ELLECANADA.COM 29
DEBUT
TWO OF FASHION’S MOST FAMOUS NAMES TALK
FRAGRANCE AND FRIENDSHIP.
Gigi Hadid
&Michael Kors
“I’ve known her for six years,”
says designer Michael Kors of super-
model Gigi Hadid, who is sitting beside
him in a fancy suite in the St. Regis
hotel in New York. “For her, that’s a
very long time; for me, it’s the blink
of an eye,” he adds, breaking into his
famed hearty laugh. Kors and Hadid
are here to fete the launch of the new
Wonderlust fragrance campaign, of
which Hadid is the face. It’s quickly
evident that they have more than a
model-designer relationship; Hadid is
also a muse to Kors, with the designer
praising her willingness to completely
embrace the spirit of the scent during
shooting. “We had her spinning down
the beach, and that bottle is really
heavy,” says Kors, referring to the
oversized fragrance vessel Hadid is
holding in the shots. “I was like, ‘Oh,
my gosh, it weighs as much as her!’ And
she was fully up for it.” That energy
on-set, he says, is what he wants people
to feel when they wear the perfume.
THE SMELL OF FRIENDSHIP “Our
f r iend sh ip smel l s l i ke t he offi ce du r i ng
fittings,” says Hadid. Adds Kors:
“We both like good food. We have
had hamburger conversations. And
when we were on this shoot, it was
the salt, the heat, the flowers. We’re
always at the beach!”
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN MK: “The
first time we met was at a God’s Love
We Deliver [a U.S.-based charity
dedicated to providing meals and
nutrition counselling to people who
are seriously ill] dinner, and Gigi was
wearing a dress of mine. I watched
her in the room—she’d just moved to
New York, and I thought, ‘She’s not
afraid of anyone.’”
HIGH ACHIEVER GH: “I’ve done a
lot in heels—I’ve jumped in heels,
I’ve sprinted in heels, I’ve done yoga
in heels [as seen in the campaign]. I
don’t know that I’ve ridden a horse in
heels yet, but I could do that.”
OLFACTORY OBSESSION MK: “The
first thing I fell in love with was Bain
de Soleil suntan lotion. I loved the
smell of it. It still makes me crazy.”
JASMINE DREAMS MK: “[ My favour-
ite-smelling place is] the whole island
of Capri. It smells like jasmine, my
favourite scent.” GH: “My dad always
had jasmine in the backyard, and
when the sun hit it, it made the warm
air sweet. When I close my eyes and
think of when I was a kid, that’s the
scent I think of.”
OUTSIDE-THE-BOX SMELLS GH:
“My favourite non-traditional scent is
Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner—
that’s always a good one. Anything
baking. Gasoline—it reminds me of
the tractors on the farm. After I ride
my horses, I love how my hands smell.
It’s leathery.”
From top: Michael Kors Wonderlust
Sublime Eau de Parfum Spray ($139
for 100 mL), michaelkors.ca); the
island of Capri; Hadid at the 2014
event where she met Michael Kors
for the first time; Hadid with her horseT
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