Tribe by Coty

This is a holy grail 1991 release from Coty and represents that special time in the 90s where fashion was still suffering from late 80s fluorescent madness. It’s giving me very opening credits of the first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air vibes, and serving a lot of maximalism chaos before the minimalist trends to come. Truly a simpler time just ahead of grunge and Gen X diatribes. This makes me feel like listening to Paula Abdul’s “Promise of a New Day” while reading Sweet Valley High books.

Grace Marian Chan generously provided the now coveted bottle of Tribe along with relics from her personal collection of nostalgic items for this review. She says, “I know Tribe is described as an oriental floral fragrance, but to me, it smells like shopping at Contempo Casuals at the Brea Mall. Lots of Jhirmack Fast Freeze hairspray. 90210 on TV. Paula Abdul on the radio. My childhood crushes on NKOTB and Jonathan Brandis. My favorite turquoise Benetton shirt. Headbangers Ball on MTV. Sassy and Teen magazine. My dad taking me to the theaters to see Terminator 2. One spritz of my Tribe perfume brings it all back... the perfect encapsulation of 1991 for me.”