Chanel Underwhelms..."There You Are"

 Plans disappear, dreams take over. But wherever I go there you are. My luck, my fate, my fortune...inevitable.

Who exactly writes those things?
Why the elocution that accents the words like it's a play at the Old Vic?
Where's the direction by Joe Wright?

Something doesn't mesh...

 "don’t mourn your luck that’s failing now,
 work gone wrong, your plans all proving deceptive
—don’t mourn them uselessly"*.

 * excerpt from the poem "The God Abandonds Antony" (1911) by C.Cavafy, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard

Lady Gaga In the Nude for "Fame": Perfume Ad

Strategically placed little men cover just the most racy tidbits on Lady Gaga's naked body on her perfume ad for her first celebrity scent, Fame.

 The photo was taken by famed photographer Steven Klein. Gaga wrote on her Twitter "I won't lie I'm a bit nervous. It's been a while since I've shared some work with you. But I'm so proud of Steven I, we really did not sleep!" The scent, which contains notes of incense, honey and apricot nectar, will hit stores in August.

I like it! A fun and more titillating version of Gulliver's Travels famous imagery of Lilliput.  

Natalie Portman for newest Miss Dior commercial: Revisiting Black Swan & La Dolce Vita

Natalie Portman after becoming the face of the ~recently renamed and revamped~ Miss Dior (previously Cherie) fragrance in a commercial that drew upon every French cliché possible (little black dress, check; pout and sunglasses à la Nouvelle Vague, check; romantic affair in Louis XVI decors, check) is turning now to other inspirations; or rather the people at LVMH do: American ones, such as her hit role in Black Swan, and Italian, as in the classic of classics by Federico Fellini, La Dolce Vita (incidentally the name of another Dior perfume!) There the truly voluptuous (especially as compared to slight Natalie) Anita Ekberg, starring as the Swedish-American actress, is frolicking dramatically in the Fontana di Trevi.

What's up with Dior using every bit of cinema history, especially lately, to promote their products? Are they really that out of new, original ideas? I understand when a movie is making a meta-comment on another movie, such as Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) recreating the frustration of the original actress in another heroine's (Catherine's) frustration with people and things in her own life and her childlike desire to infuse all with fun and love; but in a perfume commercial? That just comes across as lazy...
Natalie is fine on her own, you don't need to turn her into the "copy" of another actress, people!

Besides this "homage" comes as a totally misguided point, in my opinion: The Trevi Fountain scene comes as the apogee of an -at heart-frustrating night between Marcello Mastroyianni and Ekberg, showcasing the realization of Mastroianni being a victim, of searching endlessly for happiness which won't come; not this way at any rate. He idealizes Sylvia, the character played by Ekberg, into what is escaping him; the woman, no, the Woman, the out of reach mystique which would make him happy if only...
But glamorous and passive-agressive to men as this might seem (always a sort of secret fantasy for some women), in La Dolce Vita Sylvia isn't happy either. She howls back at dogs. She gets slapped. When she anoints Marcello, there is a mirror-scene where a parallel with the Virgin Mary is made, another woman thought of being capable to bestow happiness by just being and ending up disappointing the men who put hope in her. The dawn of that night just brings the shattering of hope...
How is this a favorable thought for actually buying a perfume, the premium product of escapism, especially a perfume that stands for girly fun and playfulness, the one which a few short years ago championed stuffing yourself with macaroons, dressing in all colors of the rainbow and bicycling through Paris letting off red balloons ? Is the concept of Miss Dior shifting dramatically, to follow the haughtiness of the new formula itself?

But then, it finally came to me: iconic as the images from the Fontana di Trevi scene may be (not a single soul hasn't seen them printed/uploaded someplace, they're part of our pop culture semiotics), I am willing to be that the viewers who have watched the original Italian film are far fewer...Could it be -horror of horrors- that even some at the creative team haven't really watched the film more carefully? Are they confusing glamour with happiness?

Perhaps I'm overanalyzing and everything is about the image pure and simple without no subtext behind it. According to the Daily Mail:"Standing in the middle of a fountain swathed in a stunning black strapless silk couture gown, the star [Natalie Portman] looked gorgeous and graceful as did several poses for the camera. The new advert is centered around the famous fountain scene from Frederico Fellini 'La Dolce Vita'. With her arm stretched out into the air towards the sky, Natalie looked dramatic and dreamy against the backdrop of the picturesque setting". Right.



pic collage via julesfashion.com

Dior Addict new commercial: And God Created Woman in st.Tropez

The line between homage and copy is subtle, though I admit I much rather prefer interpreting a classic film into modern protagonists than outright taking chunks straight out of old cinema and transposing it to modern commercials like they did with Delon and La Piscine for Eau Sauvage.



