Dolce & Gabbana a la niche!

The Italian duo of Dolce & Gabbana are going the niche way: at least optically! Their new collection of scents, called Anthology, is dressed in simple, identical bottles, bearing names inspired by the Tarot card deck (now this is something we haven't seen before) and intended not to differentiate on age or gender prompting us to pick and choose according to taste.
The campaign will focus on supermodels of the 90s (apparently a very big trend lately): Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and Eva Herzigova, posing in the nude, shot by photographer Mario Testino, along with male models Fernando Fernandes, Noah Mills and Tyson Ballou.

The scents will be:

Le Bateleur 1 (fronted by Tyson Ballou) is an aromatic aquatic woody focusing on cedar and vetiver.
L'Imperatrice 3 (Naomi Campbell) is a fruity with notes of kiwi,watermelon, cyclamen, rose and musk.
L'Amoureux 6 (Noah Mills), is a spicy aromatic with bergamot, juniper, pink pepper, cardamom, birch, iris and musk.
La Roue de la Fortune (Eva Herzigova and Fernando Fernandes), is a floriental with tuberose, gardenia, jasmine, benzoin and patchouli.
La Lune 18 (Claudia Schiffer) is a leathery floral with lily, tuberose, santalwood, musk, iris and leather.

The Anthology collection of fragrances by Dolce & Gabbana will launch in September 2009.
I am waiting to see how these will play out in a market that is full of collection of scents. So who hasn't yet launched such a set of "niche" scents, at least preening out from the big names? Hmmm, Yves Saint Laurent...

Pic L'express.

I want to be loved by you

I am overdue for an article submission so no big post today, but for your delectation some old commercials for Chanel No.5 that haven't circulated much.
Soon I will come back with an expanded historical review on No.5.
There is also an article concerning Chanel NO.5 in The Telegraph by renowned journalist Kate Shapland, which has a wonderful illustration by Richard Gray. You can read it here.



The first American commercial with Carol Bouquet by Ridley Scott:



And the French version by Bettina Rheims:
(She's saying:
You hate me, right?
Say it! Say it that you hate me.
Its a disturbing fealing, really disturbing.
Because I want you! I want you so much that I think I'm going to die...



Ah...cultural differences.

The winner of the draw.....

.....for the Fifi awards nomination party draw decant, Jubilation 25, is Sue! Please mail me with your addres using the email on the Contact link above and I will have this in the mail soon.

Thank you all for your participation and prepare for the next one!

Chanel No.5 Through the Years

The renewed interest in Chanel No.5, due to the new advertising campaign with Audrey Tautou, reaffirms what has been a shared secret: "The powers that be at Chanel claim that a product bearing its name (be it in the form of scent, soap or bath oil) is sold every six seconds". And that the production, shot before the unfolding of the current economic crisis spared no costs: "A crew of 25 people reportedly worked on it for three weeks last May, filming everywhere from Paris to Limoges and, of course, Turkey". [source: Independent]

The new commercial {presented here} is a more haunting version with a nod to traditional values compared to the all dancing, outright-glamour-and-paparazzi-escaping of the one with Nikole Kidman some years ago. Shot by Baz Lurhman the fiary tale "I'm a dancer" routine was a modern, upbeat version ~with more thigh shown~ of the Roman Holiday scenario: VIP who finds true love at the side of a mere mortal, if you recall your Audrey Hepburn collection correctly. Funnily enough, Kidman looks nothing like Audrey Hepburn in her super-tall frame and attenuated blonde features, although Tautou does bear a passing resemblance thanks to the immense doe-eyes of both brunettes.
The current No.5 commercial reprises the romantic scenario "feminine classique" with a nod to the story-telling fantasy unconventional style of the OVNI, aka an anything-goes-style in which a sense of parody might be injected or the fantasy materializes. The latest Jean Pierre Jeunet commercial for Chanel No.5 uses angle-shots, photography and editing style which err on the side of romanticism, rather than the parody he had exhibited in Delicatessen or the follow-the-pale-faced-gamine-with-doe-eyes of Amélie. The invocation of the bottle in the reflections of lights from the window panes of the Orient Express train however, the warm saturation of colours, the bird's eye angle at the end showing the protagonists hugging while the interlocking CCs are left to shine on the mosaics through the fade-out are all masterful choices of film direction. The final shot reminds me of the bird'eyes shot of the fateful couple shot by Francis Ford Coppola in his Dracula (a film full of intertextuality in itself).

