Smells like Gen Alpha 🍪🍦🍫

Emily Gould’s 10-year-old son talks fragrance

Anyone who considers themselves even remotely literary knows Emily Gould—author, frequently viral former Gawker writer, cofounder of the iconic Emily Books, and current feature writer at New York Magazine. Emily is also a fraghead who recently interviewed Anna for the NYMag substack on winter fragrances. But we actually are not here to interview Emily. We’re here to speak to her 10-year-old son, Raffi, an iconic Gen Alpha Brooklynite with his finger on the gd pulse. As we know, Gen Alpha is shopping for skincare and fragrance earlier than any previous generation. And Raffi is particularly savvy: Emily tells me he even has a “smell guy” at school. Below, we pick Raffi’s brain on what the kids are wearing!

Do you remember the first fragrance you ever smelled? What was it?

Well, my mom used to really just dive into bottles of perfume (not anymore, she has learned how much she should put on now), and when I was much younger whenever she would be going to a party or a formal occasion she would have perfume on, and a lot of it, too. The only one I can remember that she wore before recent years was a strong sweet and sour plum perfume, which she reminded me the name of which was Ume by Keiko Mecheri, which smells great but not in the amount my mom wore, which would never fail to make my nose hurt with how much she wore.

What is your favorite fragrance right now?

Phlur Vanilla Skin. I really like the strong at first, smooth vanilla, or even Oreo (as people have told me) scent, because Oreos are peak.

What does your mom smell like?

My mom wears a great smelling apple pie scented perfume called angels share, and she wears Replica by the fireplace perfume, and they both smell great and she finally knows how much to put on.

You live in Brooklyn: what does it smell like?

Just kidding,(kinda), but it can smell good like passing by someone with great perfume, or it can smell absolutely disgusting such as being on any train station in all of Brooklyn, nobody’s safe.

Do your friends at school like to wear fragrance? If so, what do they wear?

I don’t really know tbh. One of my friends is always like “what’s the point of wearing deodorant or perfume, we’re just 10” (I mean that’s one friend), but when we’re playing sports or having PE, you will not catch more than 1 person within a 3 foot radius of him.

We hear you have a “smell guy” at school—what’s his deal?

So, that’s not how I described it to my mom, but yes, there is one guy in my class who loves my perfume and wants it, and he was the one who originally said it smelled like Oreos, and I didn’t believe him until he showed others and they confirmed.

What is your least favorite smell?

Dang that’s tough. There’s a lot that I don’t like, such as my school’s first-floor bathroom, my little brother’s breath, and expired milk.

If you could make your own fragrance, what would it smell like?

Dang this is also tough. Probably the smell of melted chocolate with caramel, or maybe I’m just hungry for that right now. Probably both.