Summer might come in the middle of the year, but it’s often a time for change, new opportunity and adventure. Summer days are often full of travel and exploration. Accordingly, Michael Kors’ new perfume, Wonderlust, is intended to commemorate your epic summer memories–and let you revisit them every time you spritz. Supermodel and (resident Queen of Summer) Gigi Hadid is the face of Michael Kors Wonderlust–a refreshing fragrance that will transport you to the crystal blue waters of Turks and Caicos.
Emboldened with an adventurous spirit and a lust for life, Kors knew that Hadid was the perfect fit for his new scent. “Gigi fully embodies the Michael Kors Wonderlust spirit” he explained. “She’s curious, spontaneous, lighthearted…everything you want in a travel partner and is the perfect face for this fragrance.” For Hadid–the scent smells like an endless summer (which is what I would imagine her life actually feels like). “Michael Kors Wonderlust is a vacation in a bottle,” she said. “The fragrance is an escape–a little luxury that takes you away. I love the floral notes and the versatility. It carries me from a day at the beach to a night out with friends.”
Just after the prolific designer unveiled Hadid as the new face of Micheal Kors Wonderlust($96; macys.com), I had to opportunity to speak with them both. On a 90 degree blazing hot day in New York City, we chatted about jet setting, how certain scents are ingrained into our memories, and the fact Hadid is not exempt from TSA.
Michael Kors x Wonderlust.
“When I smell [Wonderlust] and close my eyes, it brings back that warm feeling,” Hadid expressed.
It reminds me a lot of the trip to Turks and Caicos where we shot the campaign. There’s a feeling of freedom and waking up in the summer and doing what makes you happy. I get that same feeling when the sun heats jasmine or heats a flower or grass. It changes the fragrance. There’s a sweetness of the air that only happens in the summer. I see us on the trip shooting the campaign, and that’s personal for me. When you get to experience this scent in a place that you love or even if you spray it walking down the street in the city. It hits different peoples bodies and smells differently. It will create memories for whoever wears it.
Though Hadid is often on planes and in various countries for work, she adores traveling and loves to explore new corners of the earth as often as she can. It’s one of the reasons why she was drawn to the Wonderlust campaign. Still, there are a few places–one in particular, that the 24-year-old still has on her bucket list. “I would love to see New Zealand or Iceland with all of that big greenery,” she revealed. “Also, this may be kind of lame, but Disney World. I love Disneyland, and I’ve been to L.A., Paris, and Tokyo, but I really want to go to Disney World in Florida.”
As Hadid has matured as a woman and moved into different seasons of her life, she’s been drawn to an ever-growing array of scents and fragrances. “I think I’ve always gone toward floral and sweet my whole life,” she said. “As I’ve gotten older, I’m starting to mix it up a little bit. I mix heavier scents with the floral ones I wear every day because I feel like, sometimes, that can move into different moods of the day. So, I think I’m opening up more to different scents that are more mysterious. That’s why I love [Wonderlust], it has sandalwood, jasmine and almond milk.”
Perfumes have certainly evolved even in the last decade–almost to a point when nearly everything you can think of from the edible to the musky could potentially capture in a bottle. Still, there is one thing the Los Angeles native wishes perfumes could do: “I wish you could put some sort of temperature thing into a fragrance where when you inhaled it, you felt the warmth,” she said wistfully. “There’s fragrance, and then there’s fragrance under heat.” I feel you, I really do.
Michael Kors x Wonderlust.
Though Hadid is always eager to dive headfirst into a new adventure, like everyone else, she and her team haven’t been able to escape the trials of TSA. “I have a funny story,” she laughed. “On a press tour, one time, the nail artist … we had done Dubai, Japan, and China. She went to Hong Kong and got all this new nail stuff, like tips and stickers and new colors and fun things. She got to the airport, and they’re like, ‘Nothing flammable is allowed,’ which included all of the nail stuff. So, she starts to put Chanel–the nicest nail polishes in her bra. She was like, ‘No, they can’t take this, they can’t take that!’ But they took everything in the bag.”
Every moment of travel isn’t always dreamy, but a really great scent can certainly transport anyone to paradise.