IN FULL BLOOM

At her Manhattan office, Aerin Lauder reflects on family, fragrance, and the art of weaving beauty into everyday life.

Walking into the New York City offices of the global lifestyle brand AERIN, I found it difficult to discern what, even on one of the coldest days in Manhattan’s history, makes the atmosphere so warm and welcoming. Could it be the curio cabinet filled with a magnificent collection of perfume bottles, candles, and picture frames, or the walls lined with family photographs and dazzling art? The answer is revealed when Aerin Lauder appears. Despite having flown in late the night before and fresh from a very early morning walk with her new puppy, Aerin is gracious and engaging. She is a woman who has her hands full but makes life seem easy.

This story began, years before and several hundred miles away from Aerin’s office, when Sheridan Road’s Editor-in-Chief Dustin O’Regan met Aerin at a party hosted by North Shore designer Shelley Johnstone Paschke. When Aerin returned to the North Shore for a launch party for her newest book Living with Flowers (Rizzoli), hosted by the Lake Forest Garden Club at the Onwentsia Club, she and Dustin reconnected. It was here that Dustin’s idea for a cover feature was met with an enthusiastic “yes” from Aerin.

Sitting in Aerin’s office against a backdrop of Gracie silk floral wallpaper, where a portrait of her grandmother, the legendary Estée Lauder, prominently hangs, and dressed in jeans, a turtleneck, and a blazer, Aerin looks every inch the chic New Yorker. After briefly bemoaning the woes of dressing for a New York winter, we begin chatting about how her childhood inspired Living with Flowers.

“I’ve always loved flowers, and I had flowers everywhere . . . my bedroom, flower accessories in my dollhouse. I also distinctly remember the fragrances worn by my mother and grandmother,” Aerin shares. Her mother was a lover of geraniums; a flower Aerin assures me is becoming trendy again. “Geraniums are no longer just the flowers our mothers loved; they are everywhere again!” She recalls her mother giving clay pots of geraniums as party favors for birthday parties and that the cheery blossoms surrounded her mother’s and grandmother’s pools every summer. “They symbolize summer to me,” she notes.

Those early memories—of how flowers were curated and woven into daily life by her mother and grandmother—became the inspiration for her book. “Flowers were part of everything beautiful.” This, she says, is why she continues to surround herself with flowers today.

“Flowers don’t have to be literal, live flowers. They can be in pictures, on wallpaper. Anywhere that you want to breathe a little life into.” In fact, the cover of Living with Flowers does not have a single living flower on it. Instead, Aerin is standing in front of a floral chinoiserie wallpaper background in her New York living room, a deliberate choice to demonstrate that flowers can be worked into every part of life, lifestyle, and home decor. This is not a book about flower arrangements; it is a book about living with and loving flowers in any and all forms. China, wallpaper, clothing, perfume, and of course, big bouquets and single stems. Aerin’s world is full of flowers, and she believes yours should be too. “Flowers are for everyone. Even a single flower makes a difference. In a vase on a table, or on a breakfast tray. Just a single blossom can make you feel so joyful,” Aerin observes.

It’s no surprise that florals are incorporated throughout Aerin’s lifestyle brand. Her candles are all about storytelling using scents like orange blossom and tuberose, while Aerin’s perfumes boast scents like rose, peony, and wisteria. Her bestselling scents, Mediterranean Honeysuckle Soleil and Limone di Sicilia, are “like a holiday in a bottle. So many memories are rooted in perfumes … flowers are a common language, and they allow you to dream. They bring up emotions and feelings.” Aerin even has a fragrance that was created for the youngest of her clients, little girls ready to begin their own scent journey.

With so many lovely scents in the world, Aerin doesn’t restrict herself to a single one. “There are too many that I love. I change them with each season. The thing about perfumes is that they allow you to feel happy, they allow you to dream, and they always fit.”

Happiness is something that Aerin seems to know well. With two adult sons and their own busy schedules, Aerin and her husband are grateful for when they all get to spend time together, whether it is at their home in the Hamptons, Palm Beach, or traveling. Aerin says she finds balance by knowing when to laugh. “When you find the positive, good things happen.”

While she describes both herself and her brand as “effortless style,” I couldn’t help but recall Estée’s famous saying, “Everything can be beautiful, if you take the time.” In response, Aerin laughs and agrees that life needs a little bit of effort to seem effortless. “I never leave the house without mascara and perfume; my grandmother taught me that. She said do it and do it with passion, so that’s what I always try to do.”

As our conversation draws to an end, Aerin shares her suggestions for where to shop (Bergdorf’s!) and where to grab the best pizza and burger (The Mark Hotel). I am thrilled when she gifts me a bottle of her Mediterranean Honeysuckle Soleil (which I immediately apply when I get in the elevator).

Walking down Madison Avenue to my hotel, I reflect on how something as simple as a coffee table book can change one’s perspective. That frigid morning, it seemed impossible that mere images of all things flowers could bring warmth where there was none. However, an afternoon spent talking with Aerin about Living with Flowers proved that elegant imagery can warm the heart and soul. Then, after three different people stop me to tell me how good I smell, I am charmed by how a simple floral can beckon kindness and dissolve the chill of a Manhattan winter.

For more information, visit aerin.com or follow @aerin on Instagram.