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Paris Hilton on Building Her Fragrance Empire and Her Love for Dubai

The Dubai launch of Paris Hilton’s newest fragrance caps off a year of personal and professional triumph for the pop culture icon.

Photo: Abdull Artuev. Vogue Arabia, February 2023

A signature scent should make a woman feel empowered, muses Paris Hilton, during her intimate Dubai shoot with Vogue Arabia. Her new perfume release Ruby Rush delivers exactly that as “a true symbol of confidence and power,” says the entrepreneur. With notes including cherry, whipped cream, hibiscus, raspberry bloom, and vanilla, the gourmand, fruity-floral scent is striking, sensual, and bold, smiles Hilton. As her 28th launch from her titular brand, Hilton scoffs at the suggestion that her perfume house was ever a mere passing fancy, as pundits speculated when her first bottle, Paris Hilton by Paris Hilton, dropped way back in 2005. “Fragrance is very important to me,” she elaborates. “Growing up I would always go into my mother’s boudoir and try on all of her fragrances. It was one of my favorite things to do as a little girl.” Choosing Dubai to launch the feminine Ruby Rush, Hilton comments that she’s always enjoyed her visits to the region. “The first time I came to Dubai was when I was shooting my show My Dubai BFF [Paris Hilton’s My New BFF: Dubai] in 2011. I lived here for two months, and it was such a fun time and great experience,” she says. “I love the energy of Dubai and that you can meet people from all over the world here.”

Photo: Abdull Artuev. Vogue Arabia, February 2023

Photo: Abdull Artuev. Vogue Arabia, February 2023

Her trip to the Middle East coincides with a renaissance of sorts, with Hilton’s 2000s pop culture dominance returning to prominence. Part-nostalgia, part-unabashed appreciation, it’s only a decade-and-a-half later that the full brilliance of Hilton’s famous-for-being-famous pathway to stardom has become crystal clear. The hotel heiress was one of the first modern-day influencers to build a privileged birthright into her own empire, brandishing a nepo baby rep with cool confidence and her “that’s hot” catchphrase. Much like Marilyn Monroe, the oft-emulated Hollywood icon who cannily understood the relationship between fame and fan access, Hilton gave the curious crowds a front-row seat to her enviable life. Winning over television audiences with The Simple Life, her trailblazing 2003 reality series with road trip buddy Nicole Richie, Hilton parlayed her mainstream relevance into creating brand Paris, launching music, books, beach clubs, handbags, and more. Today, she’s still hard at work on Brand Paris, releasing Ruby Rush’s vivid red flacon with a message of female empowerment. “Showcasing a stunning red color, the packaging reflects the striking, sensual, bold personality of the woman who wears it – my signature feminine silhouette design,” she says.

Photo: Abdull Artuev. Vogue Arabia, February 2023

Photo: Abdull Artuev. Vogue Arabia, February 2023

However, Paris 2.0 now has more of a serious overture, with Hilton’s frothy Instagram posts about handbag-sized puppies and glittering stilettos now punctuated by her recent disclosures of abusive mistreatment during her enrollment at a youth residential treatment center. The revelations in her heartfelt YouTube Originals documentary This is Paris eventually led to new legislation being approved into US state law. Her activist itinerary, however, has not dampened her renewed hold on the pop zeitgeist. Her cult favorite 2006 single Stars Are Blind was re-released and saw a live performance with Miley Cyrus and Sia. Next month, her upcoming memoir promises an intimate look at Hilton’s life in her own words. Mustering a surprising amount of secrecy for one of the millennium’s most-talked-about women, Hilton and her husband of a year, Carter Reum, announced on Instagram the arrival of a baby boy on January 25, via a surrogate mother. It seems that the irrepressible entrepreneur’s non-stop schedule of perfume drops, documentaries, and DJ residencies may be put on pause for motherhood – at least for a moment.

Originally published in the February 2023 issue of Vogue Arabia

Style: Amine Jreissati
Makeup: Steven Tabimba
Hair: Ivan Kuz
Location: Waldorf Astoria DIFC 

Read Next: Paris Hilton Welcomes First Child With Husband Carter Reum

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