Friday, June 29, 2012

Manifesto by YSL: new fragrance fronted by Jessica Chastain

"Yves Saint Laurent is a brand that inspires me deeply. Since its creation, the brand has conveyed strong values that I cherish, such as an unwavering commitment, absolute love and feminine audacity. This new fragrance [Manifesto] is an emblem of it all. I am [excited] to be part of this beautiful adventure," said Jessica Chastain on WWD, the actress being mostly famous for being Oscar-nominated for her part in The Help and her acclaimed turn in The Tree of Life beside Brad Pitt.
Chastain follows British actress Emily Blunt into fronting an YSL perfume as its face, after the latter's turn as an Opium acolyte. Stephan Bezy, international general manager of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté at L'Oréal, stated that it was Chastain's "subtle strength", "solar charm" and "free mind" that drew her to the attention of YSL. "Jessica embodies the quintessence of Saint Laurent's femininity, a woman of her day and age, independent, determined, never where you expect her to be," he continued. The brand has recently changed its official name from Yves Saint Laurent to Saint Laurent Paris, effectively ruining one of the most perfect logos in fashion history. But I digress.

 Manifesto by Saint Laurent is a new fruity floral fragrance for women, set out to launch in September 2012 in France and invading the rest of Europe and the world at the end of the year and into the early 2013. The fragrance shares its name with the YSL photo periodical started by former creative director Stefano Pilati in 2008.

  Fragrance Notes for Manifesto by YSL:
Top Notes: Black Currant
Middle Notes: Jasmine, Lily of the Valley
Base Notes: Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Cedar, Sandalwood

 photo via fashionologie.com

6 comments:

  1. SS,

    kinda think the perfume won't ripple any pond. :-(
    Her face isn't a bad choice, but it all balances precariously in the actual shooting; these things have to do as much with the director and the concept as with the fronting actress. Blunt's commercial I liked.

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  2. PS, have you smelled any samples of it?

    Unfortunately, as a 'brand' Jessica Chastain doesn't mean anything to me. I know that big brands think the US market is very important, but to me (non-american) her face doesnt mean anything. The same with Emily Blunt. I find her quite cute but to have that honour of fronting a perfume campaign for such an important brand, I don't know. She hasn't achieved that much. I am tired of this trend (along with the celeb perfume you are mentioning in a post above) and I would love to see campaigns that move away from this idea. I would like to see something along the lines of the LV campaigns, where they feautre 'real' people using their bags at 'real' settings', ie Annie Leibovitz with the LV bag she uses the most, etc etc. I would love to see smt similar with perfumes. I am tired of seeing 'celebs' fronting campaigns like that. Years ago the idea of being a celeb was actually meaningful.

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  3. LD,

    no, not yet. I'm sure I will in due time.

    The fact that she's known in the US and not in our parts points that the brands are interested in the vast US market which has the potential for huge sales.
    And you've got a point on hot having achieved much yet. :-)
    I like the Annie Liebovitz campaigns for LV (even though I have distanced myself from LV now and don't even carry my bags any more) but the reason is they look exotic and feature really famous people whom everyone knows.

    On the "Years ago the idea of being a celeb was actually meaningful" we might have a discussion, though. I personally believe (as an historian I guess, it's a quirk of mine) that it's not that in the past there were more meaningful celebrities or events or things being done, just that the passage of time has withheld in our memory only the really popular/really important ones. For every Beach Boys there's a Hello People. For every Meryl Streep there's a Rebecca de Mornay.
    In 50 years' time ξεχωρίζει η ήρα απ'το στάχυ. :-)

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  4. Merlin22:39

    Having seen Zero Dark Thirty this week I would not have paired Chastain and Manifesto. Perhaps it matches better with other characters she has played!

    Manifesto, to me is a dull and cloying gourmand - and the oriental gourmand is a favourite perfume genre for me, so its not that I don't like 'sweet'.

    As for the character she plays in Zero Dark Thirty - I would consider Infusion d' Iris. Ever so slightly aloof (though without being chilly), professional determined and extremely analytical. Manifesto in character is a woman who wallows in her own delusions and totally overrates her power to seduce...

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  5. Ha!! Brilliant analysis, M!! Thank you for that :-D

    ReplyDelete

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