Julia Garner, A$AP Rocky, and Elliot Page Talk Gender Identity, Fragrance, and Self-Love
Julia Garner, A$AP Rocky, and Elliot Page walk onto a set...
It’s an eclectic crew, and, it turns out, the beginning of a whole new era for Gucci Guilty—specifically, the Guilty Pour Femme and Pour Homme fragrances. The just-released campaign is an ode to self-acceptance, friendship, and love in all its forms, making this trio the perfect one to drive the message home. After all, each featured talent has recently gone through their own massive period of growth: Garner, a Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning actress, catapulted into the spotlight and streamers in Netflix’s Inventing Anna; Page, an Oscar-nominated actor, director, and producer forged his own path and will soon tell his story in an upcoming memoir; and Rocky, a Grammy-nominated musician, recently became a father.
The star-studded trifecta come together to create a pure moment of open-hearted bliss. They gaze at each other—truly seeing one another—creating an ambiance of ease and care within a safe space. “They celebrate the countless iterations of love, embodying complete self-acceptance and showing how openness unleashes the purest form of expression,” Gucci explains via a press release.
“I met both of them for the first time on that shoot, but it didn’t feel like it. Within the first 10 minutes, it felt like we all knew each other for a long time,” says Garner of her co-stars, before adding, “Humor is such a big quality for me, and they both have such a great sense of humor. It was such a special memory.” The synergy in the video and the shoot exemplifies the vibe—something, no matter how good of an actor you are, you can’t fake or force. Adds Page, “I had never done a campaign before, so I felt a tad shy at the beginning to be honest, but Rocky and Julia are the loveliest people, and upon meeting them, my nerves evaporated. They are big-hearted, kind, sincere, hilarious, and grounded.” The song “Life Is But a Dream” by The Harptones plays in the background as the three dance, laugh, and simply exist with one another, which can feel like a rarity for this caliber of celeb. “It just felt normal,” says Rocky of the experience. “It didn’t feel like I was with two other celebrities; I didn’t feel like a celebrity.”
Prominently featured in the campaign is Gucci Guilty Eau de Parfum Pour Femme, an energizing, spicy, and refreshing scent featuring notes of pink pepper, lilac, and Mediterranean Mandora citrus, with a strong, warm base of amber and patchouli. It quietly commands your attention. The yin to its yang, Gucci Guilty Eau de Parfum Pour Homme, generates a deep sensuality, embracing a base of patchouli, leather, and incense, while deviating from a traditional male scent profile with uplifting notes of orange blossom and neroli. And though the bottles are binary, the fragrances themselves are not, billed as being interchangeable between the sexes, with the scents marinating and marrying with individual pheromones, versus a specific gender profile. “I prefer the feminine one,” Rocky says, unabashedly. “To me, the liquid in here smells better on my body,” as he holds up the shimmering gold bottle of Gucci Guilty Eau de Parfum Pour Femme.
I applaud this statement, especially during a time when the artist is the subject of memes related to his billionaire girlfriend Rihanna, or “my lady,” as he affectionately calls her. On whether he feels pressure to succumb to the societal pressures of gender roles, Rocky responds in the third person: “A$AP Rocky is overly confident and that’s the problem. Some people may say I’m delusional, but I’m just comfortable. I don’t really care about anybody else’s preconceived notions of what they think I should be doing or how I should carry myself. I’m comfortable in my own skin.” He comments on the fluidity of the fragrances in particular: “I really appreciate the fact that this seems genderless. It’s not really ‘his’ or ‘hers’—it’s all of ours and I like the fact that I’m a part of that.”
When asked about what kind of impact he’s trying to make in the industry, Rocky makes clear that he wants to disrupt all categories. “When I go shopping, I don’t really like to go into the men’s departments. I go to women’s because most men won’t shop there. Therefore, I’ll have exclusive pieces, so to speak. They [men] aren’t gonna fuck with the ladies section. So I go over there and get some pieces that can fit and call it a day,” he reveals.
For his part, Page prefers the masculine scent: “I like the earthiness of it, the balance and the notes that give it that sensual vibe—the cedarwood, perhaps?” I mention how Bella Ramsey recently made headlines for navigating the topic of gender identity and ask what advice or tips Page has for any young person navigating the spotlight, or even their day-to-day, and their identity. “My advice would be to love yourself with all of your might,” he says. “You don’t need to have all the answers right away, and no one should pressure you to give them. Figuring out who you are while so many are watching, offering their thoughts and opinions, can be not just challenging, but dangerous and painful. It is important to be gentle and kind with yourself. If you have people who you trust and can turn to for support, do that. Community changes the game and you are not alone.” He pauses briefly, then adds: “I tortured myself for so long with toxic questions stemming from internalized transphobia [and] queerphobia, holding myself back, instead of letting go of all that noise, taking a deep breath, and allowing myself to fully exist in the here and now.”
