a closeup of Shelley
from a Charlie perfume ad, 1977
Shelley was The ideal Charlie Girl. Gorgeous, sexy and young, she was the perfect embodiment of the ideals the brand wanted to represent. But Shelley brought more than just that to the now iconic image. Shelley's Charlie Girl came about at the time when women's liberation was at its peak; and she added even more ideals to the image. She made THE Charlie Girl glamorous, liberated and independent as well. She became an ideal women looked up to, an aspirational figure they saw themselves as. In 2008, Oprah Winfrey had Shelley as a guest on her daytime talk show and admitted that, back in the day, she herself wanted to be a Charlie Girl. She wanted to be able to spray on Charlie perfume and glamorously go from day to evening anywhere on her own - to be that fabulous.
Shelley in a Charlie perfume ad, 1977