Here, for Dior Addict's new range of fragrances (comprising an Addict Eau Fraiche and Addict Eau Sensuelle), Daphné Groeneveld stars as the muse to a contemporary Roger Vadim...Interestingly enough, like the prototype, Brigitte Bardot herself, the girl's face isn't the prettiest thing about her, but her charm and very provocative wiles are.
The comparisons between the full almost 3 minutes director's cut with the original by Vadim are more apparent.



Music in the Dior commercial:"I love you, oh, no" di Stereo Total.

Brad Pitt as New Face for Chanel ~but for Chanel No.5!

Has the "men trying feminine fragrances, women wearing masculine colognes" bit gone over your head? Brad Pitt is here at last to promote a famous perfume aimed at women in the new advertising campaign of the most famous French house that will surely have many dropping their jaws.

The actor and director has been unveiled as the new face of Chanel No.5 and follows in the footsteps of not just Marilyn Monroe who famously wore only this while in bed, but Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman (unveiled as the face in 2003) and Audrey Tautou (shooting a fabulous commercial in 2009)

"According to E! Online, [Brad] will receive a seven-figure sum for his trouble and a source told the site that Pitt, 48, will shoot his first advertising campaign in London this week." [source] This piece of news is officially corroborated as having Pitt on board.

It will surely be an interesting commercial to watch. I'm actually really taken with the idea. Might we be in for such imaginative concepts as those presented in this magnificent Ridley Scott Chanel No.5 commercial?

EDIT TO ADD: According to Daily ELLE, there is a masculine fragrance version of Chanel No.5 in the works, to be revealed "in the following months". Chanel didn't confirm or deny this rumour. 

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Chanel No.5 through the years: the images, the faces, the advertisements

Collage of Brad Pit with Chanel No.5 bottle author's own.

Guerlain Mon Nouveau Parfum: These Boots Were Made for Walking

Nancy Sinatra's classic song "These Boots Were Made for Walking" put to use for Guerlain's new video clip animation to promote their La Petite Robe Noire perfume.

What do you think?

NEWSFLASH: My source confirms my theory that the clip is released to promote the now wider distribution of former boutique exclusive La Petite Robe Noire. It makes absolute sense in that regard.

Perfume Quotes: Habit Rouge [Genre (tres) masculin]

Promotion for fragrances don't have to involve much to be suggestive and to stir the imagination. Forget bimbos rolling on the bed, blinged out couples coupling amourously and lots of skin display; forget long tirades extolling the virtues of precious ingredients and mellifluous emotion. A mere suggestion and a quote from a legendary celebrity saying they found a fragrance to have an influence in their lives is enough.

Behold a photo shot by Peter Lindberg for Guerlain's classic masculine fragrance Habit Rouge, genre: (tres) masculin. [translation: Gender: (very) masculine].

Habit Rouge refers to the red riding jacket donned by gentlemen in equestrian days. Of course!

And then you have Keith Richards, of Rolling Stones infamous celebrity, reminscing in his memoirs about choosing Guerlain's Habit Rouge as his signature scent [Mick Jagger prefers Chanel Cuir de Russie]:

"One minute no chick in the world. No f*cking way, and they're going la la la la la. And the next they're sniffing around. And you're going wow, when I changed from Old Spice to Habit Rouge, things definitely got better."
 ~Keith Richards, 'Life'

quote thanks to yum_yum/mua

The new YSL Opium advertisement with Emily Blunt has landed

Emily Blunt in a tux worn directly on flesh (very YSL), the leopard, the Lacrimosa from Mozart's Requiem in the background, the giga cocktail ring...I rather like it all in the new commercial for the iconic Opium perfume by Yves Saint Laurent.
The only bad thing is Opium itself has deteriorated as a fragrance due to reformulation...

Dakota Fanning for Oh, Lola! by Marc Jacobs:

Designer Marc Jacobs flaunts his recent "Oh, Lola!" perfume, a flanker to his previous fragrance Lola as: "sensual", comparing the two: "More of a Lolita than a Lola". However the British Advertising Standards Authority had a differing opinion, after receiving "several complaints" from those who viewed the 17-year-old Twilight actress Dakota Fanning posing with an oversize bottle of the Marc Jacobs scent between her legs, and so they banned it on the grounds of it "sexualising children".

