Co-creative directors Harry Lambert and Molly Hawkins speak to Dazed about the trio of scents and debunk the idea that they are inspired by sex

Two years ago, almost to the day, Harry Styles launched the news of his beauty and apparel line Pleasing in his cover interview for Dazed. Debuting with a set of nail polishes, a serum, and a lip and eye ‘pen’, the brand’s mission statement was to bring joyful experiences and products that excite the senses to Styles’ loyal fans. “I’ve always found that the moments in my life which have brought me the most joy are the small ones,” he told Dazed at the time. “I really think that the essence of Pleasing is finding those little moments of joy and showing them to people.”

Since then, Pleasing has expanded its offerings, branching out into make-up and bodycare, while always remaining true to its playful, experience-led approach – a psychedelic, mushroom-theme collection saw a 74-year-old Mick Fleetwood star as the face of the campaign. And now the brand has broached its next frontier, fragrance, with a trio of eau de parfums inspired by a series of warm, joyous moments and housed in chic, rounded bottles that gently rock back and forth. There’s ‘Closeness’ which recalls the evening after a long warm day and “skin pressed against skin”; ‘Bright, Hot’, described as basking in the hot sun; and ‘Rivulets’, a “delightful encounter with a stranger… floating like tiny specks caught dancing in the slanting light.”

“I was really surprised when I smelled them for the first time – they have a lot of depth and emotional resonance that I wasn’t expecting because it’s not very on-trend,” says Molly Hawkins who, alongside Styles’ long-time stylist Harry Lambert, holds the role of creative director at Pleasing. The fragrances themselves were a collaboration between Styles and JéroÌ‚me Epinette – the nose behind scents like Byredo’s Sundazed and Off-White’s Solution No 2 – alongside fragrance house Robertet.

The design and campaign of the scents plays with nostalgia and the elevated seventies style that Harry and the brand has become known for. Why is that an aesthetic that continues to inspire you and that you keep going back to? 

Molly Hawkins: We love storytelling and perspective so we always work with photographers who excite us and who’s work speaks to the product we’re working on. Grant Spanier for example shot the fragrance campaign. He has an edge to him while still luxuriating in colour and texture that is challenging and inspiring to me.

Rather than emulating a specific era, we try to capture contemporary characters in a way that feels timeless, meant to last.

Read more here on dazeddigital.com