Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Emily Blunt: New Face for YSL Opium

British actress Emily Blunt's new addiction has a loaded name: Opium. The iconic fragrance, that is. Emily Blunt will be the new face of Opium for Yves Saint Laurent, following in the footsteps of Jerry Hall, Linda Evangelista, Sophie Dahl, and numerous less well-known models. I don't know...there's something about miss Blunt, which I find petulant, despite her acting credentials. Is that the character she embodied on Devil Wears Prada was so and that image has stuck? Is that that I expect someone fiery and determined, apart from just hip and likeable, for Opium? A bit of both, perhaps. Though now that Opium has been surgically given a facelift (and given a flanker/ sister) to make it more "eternally likeable" things are just not the same anymore.

"Opium embraces the whole history and values of our house", said Renaud de Lesquen, president of YSL & Designer Brands. The new campaign will apparently "unveil a fiery, almost reckless woman with magnetic seduction, that nobody or nothing can resist". Blunt worked with photographers Romain Gavras and Patrick Demarchelier on the campaign, which airs in October. According to her statement: "I am very honoured to have been chosen to be the face of Opium. It is really exciting to embody a fragrance which has stood the test of time without its allure ever being diminished".

At any rate, I can't pronounce a judgment like usual until the official advertisements come forth. We will keep you updated!





Here is a teaser:


What do YOU think?

20 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:28

    thanks to the Emily Bluant,s for new addiction .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12:00

    I like Emily Blunt in just about anything she's been in. Hopefully, I will like this campaign too.

    Karin (savvythinker)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous15:15

    Important part of history.. leave it out..... Cheapen the formulae, cheapen the bottles, discontinue extrait. The current formulation is a disgrace. L'Oreal should spend money on decent ingredients rather than celeb advertising.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Maureen16:43

    Wow, Emily Blunt isd not at all what I picture with Opium...Angelina Jolie would be a better fit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mimi Gardenia18:03

    Has the extrait been discontinued ? Tell me it's not so !
    I do have a 30 ml bottle of extrait unopened but ..really ! ...tell me it isn't true .

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous18:37

    Hate Opium. Rather like Blunt.

    We'll see when the ads come out, won't we?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh, Ms Blunt can definitely be fiery... and I'm quite happy for a non-anorexic woman to be the face of a classic perfume... but please may I have the real Opium back?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I like her. I think she's too nice for Opium.

    I've been thinking... what if I were a famous young film actress and was asked to be the "face" of a perfume I didn't really like. Would I stick to my high perfumista standards and loftily refuse? Or would I figure that life is short and fame is fleeting and I should smoke 'em while I got 'em, so to speak. I have a feeling that the opportunity to secure my retirement savings would probably win out.

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  9. Funny I never would have thought of Opium as having a "reckless" facet to it.

    I don't have anything to say about Emily Blunt, but I do like the picture and wish I could wear shoes like that! Or maybe that's why she's sitting down...

    ReplyDelete
  10. All I can say is, if Opium embraces the whole history and values of the house (really? after what they did to it?) and Blunt says it's, "really exciting to embody a fragrance which has stood the test of time without its allure ever being diminished", I give up! The allure *has* been diminished as far as I can smell. It is not the Opium I know and love!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Karin,

    from your mouth to YSL's headquarters ear!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anon,

    *sigh* I know....dear God, I know...I am sobbing and tearing my hair out alongside you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Maureen,

    hmmm, she does come across as rather too likeable, doesn't she? I don't think I could withstand another dose of Angie though, she's everywhere for a while now.

    ReplyDelete
  14. MG,

    alas I can't find it in shops locally. You're lucky.
    I was perfectly satisfied with the proper, old, full-strength EDT. It was perfect and it's no more. Woe is me.

    ReplyDelete
  15. M,

    indeed we shall. I rather like Bluntas an actress (she's nice), just not in the shoes of an Opium face, I guess.

    ReplyDelete
  16. D,

    how's that EB isn't anorexic though? Is there something I don't know? She looks the same shapewise as most young actresses today to me (i.e. very slim).

    She's nice, the question is how the commercials and ads will play on her more intriguing, play-acting chops.

    ReplyDelete
  17. SS,


    there's no question that securing a big contract with cosmetics & frag houses is a sort of "seal" of "I arrived" for many many actresses. Look at all the stampeded.

    But do we know Emily doesn't like Opium, for instance? I wonder. I do know that some of the others who posed for other frags wear completely different things in their private life.

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  18. TFC,

    oh, you find Opium matter of fact? That's just great, it means you're an Opium woman! :-)

    Those shoes were all the rage these past couple of seasons (winter and summer I mean) and though I have a couple of pairs (rather less chunky platform though), I can't say they're recommended for walking. They're for minimal steps.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Stelma,

    indeed!! I think companies are commiting hubris, but their nemeis is us, you know: the consumers refusing to buy fake stuff. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

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