The Guardian reports that Coty, who makes the fragrance, doesn't have the same problems with the ads, because most readers of the magazines featuring the ads are 25 or older and the picture is no more racer than the other images hosted in those magazines.
This latest incident comes after the banning of Belle d'Opium by YSL ads which roused 13 complaints from people who claimed the commercial championed drug use (wow, 13 complaints, huh!!) and the banning of the "Fallen Angels" campaign for Axe deodorant (which is continued to be  broadcasted in my country almost every day)

What do you think about the Oh,Lola! ad: Trashy or Tasty?

Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison: the new commercial with Melanie Laurent

Mélanie Laurent is the new face for Dior's Hypnotic Poison perfume, after Monica Bellucci (who is currently advertising Swedish brand Oriflame skincare).
Directed by John Cameron Mitchel, the new Dior Hypnotic Poison commercial is set in the Louvre (witness the characters seen almost under the wings of the "Nike of Samothrace" , thus named after the island of Samothrace) with the two lovers following each other in at the Daru staircase and the room of Classic Greek Antiquities (You can see Artemis on the hunt for a split second). Hypnotic Poison is a classic, we get it. The commercial...hmmm, not so much. Not bad, but it takes a bit more to compete with Parian marble.



According to the Dior site, Hypnotic Poison mingles "Four contrasting facets – intoxicating bitter almond and carvi, opulent Sambac jasmine, mysterious Jacarandra and sensuous vanilla and musk– make for a compelling, bewitching fragrance fusion. Intoxicating and extravagant".

Burberry Body Song Tie-in: Rose by The Feeling

“People wear perfume as an attractant – something to make them feel good and enhance interaction with others,” said Jack Burke, president of Sound Marketing Inc., Branson, MO, as an industry expert for Luxury Daily. “Music is much the same. It is one of our strongest memory sense, next to smell.”
This is a propos a bespoke song called “Rosé” for Burberry Body, the British brand's latest scent, recorded by the band The Feeling. The Feeling is a British pop band from Britain’s Essex area, most well-known for its singles “Sewn” and “Fill My Little World".



Chris Bailey, chief creative officer at Burberry is playing all the right notes on this launch, what with the social media and the music connection (except possibly for the reportedly dull smell). With such an invested campaign, the fragrance is set to fly off the shelves. I wonder however just what it means when there's so much emphasis on the peripheral elements, rather than the scent itself.

Below, the Burberry Body campaign commercial directed by Christopher Bailey, featuring British actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and shot by Mario Testino in London.



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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?

Dior & LVMH: What the Hell?

I was sort of ruminating the other day about Dior using Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Marlene Dietrich for the new film commercial for their J'Adore fragrance. Apparently something is very rotten at LVMH who owns the brand and things are taking an awry turn in general.

A while ago it was publicized that they had taken an old, iconic photo of French heartthrob and (mesmerizing eyed) actor Alain Delon in all its beauty, had digitally erased the dangling cigarette from his manly fingers in the original shoot (which you can see on our post here) to conform with political correctness and had then used the photo to promote their classic ~ruggedly masculine, yet elegant~ scent Eau Sauvage. It worked brilliantly sales-wise. I assume that there was some private deal behind the scenes between the actor and the group, or at least the person who held the rights for the photograph, but this time they're going too far. Because who owns the rights for an icon like Monroe or Dietrich?
So, in light of the latest, I am reminding you there is not only one, but two commercials for Eau Sauvage which use whole excerpts from the classic 1960s film La Piscine by Jacques Deray, in which Alain Delon struts his suave physique and virile attitude to great aplomb. Obviously they must have had permission from the producers, but I find the whole experiment rather crass and pathetic. I realize men of Delon's ilk are rare and icons such as Monroe, Kelly, Dietrich or indeed John Lennon (earning Yoko Ono a huge amount of money each year) are timeless, but surely they could have been at least rather more imaginative in their take chez LVMH, just like they could have been more imaginative while promoting their J'Adore. I'm not sure I' comfortable with where Dior is going nowadays...

Shalimar: "As Close to Forever as a Perfume Can Go"

My reader Norma re-found for me this retro 1982 commercial for the classic Shalimar by Guerlain. The perfume needs no introduction, but the advertising is giving all the latest upstarts a run for their money: it ignites the imagination by giving hints, but it eschews cliches (how about that splash in the pool?); by conjuring glamour, yes, but not going into ridiculous lengths; by evoking romance, but saying that "forever" is perhaps wishful thinking. A masterful perfume commercial!

