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It seems like it was only yesterday that Keira Knightly was chosen as the face of Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle fragrance, as we reported and commented on here on Perfume Shrine. The commercial finally convinced us that it wasn't such a bad idea after all, or at least the artistry that went into it convinced us on the skills of the artistic team at Chanel and their collaborators.But Keira's contract at the Coco Mademoiselle stint ends this summer and a new face will front the marquises: that of Mademoiselle Hermione, that is the young actress Emma Watson who plays Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.
According to the Daily Mail:
"The 18-year-old actress has signed a two-year contract worth £3million with the French fashion house to promote the brand.[...] Emma has been slowly integrated into the Chanel brand. They have been dressing her for film premieres and parties over recent months to see if she is the right fit. Once it became clear she is growing into a beautiful young woman and wears the Chanel brand so elegantly, they had to sign her up. Chanel realises it is important to target a young audience."A better choice I should think, judging by the pictures and by the far more expressive face of miss Watson! The only disadvantage is that the girl is far too young for the older consumers to identify with (I deduce Chanel doesn't target those; why didn't they choose her for Chance though?) and hasn't really shown her acting chops in anything less commercial or more artistic. But time is on her side.
That would also indirectly mean that Keira is going to front another product in the Chanel stable:
"Sources said Chanel is creating a new role for Miss Knightley who, in her latest advert, poses provocatively with just a bowler hat covering her modesty".And probably that would entail a more sophisticated one than Coco Mademoiselle too, as it would mean an upgrade, rather than younger still (Chance is out of the running following that trail of thought). So which would it be?
No.5 is officially taken by Audrey Tautou who is replacing Nicole Kidman. Coco is very much tied to 80s images and it would be a hard act to follow those wonderful Vanessa Paradis commercials as a caged bird by Jean-Paul Goude anyway. Cristalle and No.19 seem to be slowly disappearing from the US market so it wouldn't make sense to have such an advertising budget for only the European and Asian markets. Les Exclusifs are too exclusive for print ads and commercials. Does that leave Allure and Allure Sensuelle (face of latter being Anne Mouglalis)?
Myself I think they're saving her for the Chanel makeup collections or their skincare, for which surely the fresh-faced Keira couldn't be wrong. If someone -other than a professional model- is identified as the face of a fragrance, it usually means they won't be posing for another fragrance so soon.
I am very curious to see now that the great artistic director Jacques Helleu is dead what they will come up with!
So, what is your opinion on Emma as face of Coco Mademoiselle and which is your guess for the next product Keira will front?
Picture of Emma Watson via Dailymail.co.uk. Link brought to my attention by RoseInfo on MUA
More expressive?
ReplyDeleteThroughout the Potter movies her "acting" is done entirely with her eyebrows.
Thank you for your comment and welcome.
ReplyDeleteCompared to Keira with her one pout and one laugh, that's an improvement, I think. Not that I am a Harry Potter movies series fan, but for argument's sake.
As an aside: acting with one's brows isn't so bad either ~it's one of the reasons I always liked Gregory Peck, you know.
Alas, the day Chanel will choose to listen to my (very different) suggestions for possible fronting faces is far off: I would have many ideas to offer them ;-)
I am more sad for not to be able to see Nicole Kidman's face at the Chanel counters, sigh.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Lancome's new perfume seems interesting too, I am hoping that someday Lancome will retain its glories again.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Nicole mentioning other scents (such as Tea Rose at some Academy Awards -was it 2 years ago?- and Jo Malone White mint and Jasmine) didn't help in renewing her contract? Or else they had pre-determined to hire someone else at a designated point in time? Who knows...
ReplyDeleteThe new Magnifique by Lancome has a lovely face choice: Anne Hathaway. Now, let's reaaaaally cross our fingers the juice is equally lovely ;-)
Acting with eyebrows not bad?
ReplyDeleteA question of taste, I guess, but this video has me laughing out loud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL3p9AQPcVk
I think your Keira hatred is clouding your judgment.
LOL! Work the brow, girl, work it real good!! :P
ReplyDeleteThat's how rumours start: I see there is a whole lot of "eyebrow power" videos uploaded on Youtube. (Who would have thought? Off to check for G.Peck)
Well, now you know there is some truth in what makeup artists have been telling us all along: the eyebrows are the pillars of the face :-)
BTW, I strongly suggest you never focus too much on Clint Eastwood's crow's feet: you will get distracted!
PS. Hatred is too strong a word for someone who can't really act, no matter how pretty. Sorry I don't like your favourite celebrity, but different strokes for different folks and all that.
Seriously though, thanks for the link and for your comments.
I am still wondering why they chose Keira Knightley in P&P, and I wonder even more why she got nominated for an Oscar for the role...
ReplyDeleteThere is a specific plan to make some people into stars, L. (and for reference this is what I am opposing, not Keira specifically)
ReplyDeleteThe PR machines and agents work full time, 24/7.
Remember a few years ago when Heather Graham was everywhere you looked, hailed as the hottest thing in town, best thing since sliced bread?
That sort of thing...
Keira Knightley was chosen for P&P because she was the right age and because the fact that the first Pirates film had made her reasonably well known meant it would enable them to cast a relatively unknown actor in the Darcy part.
ReplyDeleteThe nomination was, obviously, due to her very fine performance. This part is subjective, but if you read the reviews they're not exactly lukewarm.
There's no "plan to make Keira a star". Except of course that her agent must be trying to get her parts, but that's true of any aspiring actress.
