Just chatting with Gigi Hadid and Michael Kors

Or did I have time and inclination to chat with Gigi Hadid and Michael Kors about their summer campaign surrounding Kors’ perfume Wonderlust? You understand: I could definitely find a slot in my schedule for that. I put on a light yellow summer dress and take the subway towards the St. Regis Hotel on Fifth Avenue.

Behind the door is a corner room with a view of Fifth and a bourgeois circle of not-so-bourgeois chairs. And there they are, among the chic chairs, Michael and Gigi. Good looks usually don't do much for me, but oh my gosh, that Gigi is truly out of this world beautiful. You see her of course ‘sometimes’ on the cover of a magazine, but now I understand why designers and photographers love to work with her.

“The first time I saw Gigi,” says Michael, “she was wearing a Kors dress. I saw her walking through the room and thought: she is not afraid of anyone. She is engaged and having fun. She is authentic and up for anything. And that is exactly the energy I want people to feel when they smell this perfume.”

The two have known each other for six years and it's clear that they have become friends. “The smell of good food is what I think of when I think of our friendship,” says Michael. “We’ve had a lot of hamburger conversations.”

“And,” adds Gigi, “maybe the smell of your office during fittings?”

“I mean, I hope my office doesn’t smell like In-N-Out Burger…”

Michael is the kind of person who can tell an anecdote about anything, complete with animated voices and cliffhangers. If Gigi says she loves the smell of gasoline because it reminds her of the tractor on the farm, he tells her about the gas stations his father used to run. If Gigi talks about the learning process of walking the catwalk, he remembers that time her sister Bella fell during a show and the men in the front row took pictures instead of helping her. If we talk about yoga in high heels on the beach (which Gigi does in that envy-inducing campaign), he tells about that one time they got shoes right before a Celine show that weren’t meant to walk in and he saw Natasha Poly walking down the catwalk with a broken heel on a monitor.

“When you design things that people have to wear, like shoes or handbags, there’s a limit to what you can do,” says Michael. “With a fragrance, there are no rules. You can tell the nose you’re working with that you’re looking for a feeling.”

“I love that they’re called ‘noses’,” says Gigi. “I always forget that.”

“You know what the best part is?” Michael starts another anecdote. “The first time I created a fragrance was the first time I would work with a nose. I was like: would this nose have a great nose? I expected someone with a fantastic nose. And then a completely normal-looking person walked into the room.”

That our own noses are blessed with an incredibly strong sense is something we all know. A scent can evoke a memory or feeling in a fraction of a second. The sweet smell of jasmine in the summer, for example, immediately brings Gigi back to her childhood and her father's garden. And every time she smells the leathery scent of her hands after horseback riding, she feels happy. Michael still goes ‘crazy’ when he smells Bain de Soleil sunscreen because he was in love with that scent as a child (can you picture it: little Michael?), and even though he doesn’t drink coffee, the smell of brewing coffee and crispy bacon immediately gives him that nothing-to-do Sunday morning feeling.

Oh, and how does the perfume smell? Cheerful, adventurous, summery, sweet but not overly sweet, and with a spicy touch. Nice, I think. Definitely worth a sniff during your trip to the perfumery, available from September 1 at all Michael Kors counters starting at €56.

Written by: Anna van der Heijden