FASHION Magazine

Known for her cool characters and demure smiles on the red carpet, Rooney Mara can now add fragrance film star to her resume. The highly anticipated Downtown Calvin Klein campaign video came out today and Mara’s performance justifies a repeat viewing.

Directed by David Fincher, the cinematic clip follows the Academy Award nominated actress’s hectic lifestyle in New York City. From shooting scenes on a movie set to appearing at press conferences, the short film captures a side of Mara we rarely see. In that, she’s actually smiling. A lot.

Luxury fashion and fragrance have long gone hand in hand—after all, perfume bottles do make for the ultimate collectible item! And speaking of bottles that are sure to stand out, WWD announced this morning that Alexander McQueen will be launching a men and women’s fragrance line. The deal was made by P&G’s Prestige division, who also just announced a fragrance deal with Stella McCartney.

See the our classic summer fragrance picks »

Booster Juice
Perfumer Rodrigo Flores-Roux didn’t know much about the mystery fragrance he was concocting in the mid-’90s. Told only that the outer packaging would be orange and that he should “think happy,” he relied on his muse to help him fill in the rest: “My sister, Marielle, the happiest person in my life.” Flores-Roux gravitated toward citrus and tropical blooms and kept the feeling of “walking barefoot in the garden” in mind. The red grapefruit, orchid and Hawaiian wedding flower-infused scent became 1997’s Clinique Happy ($59, thebay.com). It was an instant hit and still is, especially with his muse: Marielle wore it on her wedding day.

Rooney Mara has once again teamed up with David Fincher, but this time it’s for a campaign for Calvin Klein’s newest women’s fragrance, Downtown Calvin Klein. Described as a perfume for “women that live by their own rules,” Mara’s no-nonsense persona and demure, moody looks make her a natural choice for the face of the brand.

The perfume—which is described as a balance of feminine woodsy scents with soft floral notes—hits counters in July, just as the Fincher-directed campaign will debut on television screens across the country. Mara and Fincher have worked together on both The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and The Social Network and the short film for Downtown Calvin Klein will have a similar cinematic appeal. The black and white campaign (which is set to Yeah Yeah Yeahs song “Runaway”) shows Mara traversing through New York City and “living in her own world, breaking away from the ‘expected.’”

See all four Big Pony fragrances and matching Essie nail art »

If there’s one thing the fashion and beauty world loves, it’s a good collaboration. So nail polish and fragrance lovers will be more than pleased to know that Essie has collaborated with Ralph Lauren to create an exclusive set of nail polishes for the Big Pony fragrance collection for women. It’s a move that makes perfect sense—each of the four Big Pony fragrances is packaged in such bright colours, so matching nail polish seems pretty much inevitable.

But wait! There’s even more goodness! Essie Canada has taken the collaboration one step further by having their lead nail artist, Rita Remark, create a unique nail art look to pair with each fragrance and polish set. The nail art designs complement the Big Pony fragrance personalities—sporty, sensual, free-spirited and stylish—and make use of the polish colours, which were created by Essie Weingarten herself. I sat down with Remark earlier this week to talk about the Essie polishes and the Ralph Lauren Big Pony fragrance collection for women—and to film a tutorial for the exclusive nail art looks. You can watch the nail tutorial above, but keep reading on for all the intel on the Essie polishes for the Ralph Lauren Big Pony fragrance collection and Rita Remark’s nail art designs.

Every week our Beauty Fix columnist takes on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more. Have a beauty question we haven’t answered? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

I feel like it’s difficult to find a fragrance that is truly atypical and stands out from what I already own and what others around me wear. Any suggestions?
As we all know, fragrance is extremely personal and subjective. It’s fairly common knowledge that the way fragrance smells on skin varies from person to person, dependent on the acidity of the skin. That being said, who wouldn’t want something that’s less identifiable upon first smell and perhaps a bit more intriguing to passersby? If you’re looking for something that’s a different olfactory experience, check out Lush’s range of Gorilla Perfumes. The collection of nine fragrances is very much the antidote to other perfumes you own in a uniquely refreshing way. First, each scent was inspired by English art, music, people and memories. The range include notes that allude to specific, intriguing smells such as whisky, espresso, clary sage and French cigarettes, but are still blended with traditional notes such as frangipani, tonka bean, and jasmine. The end result is a collection that is a welcomed departure from the norm. My pick for spring is Lush Sun (starting at $15, lush.ca), which is an eau de parfum that contains Brazilian orange oil, sandalwood and mimosa—sure to give you pep in your step as we wait for the weather to turn!