She's actually one of the very, very few actresses who doesn't have a publicist.
Getting back on subject it appears this entire Chanel story may have been tabloid nonsense on the part of The Daily Mail. Wouldn't be the first time they've incorrectly tried to "announce" that someone would be promoting Chanel. It wouldn't even be the first time they tried to do it for Emma Watson.
I guess Keira Knightley's fame did get her the role as Lizzy, but a girl that giggles every ten minutes is not exactly how I imagined Lizzy would be, so I prefer Greer Garson and Jennifer Ehle, they are as cool as Lizzy should be, but of course this is only my personal opinion. And speaking about Matthew Macfadyen's performance, during the movie I was constantly thinking that he should have been playing Heathcliff instead, funny enough he actually participated in a TV adaption of Wuthering Heights ten years ago, but not as Heathcliff, I think the director totally made a mistake there not casting him as Heathcliff. On the other hand Laurence Olivier did play Heathcliff, but his Mr. Darcy goes without any complains. Just some funny coincidences.
ReplyDeleteHelg, I hope you don't mind that I got a bit carried away with this the OT discussion ;-)
I absolutely do prefer Emma to Keira.
ReplyDeleteKeira as an make-up model could be possible. I think she's not "mature" enough for Allure.
lillie
Dear Anon (hey, why don't you sign with a sobriquet, so we can call each other by name?),
ReplyDeleteI have struck a sensitive nerve I see. Sorry about that, honestly. I would like you to consider yourself welcome at Perfume Shrine and not alienated because of a scathing remark about your favourite actress.
I have been accustomed to real greatness in acting (and no, Emma is not among it, LOL!), hence my pickiness, I guess.
But on the other hand I am not a Jane Austen fan either, not particularly, although a great fan of English literature in general. (I'd much rather read Bronte sisters or Dickens than Austen, to fetch an analogous time-frame paradigm). So perhaps the subtleties of the part eluded me (?)
Thanks for the link: if Chanel publicists refute it (althouh why are they dressing Emma in Chanel?), then we should reconsider.
Keira won't be face of Coco Mademoiselle for ever though if she has a limited time contract, so a replacement will be found sooner or later. I have to admit it seemed a little too soon!
You know, funny you should mention Wuthering Heights, dear L (and by all means, I welcome OT discussions as well!) because that's a book I'd rather watch and re-watch made into film!
ReplyDeleteBTW, Ralph Fiennes was extremely good in the latest adaptation (although the movie did need another approach in parts), have you seen it? It starred Juliette Binoche as Catherine.
I have to agree that I preferred Greer Garson as Elisabeth/Lizzy too :-)
Thanks N for your comment :-)
ReplyDeleteSomehow Allure had an "everywoman" advertising image which I liked for its diversity: would hate it to be different. And let's face it although those women were not "everywoman", nor is Keira (too pretty for that). But perfume is aspirational, so a plain-looking model is very far off, I should think.
Actually I have never seen any adaption of Wuthering Heights, but I can understand that Ralph Fiennes made a good performance as Heathcliff, this I conclude after having seen The English Patient, though the two characters are not that similar.
ReplyDeleteJust going back a little to Keira Knightley, there are rumors that she will be staring Eliza Dolittle in the upcoming adaption of My Fair Lady, hmm why do they want to remake this one...?
The original with Olivier was a good film in the performances stakes, if only a very butchered version in the plot (only half of it and even less).
ReplyDeleteThere is also an adaptation with Timothy Dalton from the early 70s that I know of (quite violent, which fits!), as well as a BBC mini series from the late 70s (?) if I recall correctly which was brilliant and actually the first adaptation of the book I ever saw and which made me immediately grab the book and read it several times.
And of course there is the one I mentioned from 1992 tagged as "Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights" at a time when everyone was putting the name of the writer in there in the film title (I am thinking of Coppola's Dracula in particular).
I strongly suggest then that you try to see it: you will be pleased with the performance (which was on an equal level with the one mentioned) ;-)
Yes, I have heard the rumours about My Fair Lady *rolls eyes*
Why do they want to make remakes of anything?? Because it's easier than to think of something truly original and because they count on the new audiences who have not seen the older films. They also believe that once a success, always a success (not so!)
The fact that My Fair Lady with Audrey Hepburn (the best known version) is already a remake of an adaptation is highly ironic, as this is what Keira will probably be compared against.
I enjoy Audrey Hepburn's My Fair Lady very much, though many people thinks that Julia Andrews should have played in the movie.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that some movie adaptions are beyond reach for remakes though, like Gone With the Wind.
Coco Mademoiselle has been my staple for many years since it came out. The first face that I remember in the commercial is Kate Moss which was an excellent choise for introducing this new perfume in public.Then replaced from Keira Knightley "a true femme" that although is a divine woman, doesn't completely fit with the caracter of this perfume. Ema Watson is a young beautiful mademoiselle to be and thats the point that doesnt fit in my opinion.The new face has to be a young mysterious lady to be,and Ema lacks there for me...
ReplyDeleteCoco Mademoiselle has been my staple for many years since it came out. The first face that I remember in the commercial is Kate Moss which was an excellent choise for introducing this new perfume in public.Then replaced from Keira Knightley "a true femme" that although is a divine woman, doesn't completely fit with the caracter of this perfume. Ema Watson is a young beautiful mademoiselle to be and thats the point that doesnt fit in my opinion.The new face has to be a young mysterious lady to be,and Ema lacks there for me...
ReplyDelete