The Making Of A Legend

Nick Youngquest gives us the lowdown on the next chapter of Paco Rabanne’s Invictus story

- Nkosiyati Khumalo

AT FIRST GLANCE, Nick Youngquest could easily be that guy you’d love to hate. Boasting movie-star good looks, a truckload of abs, a successful rugby career in Australia and a global partnership with Paco Rabanne fragrances (through which he met his girlfriend, model and fellow Rabanne ambassador, Luma Grothe), it seems he can’t put a foot wrong. But as someone who’s considered himself an outlier for most of his life, there’s a whole lot more to the face of the wildly popular Invictus fragrance than meets the eye – and the camera.

Winning is not an unfamiliar feeling for Mr Youngquest, of course, and the Invictus campaign we’ve come to know since its launch in 2013 was a perfect fit – placing him in the centre of a stadium with the Invictus trophy, replicated in the fragrance flaçcon – and through which he inspired a host of athletes around the world through the Invictus Award sport competition series.

This year, the brand enters a new chapter with the launch of Invictus Legend, a new campaign that takes Nick out of the stadium and into the Namibian desert, on a Mad Max-style quest. During the fragrance’s global launch, we sat down with Youngquest to discuss all things legendary – and how he defines winning today.

GQ: You’ve been on this Paco Rabanne journey since 2013.

Nick Youngquest: Yep, since retiring from sport. Doing something different to sport has been amazing. Now we’re evolving this crazy role, taking it out of the stadium, yet still evoking the champion side of Invictus, and exploring different formats.