NEED TO KNOW
It wasn’t exactly planned to have Natalie Wood’s 13-year-old granddaughter, Clover, be the face of the fragrance line L’Amour Mēre, inspired by the legendary star. But in an unexpected twist, Clover, the daughter of Natasha Gregson Wagner (Natalie’s daughter) and her husband, actor Barry Watson, is the star of their new campaign.
“I think it’s just my way of connecting my daughter to my mom,” says Natasha, 54, who was 11 years old when her mother died.
Natasha began speaking more publicly about her mom in 2016, when she launched a fragrance line, Natalie, inspired by her mom’s signature gardenia scent. It was her first step toward reclaiming the story of the incandescent star who’s life was often eclipsed by her death by drowning on Nov. 29, 1981, at age 43.
“I’ve always searched for beauty,” says Natasha. “I love the idea of bottling a memory.”
Jonathan Ressler
Over time, the fragrance line led to other ventures, including her 2020 intimate memoir, More Than Love, and the accompanying HBO documentary Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind.
Now she’s relaunching the fragrance line, with three scents, Natalie, the original Gardenia; the rose-based scent, C-Love (“If you add the ‘R’ to C-love, it’s Clover,” she explains); and Lyublyu, (“That means love in Russian which is inspired by my grandmother – who always said ‘I love you’ in Russian.”)
It all came about when Natasha brought Clover to New York over the summer for a trade show for L’Amour Mēre and a photographer friend, Jonathan Ressler, suggested a casual photo shoot at their hotel.
Clover, who is named after one of her grandmother’s famous films, Inside Daisy Clover, had packed her favorite Natalie Wood T-shirt with the star’s portrait, one in a series that Natasha had commissioned a few years back as part of the fragrance product line.
When Clover put it on at the end of the shoot, the photographer asked, “Who’s on your T-shirt?”
“Clover said, ‘Oh, it’s my grandma,’” explains Natasha. “And the photographer said, ‘Well, I need to take a picture of you in that T-shirt.’”
With no makeup or fancy lighting, the result is a photo series with a natural softness, reminiscent of her famous grandmother, whose luminosity made such films as West Side Story, Gypsy and Rebel Without a Cause, into such memorable classics.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Jonathan Ressler
As Clover has grown up, she’s become more inquisitive about her famous grandmother. “She’s curious about my mom’s level of fame,” says Natasha. “She’s aware of young people that are famous and she’ll say, ‘How famous was she?’ Like Justin and Hailey Bieber or something?’” she adds with a laugh.
“She just got to see Splendor in the Grass, [Wood’s 1961 film opposite Warren Beatty, about the doomed love affair of two high school sweethearts] and that’s a pretty intense film, so she’s intrigued by the emotional spectrum of her performances,” says Natasha. “Clover is a very sensitive person. And I think she has that example in her grandma, being vulnerable but also such force.”
L’Amour Mēre can be found online, as well as in specialty boutiques, including Clic in the Hamptons and Tribeca, as well as The Marie Marie in Portland, Ore.
