Burberry and the city of London are inextricably linked. You can't walk around the streets of the historic city without spotting the brand's famous check pattern at least a dozen times. Wherever you are in the world, slip on a timeless Burberry trench and you're immediately transported to a foggy afternoon in Soho or strolling through Hyde Park. Every element of the British brand's newest fragrance launch, Burberry Her, is a tangible reminder of this fact, which is why the fashion house felt it necessary to allow me and a handful of international editors and influencers to experience the perfume, firsthand, in the city that inspired it.
First off, the (very) famous face of the fragrance couldn't be more tied to London: Cara Delevingne. The actress/model/singer not only stars in the campaign — in which she sings "Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner" — but she also directly inspired the eau, something that's not so common for a scent tied to a fashion brand. "I was very inspired by Cara and how she acts in the campaign," says perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who developed the scent. "When I watched the videos and looked at the pictures, I saw a lot of freedom, a lot of airiness," a fact he meant both literally and figuratively, referring to the model's energy, and the fact her hair is blowing in the wind as she zooms around London on the top of a double-decker bus.
For the juice, Kurkdjian wanted to experiment with the trendy gourmand category (gourmand is a scent family characterized by sweet, yummy-smelling notes), and to find a way to make a new gourmand that smelled lighter, more modern, and more in line with the sophistication and tradition of the iconic London brand. "Gourmands are usually sticky, sweet, and dark, and I wanted to lighten it up like a whipped cream — to create an airy gourmand." He did that by bringing in berry notes and removing accords of patchouli and vanilla, two ingredients found in "probably every gourmand scent you've ever smelled in the past ten years," according to the perfumer.
"If I compare it to music, it would be like creating the same beat but with different instruments," he explains. "Without the vanilla, I lost any powderiness, and instead of patchouli, which is dark and syrupy, I used a new ambery wood note. That combination of gourmand and amber woods created a scent that is still in line with the trend, but that doesn't smell like anything else in the category." For Kurkdjian, the addition of berries also evoked a quintessential Britishness in the fragrance. "There are berries everywhere in England, have you noticed that? At breakfast, at lunch, you have berries with your tea, you're always seeing berries."
To celebrate the launch of the fragrance, Delevingne hosted a house party in Grosvenor Square that was nothing like the house parties I used to go to in high school in upstate New York. There was an old-fashion wooden bar with British pub fair being passed around. A rock band playing on one side of the house, a DJ rocking out on the other, and now that I think of it, a very delicious berry-infused cocktail. Before the fête, I caught up with Cara to talk about the fragrance, her favorite spots in London, and why she's chosen to continue to work with the iconic fashion house. Read our conversation below.
Oh! I like your hair, is this a new development?
"Well, kind of. It honestly just keeps growing and growing."
And is that a new tattoo?
"I just got one last night in New York with Bang Bang before flying here, which was a great idea. It's huge. It's a tiger looking at a naked woman with red hair and it was completely random. Initially, I was going to get a really small one but this ended up taking five hours, which is why my arm looks so painful and swollen. I was going to get a fairy for the TV show I just did with Amazon, but I didn't really find the one I like. Then I found this on Pinterest and I was like dammit, I want that."
What was your initial reaction when you smelled the fragrance?
"Francis really did an incredible job of mixing together my favorite things about London. It's like when you're walking down the street and you see a park and you have those natural, floral scents coming in. It's also sweet, but it's not so sweet — even though it's pink and feminine — because it has this grounding, masculine element to it that helps add a strength to the idea of the London woman."
So that leads me to my next question: How do you think the scent embodies the spirit of London?
"I think the fact that it mixes florals with a masculine element brings to mind androgyny and London and cool; it makes it young but quite eclectic as well. It's also a very adaptable scent. You can put just a drop behind your ear and that's enough to get someone to notice it, or, you can cover yourself — which I do love to do sometimes — and it's overpowering but in the best way possible. You walk down the street and people turn around."
What do you think makes London special as opposed to other major cities?
"It's just so steeped in history. London is a very traditional city but at the same time, it's very modern. It likes to keep pushing boundaries and keep taking things from different eras and mixing them with modern things. It's a melting pot of people and different cultures and it is an incredible place to discover things and be creative in. It's never-ending — the options are infinite in London."
When you've been away from London for a long time, where's the first place you like to go?
"Well, home, for sure. and I love going to the countryside; I really enjoy that so much because there's nothing like the English countryside. And I just go over and visit my friends because I don't come back to London that much, and all my friends are having babies now so it's just nice to do that."
What's your favorite beauty spot in London?
"I go to this spot called Grace Belgravia, it's a women's only spa and gym. They offer facials and everything, and they have the most incredible food. I'm not the biggest fan of healthy food because it's expensive and it doesn't taste very good but the food here is really healthy and delicious."
What's the best meal you've ever had in London?
"Oh god, I love going to the restaurant at The Shard because you're so high up. I don't know, it's just great being able to eat at such a high altitude. And Park Chinois, I think it's called, which is in Soho and so good — it's the best Chinese food ever."
Burberry as a brand has become active in championing equal rights, animal rights, and sustainability. Why do you think it's important for brands to stand for something and join the conversation on important issues in 2018?
"Because I think, especially with the fashion industry, people look and people listen and people pay attention. Fashion is also about people following the trends, so if the trend is becoming sustainability and saving the planet, that's a very good thing. You know, this planet — as hard enough as it is — we need to keep moving forward and do everything we can to make a difference."
And this might be an obvious question but why do you like working with a brand that has such a positive message?
"Well, because they follow what my beliefs are. I don't like to work with brands who I don't have the same beliefs as or share the kind of determination and drive and love, whether its equal rights or sustainability. It's important for me to have a paralleled direction of where you're going with a brand."
Working in beauty for so long, it's been interesting to see how things have evolved…
"Well, look at the adverts, too. It's great that the messages are changing…albeit slowly."
Right, slowly. What do you think needs to happen to keep moving forward in the fashion world?
"It would be great to speed everything up a bit, but I feel like we're going in the right direction. The steps that are being taken — yes, they're small, yes sometimes they're baby steps — but each step counts and it's important to not belittle that. I think the most important thing is to keep the conversation going, the thing that's been most important especially in the past thirty, forty years, is how much more we talk about things, emotionally. And I just think opening that communication, giving everyone a voice, you know, not just the powers that be, but everyone needs to be able to have a voice and to share their thoughts and the things that have happened to them, even if they're not that great. It's important to keep talking about what's going on in the world."
Burberry Her is available now at Macys.com in three sizes: 100mL ($121), 50mL ($94), and 30mL ($70).
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