HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY,
Ms. Shelley Hack, THE Charlie Girl!!!
1976 was the year Shelley began her tenure
as THE Charlie Girl in print ads and TV commercials.
Named after Revlon founder Charles Revson, Revlon Charlie was launched in 1973 as a women's fragrance that women could purchase for themselves. The women's liberation movement was in full swing and Revlon capitalized on this. Charlie was marketed as the fragrance for the free and liberated woman. Women were changing, gender roles were evolving. Women were entering the work force in droves and were beginning to get a taste of what it was like to be independent. Prior to Charlie, women's fragrances were marketed as a means to attract "the man of her dreams." Charlie was for women who were free, independent, confident and happy to be exactly all of that.
Charly Stember (whose maiden name is Ingmari Gustavsson) was the first Charlie Girl in 1973. She moved to Paris shortly after completing her first Charlie ad and declined to return to the US to do a commercial. A number of other models came after, including Susan Schoenberg, Lisa Taylor, Rosie Vela and Kathie (who also appeared in a 1975 Charlie TV commercial). But it seems that none of them had signed an exclusive modeling contract for Charlie; and none of them seemed to have captured the spirit of Charlie.
There were several other Charlie Girls
who appeared in the Charlie ads from 1973 to 1975
but it seems none of them were
under exclusive contract
In 1976, Shelley signed a ground-breaking exclusive modeling contract with Revlon. She was hand-picked to represent the Revlon Charlie brand, as she was the embodiment of the brand's spirit - free, independent, confident. Renowned hair stylist and makeup artist Francis Rick Gillette recalls, "Shelley Hack was really the perfect girl for Charlie. I remember when Revlon creative director David Leddick had Steen Svensson shoot the first presentation with her that got her the contract." That year, Shelley appeared in her first Charlie ad.
That year, Shelley also appeared in her first Charlie commercial. The commercial was produced by Sally Safir and was directed by Richard Heimann (who also did the camerawork). Stylist Willard Seymore came up with Shelley's look and Rick Gillette did Shelley's hair and makeup. It was shot in one night at The Carlyle Hotel located at the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Bobby Short, who performed at the hotel's Café Carlyle, sang the jingle and appeared in the commercial as well. The commercial was so successful and so well received that, by 1977, Charlie became the #1 fragrance in the world (the first American-made international bestseller) and Revlon sales figures passed the $1Billion mark. And Shelley Hack, THE Charlie Girl, catapulted to icon.
Shelley began her iconic tenure
as THE Charlie Girl in 1976,
appearing in her 1st Charlie print ad
and in her unforgettable 1st Charlie commercial
For almost seven years (1976 to 1982), Shelley was the image model of and spokesperson for Revlon Charlie. Rick Gillette recalls, "I can't tell you how many of these ads we shot for Revlon from Central Park to San Francisco and Paris the list grew and grew for years." Lisa Safir Barness, daughter of Sally Safir and Richard Heimann, said in an Instagram post that her parents, Willard Seymore, Rick Gillette and Shelley "became part of the family after almost a decade of shooting these commercials around the world."
Shelley's Charlie Girl persona was a huge inspiration to women all over the world. Not only did she exude freedom, independence and confidence, she was gorgeous, sexy and glamorous. Everyone wanted to be a Charlie Girl, even the young Oprah Winfrey. In 2008, on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah confessed, "I wanted to stride like her with confidence. I wanted to be this fabulous." Shelley told Playboy magazine in 1980, "Once, on a promotional tour, I was talking with a guy at a radio station and he wanted to know why my Charlie perfume commercials for Revlon were so successful. I suggested we make it the call-in question, because I was curious myself. The women respondents said that this girl walking into a restaurant alone - which most women are afraid to do - looking chic, but not too chic, seemed like somebody they would like to know or to be. I was their idea of a modern, liberated but not threatening woman. The men thought I was someone they would like to go out with; again, modern, not brassy and someone who, if they met me, would talk to them."
Shelley was THE Charlie Girl from 1976 to 1982
and was under exclusive contract and appeared
in numerous commercials and countless print ads
Shelley's tenure as THE Charlie Girl is considered one of the most successful, iconic and groundbreaking ad campaigns of all time. Not only did it change marketing strategies for fragrance brands, it influenced a generation of women to aspire to an ideal that, at the time, seemed unreachable. "Back then, many women still didn't like going to public places by themselves," Shelley told Allure magazine in 2010, "but the Charlie Girl jumped out of a car and walked confidently into a restaurant. She seemed bold." And that boldness paired with Shelley's beauty, style and, most importantly, relatability was what made Charlie unforgettable and the most iconic fragrance of the 1970s.
