What was it like working on your first fragrance campaign? How did it differ from your other modeling work?
"It’s really exciting. When you’re on a shoot for a fragrance, it’s for something that’s supposed to be timeless and appeal to women worldwide — it’s not a seasons job. Roberto Cavalli is an Italian brand, so we were shooting in Italy — I was shooting a movie at the time in France, and I went to Rome from there, to shoot this, which was interesting and fun."
How do you feel that you embody the scent?
"That’s an interesting question! I generally prefer to have other people answering this one for me, meaning that it’s hard for me to [talk about myself]. I’m not going to give myself too many compliments! It’s probably that I have a lot of personality. I know that about myself — I have quite a lot of opinions. I think a Cavalli woman is a woman with a lot of opinions, a woman who dares, a woman who likes to play with fashion, a woman who is confident and powerful. I don’t know if I am all of these things…I am 24 and I am still growing up, but they chose me, and I accepted."
Do you have a favorite type of fragrance that you wear in your everyday life?
"I was never able to describe a fragrance from this objective — spicy, musky, or fruity, that doesn’t mean anything to me. When I choose a fragrance, it’s what I feel when I wear it. What I like about this one is that it's a strong fragrance that has character, but at the same time, at the back of it, there is a kind of sweetness. For me, it represents this woman who is confident and in charge, with a lot of hopes and dreams and desire to create, but at the same time, she knows when to be soft-spoken. I think that's very important. In this society, we have lost the notion that women need to know how to be a woman, too. I think a woman needs to know what she wants, but also know when it’s time to be listening, when it’s time to be sweet."
Photo: Courtesy of Roberto Cavalli
Are you the kind of woman who has a signature scent, or do you like to mix it up based on how you’re feeling?
"When I was younger, I would have one fragrance, and that was it. Lately though, it changes based on my mood and state of mind. I’ve been asked, 'is there a perfume for the day, and one for the night?' Perfume represents you, so if it represents you in the morning, it should represent you in the evening. It’s something that, for me, if you love the perfume, [it works] any time."
You have the most amazing brows. There’s a very fine line between having bold brows and messy brows. How do you keep yours balanced and make them look great?
"I don’t do much to them – I used to when I was younger, when I was 15 or 16. Very silly; like every woman, you want to change yourself, so you play with them, until someone told me 'let them be,' because they are beautiful like they are. So I became the opposite, I became very lazy with them. When I go out I put a little hairspray on a [spoolie] brush and comb them up, because it’s nice for them to be combed. It’s really nothing, and I don’t do it enough during the day, but if I had to say one thing that I do to them, its that. But it’s more about letting them be their shape."
Do you have any other beauty secrets or are you lazy with your hair and makeup too?
"I think when you’re younger — and I see this in my little sister, who’s 13 now — all you want to do is change yourself and make yourself up. So, if you have curly hair, you straighten it, and if you have straight hair, you want it curled. I’ve gone through that phase, but lately I’ve realized that at the end of the day, beauty and seduction are more about being yourself and embracing what's natural. Men will always tell you that you look better without makeup, because there is something about the real skin — not changing the color of it, even showing the dark circles — that is much more attractive. This is what we’ve lost in this society where everything is so retouched. We’re selling a dream, but it is a dream that is completely unattainable, because no one looks like that. But, you know, when we wake up in the morning, and we wake up as we are, I think that’s one of the best moments of the day."
So you're a fan of the naturally sexy look?
"Yeah. I mean, of course there are days where you have imperfections, and it’s human, and we’re all human, so a little concealer [is alright]. It’s foundation that I don’t like very much, and I don’t think it’s very attractive. And there are tricks, like you can put a bit of brown powder on the root of your lashes — you don’t see it and it doesn’t look like makeup, but it reinforces the line so it makes the eye look bolder. Every day the face might look different — more tired, more alive, more this, more that. But really, it’s about what’s inside."
Do you prefer walking in the shows or doing campaigns like this?
"You know, I never really walked shows. I mainly act now, and I model for certain things. I was working with Chanel, and I'm doing this perfume, but now, I mostly dedicate my time to acting, and I just directed a documentary in Egypt, so I don’t walk. I never really liked walking. I walked twice for Diane von Furstenberg, but I never really liked it. I thought it was very stressful and it was very difficult to express anything in those three seconds of walk. I much prefer to sit there and be the spectator. You sit there, and you’re part of the show that they’ve set up. But, I love looking at the girls, and many of them I know now, a lot I don’t, because the new generation comes like this, but I like it. And I sit, and you have moments where you get to people who are there, and people you haven’t seen in a while, and I like that."
Photo: Courtesy of Roberto Cavalli