Lily’s New Pad
Lily Aldridge is developing a digital-first fragrance line with IMG and Inter Parfums.
Lily Aldridge is ready for her beauty debut.
Aldridge, who is pregnant with her second child, is developing a line of fragrances based on her worldwide travels and favorite scents. The line, due in 2019, is part of a new partnership between
IMG and Inter Parfums Inc., which are rethinking the traditional celebrity fragrance model as direct-to-consumer, e-commerce businesses backed by the followings of IMG Models' clients.
“We are trying to build exactly the opposite of what celebrity fragrance was for the last 20 years,” said Jean Madar, chairman and chief executive officer of Inter Parfums. “We want Lily to create the product, not our marketing people. We opened the kitchen for her, she's cooking, she's designing, it will have her name on the bottle. It's quite different from other license models that we have. It's a real partnership with the talent and the company that knows how to make product.”
“We see this partnership as a great way to expand our talents' audiences, build that 360-degree experience of personal branding, love of fashion and love of lifestyle,” said Maja Chiesi, senior vice president of IMG Models. “Inter Parfums comes with an amazing track record of quality fragrances and luxury products. It felt like a natural [fit] for talent like ours that are looking to partner with that level.”
The fragrance line will mark Aldridge's first beauty product collaboration.
“I had spoken with IMG for years about branching into the beauty world because it's something that is so much a part of my lifestyle,” Aldridge said. “Fragrance felt like a perfect introduction to the beauty world.”
The collection will initially include four scents, with additional releases every three months, and will be sold through an e-commerce platform linked to Aldridge's social channels. Inter Parfums was not yet able to provide details regarding the exact branding, the fragrance notes or pricing, but Aldridge said she is typically drawn to “florals.”
“I've learned how complex that can be, whether you want something fresher or more one-note or if you want must behind it and depth,” she said. “It's fun to find the scents that I love and what I think other people will love.”
Under the partnership, Interstellar Brands LLC, a subsidiary of Inter Parfums, will build the e-commerce platforms and handle all aspects of product development, packaging, production, marketing, fulfillment and customer service. IMG will develop creative content to support the marketing and promotional efforts.
Though not yet finalized, marketing efforts will include digital storytelling “linked to travel,” according to Greg Reznik, managing director and vice president of business development at Inter Parfums Inc. The idea is to market directly to Aldridge's following. She has 5.2 million Instagram followers and “big interaction numbers,” according to Reznick.
“If you look at her social, you can see that all other models, actresses, talents interact with her,” he said. “This model is the opposite of this dying model of celebrity business that was its own model that went to brick-and-mortar. Here, what we're doing is we're building real equity based on these talents' personalities, their social media.”
Aldridge said she has been testing samples of the line, which is still in development, by spraying them throughout her home — and on her daughter, Dixie.
“My daughter was spraying them on herself before school this morning,” she said. “I went through all of them and was like, which one feels most soft for my daughter and I found one and sprayed it and she loved it and was like, ‘I'm going to go into school.' Now that smell will always remind me of my daughter. I remember the fragrance I first used when I was in high school, the fragrance I wore on my wedding day, the fragrance I wore walking down a catwalk. They evoke sense memories and that's why I love fragrance so much.”