“There are a lot of vanilla fragrances out there, but I wanted ours to smell like it was steeped in nature,” Beckham, who likely wore her fair share of uber-sweet vanilla scents during their peak popularity in the ’90s, says. “That note is typically very sweet and feminine. But there is something unexpected about ours, with the grassy notes, that make it very masculine for a vanilla fragrance. That is very much part of my brand DNA, that balance between masculine and feminine, whether that’s a fragrance or a tailored jacket.” Cedarwood and plum round out the fragrance, giving it “the heavy grass smell in the fragrance that reminds me of when the sun comes out right after a tropical rainstorm,” Beckham says.
Even the deep green shade of the bottle—“I agonize over what is the right tone for each bottle, this is a custom color that is also the shade of my bathroom wall.”—recalls a moment in the lush tropics.
A longtime fan of Beckham’s, I have to ask what she was wearing on that special night in Java. “I had a little cut-off denim skirt and just a simple navy tank top,” she says. “Simple and plain romance.”
21:50 Rêverie Eau de Parfum will be available to shop on October 3. It is now available for pre-order here.