Miley Cyrus is opening up about her Flora Fantasy campaign with Gucci and what the gardenia scent means to her. Speaking to Interview Mag about the Flora Gorgeous Gardenia Eau Perfume — a project she’s been working on for the past year — the 28-year-old pop star made deeply personal revelations about her relationship with perfume, explaining how one’s scent can "leave a mark on other people."
In her unequivocally sincere and outspoken style, Miley — who is also the star of a special, limited-edition zine to celebrate the fragrance — also detailed how she came to be the face of the campaign, revealing she originally felt she was the wrong person for the job.
Read all about it below.
Miley Cyrus' Gucci Scent: Optimism, Hope, And Excitement
Logging in for an online interview with the magazine’s Editor in Chief, Mel Ottenberg, Miley — who prepared her own notes "because I have a very personal connection with the Flora Fantasy, what it means to me" — said her Gucci perfume embodies optimism, hope, and excitement.
Not afraid to get vulnerable, the "Prisoner" singer confessed those same positive qualities, which she admitted Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele saw in her before she saw them in herself, turned Flora Fantasy into an "escape" for her personally amid a troubled 2020.
"Alessandro saw me in a way that I couldn’t at the time, because when we started talking about making this partnership a reality, it was around October of 2020 and that was a very different period for not just me, but for the world," said Miley.
The "Wrecking Ball" hitmaker, who has been busily promoting her "playful" new zine on Instagram, continued: "There was so much darkness and there was so much heaviness and it was right in the middle of the pandemic and the protest and the politics of it all. We were right in the middle of presidential campaigns and it was so heavy. The Flora Fantasy was truly an escape for myself at the time and I think it will be for everyone."
Not 'The Right Girl' For The Job
While Miley certainly seems like the perfect fit for Gucci’s "rebellious" Flora Gorgeous Gardenia Eau Perfume, the artist wasn’t convinced she was "the right girl" for the job. The singer, who revealed during the interview that she wore the perfume on a censored body part, confessed she originally felt she was too "dark" to represent the Flora Fantasy.
"Alessandro saw me in this soft, vulnerable, light, whimsical state that I couldn’t see," said Miley, disclosing she initially told him he "made a mistake" in choosing her for the campaign.
Luckily, the Gucci creative director didn’t share her opinion.
"And he goes, ‘Well that’s not what I really see and that’s not what I feel the public sees. I feel like you are hope and optimism,’" shared Miley.
Gardenias Remind Her Of Her Grandmother
Speaking about what the Flora Fantasy means to her, Miley said the gardenia fragrance reminds her of her late grandmother, "Mammie" Loretta Finley, whom the former Hannah Montana star lost just two months before she came onboard the Gucci campaign.
"Part of her identity to all of us, her grandkids, was floral, because honey, she WORE it. The wallpaper was floral, the couch, everything," Miley told Interview Mag.
"Her house always smelled like flowers and I feel that if you can have an emotional attachment or spiritual attachment to everything, it makes buying something as simple as a perfume into this emotional experience," said the actress and musician, noting that flowers — a staple at births, birthdays, and funerals — "are a representation of cycles of life."
"For me personally, when I use the gardenia, it’s not on a physical level, it’s, like, this overwhelming sense that my grandmother is around," said Miley, hinting that wearing perfume is just as crucial to her identity as being a musician. "It penetrates on a deeper level and that’s what I think the Flora Fantasy really represents."
More Than A Morning Ritual
Miley, who leaned emotionally on Flora Fantasy during the pandemic and even incorporated it in her live Instagram talk show, Bright Minded, said she’s finally feeling hopeful and optimistic.
"Now, almost a year full-circle later, I resonate with this fantasy so much and the spirit of the gorgeous gardenia because of its cycles of life and its, you know, unity with nature," shared the artist. "Knowing that there’s a prime time for your beauty, for you to thrive, and there’s a time for you to be more discreet. I just think that I resonate with the Flora Fantasy in a way that I didn’t know."
The pop star, who previously said "the Flora Fantasy is about being who you really are," explained that wearing perfume "can be something deeper" than simply adhering to a morning ritual: "You have to be very careful with what you choose because your scent too will leave a mark on other people."
She jokingly added: "You know, you never want someone going, ‘Oh the smell of gardenias reminds me of that b*tch Miley. She’s crazy.’"
]]>The Inquisitr
