STYLE & FASHION
THE POWERFUL LANGUAGE OF SCENT Elizabeth Hagopian-Gaynes’s Strangelove is a game changer in the luxury perfume market
Scent is one of the most powerful ways of evoking emotions, manifesting memories, and communicating without words. For centuries, perfumes have possessed an aphrodisiac power over humans tapping into the sensorial realm of the olfactory sense. Elizabeth Hagopian-Gaynes had a unique vision when creating strangelove as she sought to create a perfume house built on transparency using ethically sourced and sustainable pure, concentrated ingredients to formulate luxury fragrances that are unlike anything else in the market. Today, strangelove is flourishing with a loyal and growing customer base, a demand that warrants a waitlist, and a product so intoxicatingly desirable it receives “love letters.” By Mosaka Williamson
In the male-dominated world of the fragrance industry, Elizabeth, the CEO, and founder, and Creative Director Helena Christensen have taken a unique approach to an archaic industry and are leading the world of bespoke luxury perfume. Besides their website, strangelove is sold at Harrods, Bergdorf Goodman, and various high-end boutiques around the world. The journey of bringing all of this to fruition is unique, inspiring, and began with a trip to Borneo to a family-owned farm of agarwood trees, whose precious oil cost can cost over $100,000 per kilogram. Impact Wealth spoke with CEO and founder Elizabeth Hagopian-Gaynes on her personal evolution and the progression, growth, and future of strangelove. When you ask Elizabeth for her thoughts on strangelove today, she says, “We're doing it
46
for the love of scent and beautifully crafted products, if you maintain the integrity of the products, the business will be successful.” When asked if she always knew she would be in the perfume business, she says, “I’ve always loved perfume; it fascinated me. When I was a kid, my mother would have these little vials of pure oil. She wouldn’t mix them, she would just wear them pure.” Though she started off wearing designer fragrances like L’air du Temps by Nina Ricci and Fendi, she gradually became disillusioned as she found that the scents and quality had changed as more brands focused on celebrity spokespeople. “There's a lot of mass marketing for fragrance, and I became disillusioned with that, which is one reason why I started my own company.” This is one of the key reasons why Helena Christensen is not the “face” of the company despite being a supermodel
and celebrity. Elizabeth states, “We agreed we didn't want a “face” for the brand. We wanted the perfumes to speak for themselves.” Elizabeth admits that the industry was new to her when she founded strangelove. Before strangelove’s inception, she had been working with start up companies in the US and Europe. She moved to New York with her son in 2008 after living in Rome for several years. “A friend called me when I moved to New York and said she would love my help raising awareness for sustainable farming and assisting with new product development for her family farms in Borneo. And I thought, that's pretty amazing. Where is Borneo?” After some research, Elizabeth started working with her and her family. She reflected on those early days: “Over the course of several years, I learned a lot about the industry. On their sustainable farms, there