At the launch of the Just Cavalli fragrance in New York, FASHION Magazine’s beauty editor, Sarah Daniel, sat down with the face of the campaign, Georgia May Jagger. Jagger discussed the influence her mother, Jerry Hall, has had on everything from modelling to fragrance choices and revealed that, just like the rest of us, she’s obsessed with Karlie Kloss. Watch the video above to go behind the scenes of the shoot for Just Cavalli and read on for the full interview.

I just saw the TV ad campaign for the fragrance. It looks like it was a fun shoot.
“It’s very saucy.”

Your mom, Jerry Hall, has been the face of several advertising campaigns; did she give you any advice?
“She always says try to have fun, be yourself. All that kind of stuff.”

Mom stuff.
“Yeah, mom stuff. Then she’s always telling me I need to take a break, and stuff like that.”

Your mom was on the U.K. version of Dancing with the Stars, right?
“She showed me [her dance] the other day in the kitchen, and I was really impressed. I have actually never seen her dance before; she’s not a big dancer so it was very impressive to see that. Her body looks amazing, she has been working out, she’s lost a lot of weight.”

Every year, Escada launches a new spring/summer fragrance inspired by a different fruity or floral element. This year, the fashion house has taken their annual scent in a new, more succulent direction with Cherry in the Air (from $25, sephora.com).

To induct the new edition into Escada’s fragrance range, the brand kicked off the launch of Cherry in the Air last week in Washington, D.C. Why Washington, you might ask? Well as it turns out, the capitol city and the perfume have quite a bit in common. In 1912, the mayor of Tokyo gifted more than 3,000 cherry trees to the United States capitol city, a symbolic gesture to mark the growing relationship between the two countries. When the cherry blossoms bloom in Washington it signifies the beginning of spring—and the arrival of the blossoms has become such an iconic event in the city that they host an annual Cherry Blossom Festival to celebrate.

Following in the footsteps of Issey Miyake, Jean Paul Gaultier, Narciso Rodriguez and Elie Saab, Azzedine Alaïa has signed a fragrance and cosmetics license with Beauté Prestige International, reports WWD.

Alaïa has been designing fashion for more than 50 years, but this is his first foray into cosmetics and fragrance. “Beauté Prestige International corresponds perfectly to the spirit of the Alaïa house,” said Alaïa. “I am delighted to work with them in launching this new project. I have total confidence in Beauté Prestige International to accompany me in creating a perfume that interprets my work and my world.”

Alaïa is notorious for his continued success while remaining outside the mainstream fashion fray, opting to present collections on his own schedule and within the privacy of his own studio space. However, we suspect that BPI won’t let the launch of Alaïa’s forthcoming fragrance be an off-the-grid affair.

See our all-black makeup picks! »

It is always darkest before the dawn, so the proverb goes. By our calculations, the sun should be rising on planet fashion any day now: the Fall 2012 runways plunged us into a cavernous black hole of clothes worthy of Louise Brooks and Siouxsie Sioux, and haunting beauty looks that referenced Tim Burton’s films. That mood also infected the making of Lady Gaga’s fragrance, Fame. “I like black, especially what it has to do with fame, because it is a veil,” she says, tapping her knife-like ebony talons on the table at a hotel in New York. “It’s sort of like saying, ‘I don’t want you to see something.’” The R&D department struggled to create the noir-hued perfume that turns clear once airborne—an industry first. (Rumour has it one staff member was inspired when he spotted a bottle of black vodka behind the bar while out for a drink.) The request for an ominously coloured juice was music to the ears of its perfumer, Richard Herpin. It meant he didn’t have to exclude ingredients that can be visually unappealing when mixed together. “I could use anything I wanted,” he says. As fashion has taught us, black hides a multitude of sins.

Every week we take on your questions about makeup, skincare, hair and more and provide all the answers. This week, Beauty Fix is adding a charitable component to your search for the perfect eye shadow, lip gloss and fragrance. We’ll help you find the perfect shadow for this season’s smoky eye, a scent that’s not too strong and a lotion that does more than your average moisturizer. Even better, every answer this week includes a product that gives back. What more could you want? Seeking the answer to another beauty problem? Email us at beautyfix@fashionmagazine.com.

Read on for the full fix! »

Watch the exclusive Gucci Première Q&A with Blake Lively »

Blake Lively, who has been the face of Gucci‘s new fragrance, Gucci Première ($78, sephora.com), since its launch, recently spoke about her work with the brand and how her involvement is especially significant during the holiday season.

Some background: The inspiration for this new scent was taken from the brand’s Gucci Première couture collection that debuted at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. The dresses were created for a who’s-who’s of Hollywood’s most glamorous actresses and the perfume aims to celebrate the star in every woman.