Latin stories told through scent.

Dos Mundos was born from a space that is often misunderstood — the in between. For Alexis Flores, growing up between the United States and Mexico was never about choosing one identity over the other, but about learning to exist within both at once.

Through fragrance, he translates memory, movement, and emotion into something intimate and wearable. Not as a representation of culture, but as a lived experience — layered, contradictory, and deeply personal. In a world that often asks for definition, Dos Mundos offers something else: the freedom to belong to more than one place at the same time.

We The Cool: How did Dos Mundos begin? Is there a specific day or moment that sparked the creation of Dos Mundos?
Alexis Flores: Dos Mundos began from my own experience of growing up between two cultures. I was born in Chicago and raised between the United States and Mexico. I grew up moving between two languages and two ways of living. For years I questioned whether I was living two separate lives or simply existing between them. Over time, I realized it was the latter. The in between was not confusion. It was perspective. That realization became the foundation of Dos Mundos. I wanted to create a fragrance house that could hold the contradictions, tenderness, and depth of Latin life. Not a simplified version of culture, not something reduced to cliché ingredients, but something lived. In 2022, while living in Mexico City, I began working closely with perfumers in Mérida, Yucatán. Spending extended time there, I developed Mérida Nights, inspired by the sacred, slow burning atmosphere of the city after dark. Saoco Jazz followed, exploring rhythm and contrast rooted in Latin music and nightlife. Cariño emerged last, grounded in intimacy and familiarity. Dos Mundos reflects the experience of living between places and between identities. It is a modern Latin fragrance house shaped by duality and lived experience.

We The Cool: Who is behind Dos Mundos, and how did your personal story shape what the brand would become?
Alexis Flores: Dos Mundos was founded by Alexis Flores, a Chicago born founder raised between the United States and Mexico. His personal story is rooted in duality. Growing up between cultures meant constantly moving between languages, environments, and expectations. Over time, he understood that identity is not singular. It is layered. You can belong to two places at once. You can carry tradition and modernity within the same life. That perspective shaped the foundation of the brand. Dos Mundos reflects that lived experience. It is not about presenting Latin culture as an aesthetic. It is about honoring the emotional reality of living between worlds. The intention was to build a modern Latin fragrance house that feels honest, complex, and deeply considered. Each scent explores contrast and coexistence, embracing the beauty of holding more than one world at the same time.

WTC: Why fragrance? Why did scent feel like the right medium to tell these stories?
AF: Fragrance felt like the most honest medium because scent carries memory in a way nothing else can. You can see a photograph. You can hear a song. But scent lives in the body. It bypasses logic and goes straight to emotion. It can take you back to a kitchen, a street, a person, a night, without warning. For a brand rooted in memory, identity, and lived experience, that felt powerful. Growing up between cultures, so much of what shaped me was sensory. Those moments stay with you even when geography changes. Fragrance became a way to translate those invisible layers into something tangible. Fragrance allowed these stories to live and be told.

WTC: Dos Mundos suggests living between worlds. What are the two worlds you’re constantly moving between?
AF: For me, it is very literal. One week I am in a small town in Mexico at my dad’s house, where life moves slower and conversations happen with neighbors and strangers without rushing. The next week I am in West Hollywood or walking through Soho in New York, surrounded by energy, fashion, art, and constant momentum. This feeling is not exclusive to being Latino/Latina. Many people, from all walks of life, have told me they resonate with it. Living between cities, identities, careers, expectations, or versions of themselves. Dos Mundos speaks to anyone who understands what it means to hold more than one world at the same time.

WTC: Street corners, food, music, textiles, conversations—how do these moments translate into scent?
AF: I love this question. Those moments translate into scent through feeling first, not ingredients or notes. When I think about street corners, food, music, textiles, or conversations, I am not thinking about literal notes. I am thinking about the atmosphere. Heat in the air. Texture. Movement. The way a space feels at a certain hour. We intentionally stay away from literal concepts. The goal is not to name a fragrance after something specific and make it smell exactly like it. It is not about creating a perfume called Concha and replicating the scent of it. That approach can feel surface level. What interests me more is what that experience represents. It is less about recreating a place exactly and more about capturing the emotional temperature of it. The goal is not to bottle a street or a dish. It is to bottle the feeling of being there.

WTC: You describe your scents as “lived stories.” How do you turn memory into something wearable?
AF: Memory is emotional before it is visual. When a fragrance begins, I do not start with a technical formula. I start with a moment. A specific time or location. A feeling in the chest. I bring that story, that atmosphere, to the perfumer, and we translate it together. My role is to define the emotional direction. The perfumer then interprets that into structure and materials. It becomes a dialogue between feeling and composition. Turning memory into something wearable is about distillation. You remove what is literal and keep what lingers. The result is not a replica of a place, but a scent that feels familiar, even if you cannot immediately explain why.

WTC: What does Latin culture smell like to you in one word—if that question even makes sense?
AF: If I had to choose one word, it would be layered. Latin culture cannot be boxed into a single note or a predictable formula. It is complex, contradictory, evolving. This is why I created Dos Mundos. I often saw Latin inspired fragrances from European or American houses that felt reduced to stereotypes. A single expected ingredient or a simplified narrative. For me, Latin culture does not smell like one thing. It smells layered. And that complexity deserves to be treated with nuance, not shorthand.

WTC: When developing a fragrance, what comes first: a feeling, a memory, or a note? And how do you actually develop it? Guide us through the process.
AF: A feeling always comes first. And this is the simplified process, because it can get very complicated. It usually begins with a moment or concept. I define what it represents emotionally before thinking about materials. Then I bring that direction to the perfumer through references, imagery, and mood rather than a list of notes. Then we go through many many iterations. Once the formula is finalized, the fragrance is produced in larger batches. The concentrate is blended with alcohol and goes through a maturation process, where it rests so the materials can fully integrate. After maturation, it is filled into bottles, assembled, labeled, boxed, and prepared for distribution.

WTC: This issue is all about going “Back to Basics.” What does this concept mean to you?
AF: “Back to Basics” means aligning with my core values. For me, that is authenticity and honesty. Going back to basics means asking whether every decision aligns with that. The way a fragrance is developed, to how it is photographed, and spoken about. I want Dos Mundos to feel authentic.

WTC: What is the most essential element in a fragrance for you?
AF: The most essential element in a fragrance, for me, is connection.
It is not a specific ingredient. It is whether someone feels something when they wear it.
And honestly, not everyone is going to connect with these perfumes. I am okay with that. The goal is not to please everyone. The goal is to create something that feels true to me and to the stories behind it. If it resonates deeply with the right people, that is enough.