasfragrance.org

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