Never Fully Dressed Expands Its Fashion Philosophy Into Fragrance

Never Fully Dressed can mean so many things. The brand’s moniker could translate to no outfit is complete without a certain accessory or attitude. It could also refer to the fact that a fashion statement isn’t finished without a fragrance—and their entry into perfume solves that one.

“Fragrance is something that you can’t see or feel with your hands, but you feel there’s an emotional connection to that,” says Lucy Aylen, founder and CEO of Never Fully Dressed. “It’s a natural extension from the energy that we create. There’s such an energy to Never Fully Dressed; there was another sense that we weren’t catering for and we wanted to filter that energy through the senses.”

Never Fully Dressed just launched two new fragrances: 001 Night and 002 Day. Designed to take you from day to night, much like the clothing, both fragrances are available as an eau de parfum and a scented candle. 001 Night is deep, rich and a little sultry, with notes of bergamot, nutmeg, spicy black pepper and smoky oud. 002 Day is a light and bright pick-me-up blending earthy pink pepper, raspberry and jasmine. The yin and yang of the two scents represents Never Fully Dressed.

“Our buying director is the complete opposite to me, but we get on so well and we developed the scents together,” Aylen says. “She’s very clean, very polished, and I’m a little bit more rough. We used to laugh that I would have been out all night, and then come in and there’s a certain smell, but there’s a sexiness, like a rebellious element to that. It was the night and day, dress up, dress down. Like that multi-wear product that we always say you can dress up, dress down, you can wear it from the office, straight out. It’s the same spirit, but you’ve got those two sides.”

Never Fully Dressed is known for its multi-wear garments that can be styled different ways, which the fragrances emulate. “We’re known for the wrap skirt which we started years ago, before video was a thing on Instagram and showing people how they can wear that 10 different ways,” Aylen says. “I’m passionate about multi-end use, about having no wastage in our process, and whether it’s in your wardrobe, if your size fluctuates, or whether you can pass it on to someone. I had a kid in lockdown, for example, and all of our zip back dresses you can wear back to front, and you can change the neckline so you can nurse, making it nursing-friendly. That one happened by accident and then that became part of our fit process as well. Sometimes it’s from conception of design that we ultimately extend the end use of the product.”

The new scents took three years to create. “We try to work with a lot of local businesses,” Aylen says. “The perfumers are literally around the corner and they’re wonderful.” The Never Fully Dressed team created mood boards to communicate their vision for the scent, while the perfumers would send samples of their olfactive interpretation. “We’d give feedback and kept going back and forth until that felt perfect. We’d do blind tests, we’d do group testing. We got there.”

Translating a brand into a fragrance is no easy feat, but Aylen was determined to accomplish that. “My job is for women to realize how incredible they are, and if that’s through clothing and through community and through that energy, then that’s what we’re here to do,” she says. “I think it’s very natural if you’re having a bad day or don’t feel confident to put your black leggings on and hide with that, rather than unlocking that thing that makes you incredible and dressing for you. For us, color or a print is a tool to do that. [In our] stores, when women are championing each other on the shop floor, that unlocks that sense of belonging. There’s such a strength that comes with community and then how you see the world and it’s beautiful.”

Creating a community and sense of belonging is behind everything Aylen and Never Fully Dressed does, which explains their devotion to size inclusivity. “We are truly a feel good, inclusive fashion brand and I’m really passionate about that,” she says. “I don’t think anyone else does that in the fashion space, in an inclusive and cool way that’s celebratory of fashion. How lucky are we that we get to play dress up and express ourselves and have fun through clothes and color.” And now fragrance, too.