The late Judy Garland is one of Hollywood’s most beloved icons, the rare entertainer who was both revered for her performances in classic musicals like The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis and dramatic turns in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg. Her vocal abilities were not only technically skillful, but her honest, raw, and emotive voice remains unmatched in the American Songbook. Listen to her takes on “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “The Man That Got Away,” and of course “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and you’ll soon be reminded that no one did or does what Judy could do.
Garland’s ability to meld her packaged and polished showbiz beginnings with the authenticity and vulnerability in her performances formed an intrinsic bond with LGBTQ+ folks who could both identify with her pain and lap up her camp as well. Garland’s impact in the queer community is felt everywhere, influencing music and drag, and bearing out in the community lexicon (“friend of Dorothy,” “good Judy”) and even the prevailing rumors that her funeral sparked the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
Thus, a celebrity fragrance may seem like a surprising turn for a legend like Garland, but her children see it as a perfect way to honor their mother’s legacy and impact with a new fragrance simply called Judy. The fragrance was spearheaded by singer, actor, and best-selling author Lorna Luft, alongside Oscar-winning actor and singer Liza Minnelli and the notoriously private Joey Luft, and they hope that unisex scent will embrace everyone just like Garland did. With Judy now available — and perfect for holiday gifting — Luft and cosmetic chemist and Judy creator Vince Spinnato of TurnKey Beauty Inc. chatted with Shondaland about inventing a smell for all of Garland’s fans, the old Hollywood story behind its bottle, and how one of her earliest looks challenged gender norms.
DAMIAN BELLINO: Lorna, you and your siblings have been so protective of your mother’s legacy, so why a fragrance and why now?
LORNA LUFT: It was never done before. In the ’30s and ’40s, when my mom was making all those movies, they didn’t have celebrity endorsements. When I met Vince, I said, wouldn’t it be great if we did something for her 100th birthday? I just wanted a real celebration of not only her career and life, but I mean, 100 [years] is a centennial. Plus, I just said to myself, she would love this.
Judy Bottle - Judy Garland Fragrance
Judy Bottle - Judy Garland Fragrance
DB: Was she a person who was excited about fragrances and products?
LL: One thing that I remember so vividly about my mother is whenever she left for rehearsal or for work, the last thing she would do is grab her perfume bottle off her dressing table and spray it, walk through it, and she was off.
DB: So, why Vince? What drew you to him?
LL: I liked the fact that he was so hands-on, and it wasn’t going to be a company just putting her name on it. [Our family] wouldn’t have control over what it was, and what the bottle looked like, and all that. Vince was the kind of businessperson that said, we can do this, and we’ll do this together.
DB: Vince, what did it mean for you to make this partnership with this icon’s family?
VINCE SPINNATO: I was a big fan [of Judy], so when I met with Lorna, I said, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to protect your mother’s body of work, her likeness, and her legacy, and it will be a true collaboration.
Normally, a large corporation would put your name on it, and they would have done a nice job but nothing down to the specifics. Every single piece of this fragrance, from the bottle to the cap to the juice to the box, is tied in to Judy. The only way to get that done correctly was working directly with her children.
With all the successes I’ve had in the fragrance industry with Jennifer Lopez and Jessica Simpson and Michael Jordan, everyone’s alive. I chat with them, we dig into their personality, and we do it. When you have a deceased celebrity, there’s just no way to do it properly without having direct access. That was the advantage of having Liza, Lorna, and Joey able to contribute.
DB: Lorna, scent is so connected to memory. What kind of memories did thinking about your mom and her smell bring back for you? Were there any sort of specific items that you brought to Vince that you were like, this smells like Mom?
LL: I told him the exact perfume that she wore, which is not made anymore, and he went and had it re-created.
DB: Was that Ma Griffe?
VS: Ma Griffe, exactly.
LL: Once we had her original scent, we brought it into what people expect today. Then we made it unisex. That was really important because my mother was so inclusive, and I wanted it to be something that everyone could wear. Vince was very helpful in that way because it’s quite easy for a scent to lean feminine or to lean masculine, but once you start with unisex, it gets very difficult.
DB: Vince, Lorna comes to you and says this is the perfume my mother wore. How do you take that information and create a whole new fragrance that feels modern, personal, and unisex?
VS: We knew that she enjoyed [Ma Griffe] as a person. It was starting with that base, but then the fragrance had to be built around her personality, which is how we ended up with this very modernized fragrance, because Ma Griffe was very female-forward.
Building a fragrance has to be done around the personality, so that’s where personal stories and what she wore, what food she liked [comes in]. Judy adored chocolate, so we have chocolate notes in there. Bourbon vanilla, tonka bean; the Judy Garland Rose was initiated for her, so we have [that] in the fragrance. There’s dark orchid because it’s very sultry and sexy, which she obviously was.
DB: Lorna, how was it collaborating with your siblings on this fragrance? Was there a lot of back and forth between you and Liza and Joey?
LL: My sister and brother basically said, you’re going to take this one and run with it. I was the one, with their blessing, to do the day-to-day work with Vince. There were many late-night phone calls, especially about the bottle. We had many [conversations] about the cap of the bottle. On a perfume or cologne bottle, the cap is always straight, and I wanted the tilt of the fedora. Well, that became a drama [laughs], but then we figured out how to give the illusion of the [tilt].
DB: Okay, so let’s talk about the bottle. The bottle is red as an homage to the ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz, and the design is a nod to her appearance in the 1950 musical Summer Stock. Why did that silhouette of her performing “Get Happy” feel like the moment you wanted to capture for the fragrance?
LL: That was something that I was insistent on. I wanted the fragrance to be iconic, and I never veered away from the image of her [performing] “Get Happy” because she was the first woman to ever wear a men’s fedora. She was the first person to wear a jacket without trousers. She was so ahead of her time, and I wanted the perfume to resonate with people of today, [and] I wanted it to be the essence of what I call “the grown-up Judy.” That’s who I knew. If you take that image and show it to anyone, they know who that is. It’s sexy. It represents not only her femininity but also that very cool [traditionally masculine] look. It was groundbreaking.
The thing that I had to tell Vince was that that outfit did not originally come from the movie Summer Stock. It came from a number called “Mr. Monotony” from her movie Easter Parade, which [took place] in the early 1900s, and once everyone at MGM looked at “Mr. Monotony,” they said this outfit is way too modern for the setting of this film, so it hit the cutting-room floor.
Then when Summer Stock was happening, my mother remembered that outfit and said, “Can you please go back into the wardrobe archives and get me that outfit?” And that’s how that happened in Summer Stock.
DB: This idea that Judy’s fedora and blazer with no trousers was ahead of its time feels like it really speaks to Judy Garland’s audience — not just gay men but lesbians, gender-nonconforming and trans people, just queer folks as a whole. Was the intention to make this inclusive to every Judy fan out there no matter their expression or identity?
LL: She was a people person. She would never not sign an autograph or stand for a picture. My mother was one of the most inclusive people in the entertainment business, and we all know her connection to Stonewall. She would put her arms around anybody and everybody. We made this for everybody.
Damian Bellino is a writer, producer, and comedian in New York City. His work has appeared in Vulture, Slate, Out, Elle, McSweeney’s, and Buzzfeed. He co-hosts the actress-centric podcast, You Might Know Her From. Find him on Twitter at @damianbellino.
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