Click the link to view it on RetroJunk
(If anyone knows who directed it, please let me know)
The music to which the Shalimar commercial is set to is Frederic Chopin's gorgeous Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Opus 52.

J'Adore Dior new 2011 commercial: An Unimaginative Concept

I am coming back after a brief comment on the teaser of the new film for Dior's J'Adore filmed exclusively in the 'Galerie des Glaces' at the 'Château de Versailles' and after my lukewarm reception of another anticipated commercial (Trésor Midnight Rose for Lancôme with Emma Watson). In the complete film for Dior, Charlize Theron struts once more in a gold dress (what else is new?), this time down the catwalk, being utterly gorgeous (of course, we knew that already since 2004 when she debuted as the face of the J'Adore Dior fragrance and weird thing...being greeted by kiss, gaze or envious greediness successively by Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich & Marilyn Monroe!

Of the three Kelly looks like she was literally "cut out" from To Catch a Thief being the most convincing (she was digitally added after all), Marlene looks like an impersonator in the familiar cheekbones-to-slice-cheese-with & stockings-under-a-jacket routine, while Marilyn is the poorest of them all in a justifiable punishment for hubris (watch those over-lipglossed lips in that reflective lighting), squeeling J'Adore in girly tones reminiscent of Gentlemen prefer Blondes; wait, though, wasn't she known for her predeliction for Chanel No.5? No matter, Dior (and LVMH who own them) is taking icons right and left and attributing them a penchant for the brand, probably because they can. They're crying for copyrights any chance they get, but they're using icons like there's no tomorrow.Cool, huh?

The weirdest thing though is this perfume commercial has been directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, a director famous for his grand scale scope, mastery of silence & landscape (watch L'Ours, Quest for Fire, Seven Years in Tibet), his breathtaking, very human love scenes (see Enemy at the Gates, L'Amant, or The Name of the Rose) and the recurring theme of civilization affecting the natural world. I see none of these here, so what was the point of hiring Annaud in the first place in this stage in his career? (He had directed several ad commercials at the end of 1960s and in the 1970s).

In many ways, a disappointment...


The music is "Heavy Cross" by Gossip

Tresor Midnight Rose: Lancome Underuses Emma Watson

The new Trésor Midnight Rose commercial film by Lancôme with Emma Watson, shot by Mario Testino (here is the long version lasting 1mn45)has arrived to promote the new feminine fragrance by the Parisian brand. Here it is for you, below.
I find it cute (a dash of Notting Hill due to the bookstore, a cute guy and a nicely enough turned out Emma Watson) but in the end rather meh (the cliché of the Seine bridge lovers' meet up and of the trilby hat as a prop). What about you?



And here is the Making Of, with Emma Watson talking about the part.



And the fragrance is apparently "sweet, warm and playful". It would be, wouldn't it? I'm praying for a "cold, bitchy, earnest" fragrance ad copy one of these days....

Dior J'Adore: New Ad Campaign & Teaser

Le Château de Versailles is the new mise en scène for the upcoming advertising campaign for Christian Dior's fragrance best-seller J'Adore. Starring Charlize Theron again, acclaimed director Jean-Jacques Annaud (L’Ours, L’Amant, Seven Years in Tibet…) shoots a new clip featuring our glamorous heroine (in dark sunglasses and a jacket with nothing underneath), which will be broadcasted in its entirety on September 4th. In the meantime, here is the teaser for your delectation.

My Romance doesn't Have to Have a Moon in the Sky

The next chapter in the Romance story, the one inspired by Ralph Lauren's fragrance that is includes real-life husband and wife, Nacho Figueras and Delfina "Delfi" Blaquier, the latest stars of the 2011 Ralph Lauren Romance campaign, featured below. The new commercial film for Ralph Lauren Romance was shot by Bruce Weber. The song is sung by Seal; it's the classic Sinatra "My Romance" song by Hart & Rogers.

Why the new Chanel Coco Mademoiselle commercial with Keira Knightley in Beige is Ultimately Undewhelming

Chanel has just released their new 2011 commercial for Coco Mademoiselle starring Keira Knightley in what has to be the most bootylicious outfit out there for the brand (evah!) and I'm grumbling with a sense of disappointment. Before you start calling me a picky bitch, hear me out and see if you agree.


