Two years ago, supermodel Anok Yai closed out Mugler’s historic SS24 show at Paris Fashion Week. A sheer mask veiled her face and her dress framed her bust. Both ended in a train that defied the laws of gravity—taking an alienesque form in the air. That same show, a new fragrance in Mugler’s Alien line was born—and Yai would soon become the face.
After debuting with the House’s Hypersense Eau De Parfum last year, Yai says the latest iteration of the fragrance, Alien Extraintense, is something different. “It’s the next chapter in the Alien story,” she tells ESSENCE exclusively. “It’s more intense, more sensual—the campaign, but also the fragrance itself.”
First launched in 2005, Thierry Mugler’s Alien fragrance line opened a portal of mysteriously concocted aromas coined as an “olfactive bomb”. Tapped from the history of female shamans, the original aroma was an overdose of amber and cashmeran wood, and in the new Extraintense fragrance, has turned even more captivating and charming. “Alien Extraintense explores the bewitching and voluptuous aspects of femininity,” says master perfumer Dominique Ropion.
While many versions of the aroma exist, feeding the line with new facets helps Mugler continue to tell the story. From hesperidic tones to fruity dimensions, “there are no limits on the intensity of raw materials, no hesitation in embracing synthetic innovation,” Ropion says. “We can overdose, contrast, and create olfactive shocks that feel almost otherworldly.”
Translating carnal attraction, magnetism, and deepening desire, Ropion says the fragrance is ripe with a flower that refuses to go unnoticed: tuberose. Meanwhile, notes of vanilla are meant to infuse the sillage with warmth that lingers long after you’ve left. “It’s truly a magnetic Eau de Parfum that exudes a fiercely feminine and saturated floral scent,” Yai says. “While I’m naturally introverted, this fragrance allows me to connect with others on a passionate level. It’s like my energy precedes me, drawing people in even before I speak.”
Yai’s unexpected introversion is overshadowed by her strange and enchanting presence, much like the saturated floral aroma. “Being from a migrant family cemented my work ethic since I was a child,” she says, as the first Black model to open Prada since Naomi Campbell in 1997. Looking up to the Greats like Michael Jackson, Nina Simone, and Bette Davis, “I always believed I could do anything, and I’ve always been very resilient. I’m very self-confident and the fear of failure has less of a hold on me than ever.”
These facets of her origin story are what Extraintense is all about. From introversion and resilience, to fearlessness and romanticism, “it’s important to find beauty in everything that you do,” she says. Creating an intimate connection with everything she touches, Yai dispels the carnal, hypnotic trail on everyday items. “I spray my linens, my hotel bed, airplane seats with a scent so I always feel at home; I have flowers everywhere, I go to bed in perfume, the list goes on,” she says. “I guess you could say I over-romanticize my life, but I believe that makes life worth living.”