FOR LILY ALDRIDGE,
fragrance and family are
inextricably connected.
“I remember going into
my mom’s bathroom and
spraying her perfumes
everywhere,” Aldridge says between sips of mint
tea in a secluded corner of the Four Seasons’
Tribeca outpost. “Now my daughter does the
same thing.” As the conversation turns to
Dixie Pearl—the supermodel’s seven-year-old
daughter with Kings of Leon frontman Caleb
Followill (their son, Winston Roy, is eight
months)—she lights up. “My little cheerleader,”
Aldridge says. “Dixie thinks it’s so cool that her
mom’s name is on a perfume.”
But the streamlined glass bottle with a
sustainable wood topper that contains Haven, a
new mandarin-spiked rose-and-peony fragrance
inspired by the bloom-filled gardens at Aldridge’s
Nashville home, bears more than just her name.
As her debut beauty launch—and the first
project from a new collaboration between IMG,
Aldridge’s longtime agency, and Interstellar,
a subsidiary of the fragrance company behind
scents from fashion houses such as Lanvin,
Coach, and Rochas—it is also the beginning of
Lily Aldridge: the brand.
Having fronted her fair share of fragrance
campaigns since starting her career at 16,
Aldridge, now 33, knows exactly what she wants
from her namesake line: a wardrobe of scents
that can capture every whim. “Fragrance is what
gets you in the mood for the character you
want to be,” she says, noting that Haven will be
followed next month by Summit (a spicy musk
evocative of the Great Smoky Mountains), along
with two other scents already slated for next year.
“It’s like listening to music or watching a movie:
If I listen to the Ramones in the morning, I’m
going to wear a cooler outfit; if I watch Breakfast
at Tiffany’s, I might want to be a little bit more
ladylike. All of these things are inspiring—and
scent is a part of that process.”
These varied influences have helped earn Aldridge 5.2 million followers
on Instagram—just the sort of loyalty that made her an obvious first
choice for IMG as it bids to become a major player in the beauty industry
by tapping into its considerable talent pool (the agency also reps Ashley
Graham, Halima Aden, and both Bella and Gigi Hadid).
It’s not all algorithms and analytics, though. Aldridge’s passion for
perfume is apparent the second you get her going on top notes and base
notes. “I wanted to create something that I hadn’t smelled before,” she says
of her efforts to avoid “that artificial floral” quality you smell in similar
scent profiles. Additionally, she has prioritized a sustainable design that
features an outer carton made from 100% recycled paper. Haven’s packaging
also includes a plantable card inside that is embedded with wildflower seeds.
Aldridge just hopes her labor of love will be well received—the first
building block in what she envisions as a “huge” beauty empire. “This is
only the first step.”—janelle okwodu
Southern Comfort
FRAGRANCE
With her debut fragrance
brand, supermodel
Lily Aldridge channels the sites
and scents of Tennessee.
SITTING PRETTY
ALDRIDGE FOUND
OLFACTORY
INSPIRATION IN HER
NASHVILLE HOME,
PHOTOGRAPHED HERE
BY LESLEE MITCHELL.
VLIFE
136 OCTOBER 2019 VOGUE.COM
