“Fragrance controls my life more than anything else — I will not leave the house without it,” says Charlotte Lawrence, over a strong iced coffee at New York City’s Bowery Hotel on a sunny September morning. I’m meeting with the 25-year-old singer and songwriter as she prepares for a big party to launch her debut scent campaign as the face (and voice) of Sam Edelman’s Duet Eau de Parfum. As it turns out, the whole project is deeply meaningful for her, beyond just smelling pretty.
“I’ve been wearing Sam Edelman [shoes] forever,” she shares, revealing that she’s sported the ballet flats and sneakers since she was a kid. “And it’s having such a moment right now,” she stresses. “Everyone’s obsessed with balletcore!” So when the brand called about having her front the ad for a scent inspired by ballerinas, it was a full-circle moment. “I have a ballet tattoo on my arm and I have a song called Ballerina that just came out two months ago; it just felt like kismet.” Side note: Lawrence’s song has actually become the soundtrack of the campaign, which was shot by Sam Edelman’s wife and business partner, Libby Edelman.
Behind the Body Art
The tattoo, one of “too many to count; probably 20-something,” she confides, was inspired by her only aunt, the crooner Leona Naess. “I never grew up around musical people. My mother has one brother and he married Leona when I was, I think, 10. My grandparents can’t sing, nobody can play instruments. And Leona came into this family and she’s the most incredible musician, and I just began to idolize her at the youngest age. She has a song called Ballerina. So I got this tattoo for her because I love her and she is 90% the reason why I’m a musician today. And then my song ‘Ballerina,’ I wrote about her kid,” she shares. “So it’s a real 360 moment.”
Deconstructing the Scent
The notes in Duet also struck a chord. Bright, fruity mandarin and grapefruit mellow into heady gardenia, finally settling into a sexy base of cedarwood, white suede accords, and musk. “My favorite flower is gardenia,” says Lawrence. “And when you first spritz Duet, you can smell the gardenia in it, and it was really nostalgic for me,” the Los Angeles native says. “You connect to a feeling and a memory and I think that’s really powerful.”
In an intimate interview, Lawrence reveals more of what makes her tick:
GRAZIA: Have you always been a fragrance girlie? What were some of your favorite scents?
CHARLOTTE LAWRENCE: I love nature smells. I love florals, the smell of fresh laundry, and grass right after it rains. I also really love the smell of the ocean. Fragrance really does control my life more than anything!
GRAZIA: Do you wear fragrance every day?
LAWRENCE: I’m obsessed with scent. I literally leave the house without makeup, without brushing my hair every f*cking day. I have no care of how I look truly in regards to that. Like whatever, you get to see me dressed up at events and y’all know that I can turn it on if I want to. But I literally will not leave the house without fragrance on. I’ll even go to sleep with it on.
GRAZIA: Any interesting ways you apply scent?
LAWRENCE: I do it on my wrists. And you don’t rub because that gets rid of the top notes. You just dab in. And then I spritz it on my neck and then I do it behind my ears because when people hug you, they’ll smell that. And I do a little spritz on the back of my hair, so that when I walk away, people will remember me.
GRAZIA: You just finished a tour — did you wear Duet while you were on stage?
LAWRENCE: Yeah, I would wear Duet before every show on this last tour that I went on because they sent me a bottle before it was out when I was in New York. And it felt amazing. I have this weird connection to it now, when I put it on, and I would immediately get into that confident, strong woman headspace as if I’m about to go on stage and f*cking kill it. I am sexy and strong and beautiful and talented and I got this. So now when I wear it, I feel that kind of power.
GRAZIA: You have such an effortless It Girl style — tell us about it.
LAWRENCE: My personal style is very much based off of my mother’s. I grew up around my mom, who’s this feminine, beautiful woman, but would only wear kind of boys’ clothes and vintage boyfriend, low-wasted jeans before they were cool, and vintage t-shirts and a leather jacket. And she would go to fancy events in ripped jeans and a leather jacket and a rock tee. And I was just like, that’s what I want to look like, and that’s who I want to be. Most of the time it’s jeans and a rock tee and a leather jacket and some cool girl Sam Edelman Ballet flats. It’s like rock & roll chic.
GRAZIA: What was your look on stage during the tour?
LAWRENCE: Every single night on tour without fail, I wore these Sam Edelman knee-high leather boots, zip-up boots, these black boots that were so cute and so comfortable. Every knee-high heeled boot that I have is really cute. I have amazing, beautiful boots, but they’re too uncomfortable to wear even for just one night out. I’m like, oh, I can’t wait to take ’em off. And when I’m on stage, I’m dancing, I’m jumping, I’m running around. I can’t fall. I have to be balanced and play guitar while I dance and sing and do all these things. And it, comfort is the only thing that matters for me. I would choose comfort over beauty any day on stage, truly. And they were the most comfortable boots. I wore ’em on stage every night to the point that they’re a little destroyed because of how much I wore them.
GRAZIA: Any trends you’re stoked to wear for Fall?
LAWRENCE: I kind of always do me, but I am excited for it to get cold because I want to do some scarves. I haven’t worn a scarf in a long time and I like a tight long sleeve and dark sunglasses and a little scarf. I feel like it’s really sexy chic. Fragrance is just another layer, another accessory. You wake up and write your story for the day, what kind of mood you’re in, and decide who you want to be.