Keep reading to discover more about the stars’ favorite scent memories, memorable roles, and more.
Do you have a favorite scent memory?
Julia Garner: My mom is of German descent. She’s not the best cook, but one of the things she can cook is schnitzel. It’s not a fragrance, but it’s one of my first scent memories, and I associate it with home.
A$AP Rocky: It’s pretty random. It reminds me of my elementary school teacher. Every time I smell coffee and perfume in the morning, I just think about hard work and fluorescent lights and catching school buses and just terrible things that you don’t want to do in the morning when you’re a child. For the most part, it [the scent of coffee] brings me back to my childhood every time. In elementary school, everybody—the teachers, the principals—had coffee breath. Mix that with the fragrance of perfume and that’s my first grade teacher right there.
Elliot Page: My favorite scent memory is when I would steal some of my brother’s cologne from his room when I was a little kid.
In honor of Gucci Guilty, what is your guilty pleasure?
JG: Anything Real Housewives. That’s my guilty pleasure. Any really bad reality TV. Everybody always asks me, “Well, you’re in such great television—what do you watch?’ And it’s like, do you really wanna know?!”
Do you have a favorite franchise or favorite housewife?
JG: Probably Beverly Hills. I also like Orange County because it’s the original. I like them all. They all feel like my weird family that I never see. Favorite housewife? Probably Erika Jayne.
EP: Fancy hotel rooms are a guilty pleasure. I’ve been so spoiled with this job and all the places it has taken me.
AR: A guilty pleasure of mine is the fact that I’m a grown man and I love cartoons and cereal. I’m a cartoon connoisseur. I live for cartoons and animation. I think it allows you to never stop imagining. It helps you create. Fascination is key. You can’t really execute anything wonderful without imagining or dreaming about it first.
Speaking of cartoons, you’ll be watching a lot of them in the coming years with your son. How did you feel when you saw him for the first time?
AR: It was amazing. It’s unexplainable. I can never describe what it’s like to be a first-time father. It’s like one of those clubs that you hope to get a membership to. And finally, the only way to explain it is to be a part of it. But it’s nothing like seeing your child for the first time.
What scent reminds you most of home and why?
EP: The smell of the ocean, the lingering seaweed, the salt in the air; it always transports me back to Nova Scotia where I’m from. “Canada’s Ocean Playground,” it says on the license plates.
JG: When I think of France, for example, Paris, I think about all those flower shops and you kind of can smell it on the street, and then when I think about New York—it doesn’t. I’m from New York originally, so it actually has a terrible smell, but I still love it because it smells like New York. Like right when you get out of JFK [Airport], you kind of just...[inhales deeply]...it’s such a specific smell, and I love it.
A$AP, do you have a scent that reminds you most of Rihanna?
AR: Yeah, her. She has this smell. She smells like...Fenty something [laughs]. She smells great.
Elliot, I’d love to know what ending you envision for your character in Umbrella Academy.
EP: Well, a lot of the plot later this season is still a mystery to me. I ultimately just hope that Viktor continues to feel more solid and comfortable in himself.
Julia, what’s your favorite role you’ve played and why?
JG: That’s such a hard question. Probably Ruth. But also Anna Delvey was an amazing role, for different reasons. Anna was more fun to play. It was a fun part. Ruth was—I learned so much from Ruth, but I also think I learned from her because when I started playing Ruth, I was in my early 20s. I ended the show in my late 20s. So I grew up with her in a way, so I learned with her.
You famously had an accent while playing Anna. What was it like preparing for that?
JG: The Anna accent is probably my favorite because it’s hilarious. And it was just so much fun to say anything in that accent, but the prep for that was the hardest accent prep I will ever do in my whole career, 1,000 percent. I know that because it’s such a mixture of accents. I don’t even really know what the accent is, to be honest.
A scammer’s accent!
JG: No—how many Europeans do you meet that are from all over? It’s that international accent, which is hard to do.
Elliot, what’s your favorite outfit you’ve worn from this chapter in your life?
EP: I loved the Gucci suit I wore to the LACMA Gala. The way it looks, the way it fit. Who knew one could feel so good in a suit?
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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