Chanel always paid a lot of attention to how they presented No.5 to the world and I took the initiative to present a little retrospective through the years a propos the latest:

The first illustration for No.5 featured famous illustrator's Georges Goursat/Sem stylised silhouette of a flapper, the fashion for liberated women being to embrace the new fragrance; the flowing dress in typical 20s flapper style, the bobbed hair, the ecstatic hands in the air. This was not an advertisement nevertheless (Sem was known for satirizing Chanel in his previous attempts) but an acknowledgement of the popularity of the new scent to its intented audience: the fashion-conscious and the hip.

© ADAGP

Next Coco Chanel herself posed at the Ritz Hotel suite where she stayed to photographer François Kollard in 1937, the grandeur of the suite and the majestic fireplace echoing the luxury of the fragrance.

The tradition of pampering connected to No.5 persisted through the years through advertisements which hinted at the rapture and sense of luxury which its use provoked.


Marilyn Monroe ~although never chosen by Chanel herself as a spokeswoman for the fragrance~ became the best ambassadress and advertising vehicle of the brand in 1960. She revealed in an interview which asked her what she wore during her schedule that Chanel No.5 was her choice of bed attire. A indelible memory was scratched in the flummoxes of people's minds to this day and No.5 became legendary to people who had never thought of perfume before! Certainly not in those terms!

Ali Mc Graw and her more down-to-earth strong beauty took the torch in 1966 when she posed with her dark features as the face of Chanel No.5. The choice showed the emphasis which Chanel placed on their American audiences even then.


The 70s were scattered with print and TV ads of classically beautiful Catherine Deneuve (once upon a time face of Marianne, the French national emblem), the one who has been more closely related into people's minds with No.5. Ironically Deneueve was opting for Yves Saint Laurent for her clothes and for Guerlain for her perfumes! It doesn't matter: think of Chanel No.5 and some old ad depicting Catherine Deneuve is certain to pop up in your mind.


Unknown beauties were continuing to feature in advertisements or Chanel No.5 but the glamour and joie de vivre were always featured when the famous number was brought forth.


The last French face to front Chanel No.5 in the late 70s (in memorable Ridley Scott directed commercials) and all through the 80s, was Carole Bouquet. The French actress wasn't the most talented one to come out of the country but her beauty and chic radiated through the pages in classy sexiness.


It was the bottle itself which took center stage in the pop images reminiscent of the Andy Warhol technique before the Nicole Kidman contract in 1985. Actually Warhol never made any reproductions of the No.5 bottle: it was a gesture of homage.

Estella Warren, swimmer, model and actress, was the early 2000s face for Chanel No.5 in what was an unforgetable campaign of commercials filmed by Luc Besson reprising the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale in a most imaginative and creative melange. The print ads were visually striking, but not the same thing at all.


And then there was she who was at the height of her Hollywood career after worthy choices following an infamous divorce from Tom Cruise: Nicole Kidman had arrived and securing a contract to front Chanel No.5 was its apotheosis.

Please look at Perfume Shrine posts on Chanel No.5 commercial short-films through the years, clicking this link: Advertising Series part 1, I don't want to set the world on Fire.

She Spoke about Perfume in a Very Unconventional Way

The Chanel commercial we have been waiting and commenting on previously is finally here, the magic enfolding aboard the Orient Express en route to Istanbul. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, starring French actress Audrey Tautou and mole model Travis Davenport on the soundtrack of Billie Holiday's "Im a fool to want you".
Please be sure to check out the official link of Chanel as well as it presents the back-story and the details on the making of as well as commentary by Taurou and Jeunet.



According to the director Jean-Pierre Jeunet:
"I've always loved night trains and their magic: its the perfect opportunity to create an encounter in suspended time. I really liked the idea of a woman meeting a man. They both think about each other, but continue on with their own lives, left with the regret that they didn't make contact with the other person. I love to play with destiny and coincidences... I knew that the story would revolve around the mesmerizing effect of the scent in the womans wake. We had to give voice to the intangible."

Excellently done and we will return with another Chanel post with commentary very soon!! In the meantime, you can read more on Chanel on Perfume Shrine following this link.


Clip originally uploaded by ROPtv on Youtube