The commercial is gloriously saturated in rich, peachy-golden neutrals, echoed through settings, clothes and protagonists' colouring. The Ducati is eye candy. Keira, on whom I never was particularly big, looks gorgeous in sprayed-on beige & black as well, don't get me wrong! Whereas gowns with decolletage and bare arms let her skeletal glory show to much discomfort and to thinspiration for teens (apparently!), a fitted catsuit which hides her ribcage and, on the contrary, puts accent on her meatier parts (those thighs, that butt) suits her just fine. I was about to give a wolf's whistle upon seeing her riding, ass pert on that Ducati motorcycle, director Joe Wright hedonistically shooting it from the back for a brief while~wait, was it three whole seconds?~ but then remembered my XX chromosomes and restrained myself. Lots of guys won't, though, obviously because they don't have a matching set (of either chromosomes or butt cheeks), and that's the whole point: The message is Keira in Chanel has something going on for her, something wild, something sexy! So will -hopefully- every girl she's gifted with it. Perfume after all is largely the fantasy of hanging a Ferrari porte-clefs on your humble Fiat, isn't it?

But haven't we seen that before? Or is that too much teasing makes the heart go butter instead of aflutter? I'm surprised they chose It is a Man's World (interpreted by Joss Stone, yet again!) instead of Wild Thing by The Troggs as the soundtrack: Keira's certainly a wild thing if the full 3:20 minutes are to be taken into account: she makes pretty eyes at the photographer, with whom she has some sort of relationship. She shoots her as herself, the face of Chanel (a bit a la David Bailey) and then she leaves him all...frustrated, shall we say, leaving out the window. Sneaky minx...


But then the song choice does make sense after all, going straight for bull's eye actually: This is Chanel's positioning of Coco Mademoiselle as for the "powerful" young woman, the seductress, the one who yields the power of her appeal over those she meets; to the point that she doesn't actually need them anyway. She onanistically can leave them behind; her power lies within herself. The full commercial, the teasers and interviews which preceeded it said clearly this is Chanel emasculated, a Chanel superwoman, an androgynous figure ~certainly true for Keira's boyish figure, true for Gabrielle Chanel as a young lass too. But we're not dealing with an Amazon; far from it!

To my mind the era of the Glamazon has died alongside Helmut Newton and his photographs of women as mistresses of all they survey. Keira and Coco Mademoiselle are ~let's be honest~ too cute to even entertain the thought that they yield so much power. This is why it was necessary to have Keira pronounce it "not too sweet, not too overpowering, not flowery" in interviews, lying -yes, lying- that she used to wear men's scents blah blah blah....And therein lies the trap: Coco Mademoiselle does exhibit a fragrance structure of pretty & quite sweet flowers atop a rather masculine loud patchouli and vetiver base: a five o'clock shadow shows underneath a checkbone meticulously dusted with Nars Orgasm. Nevertheless, that five o'clock shadow doesn't come home bringing the bacon, doing a real job, taking it like a man. She still relies on tried & true feminine wiles sprinkled with promise and only has the motorcycle and boots to show for toughness. And what's more she proclaims to the whole wide world she's open for business, Coco Mademoiselle having aquired ~through use and abuse~ the inferred message of "come on big guy, I'm here waiting for you to hit on me, all smoky eyed, and martini at hand". Now that Coco Mademoiselle is everywhere, some of the mystique has gone and this new commercial doesn't help much. And nothing of it is Keira's fault. But they had been going for it since a while, so why am I complaining?

The first Keira-Chanel commercial, showing the stylish thief, who burgles through an open window to put on those gorgeous jewels and who then appears in a long red dress at a gala from which she leaves alone, much amused with herself, in my opinion exhibited real style, a sense of feminine independence and a playful desire for adventure. What does this newer one communicate? How to be a cock teaser? Chanel, you've come a long way; hopefully the Ducati doesn't stop here...

What do YOU think?

Eva Mendes: the new face of Thierry Mugler Angel

French beauty house Thierry Mugler, which is relying on itsaccesories and perfumes (operating under the Clarins Group) is perhaps most famous for Angel: a terrifically strong best-seller and a modern classic created almost 20 years ago, in 1992. The company has often changed its "faces" fronting the controversial love-it-or-hate-it juice, including Jerry Hall and Bianca Balti. Now, after Australian actress Naomi Watts, the brand has signed Eva Mendes to replace her in the new Angel campaign.

Mendes, who created lots of press starring nude in Calvin Klein's Secret Obsession perfume ads, [catch the banned commercial with Eva Mendes on this link] is supposed to add a "sultry" twist to the scent according to the official statements by the Mugler company: "While Naomi Watts' ethereal beauty embodied the angelic aspect of the fragrance, Thierry Mugler chose to reignite the enticing and explosive dimensions of the fragrance with the sultry Mendes," Mugler said in a statement.

The fiery Latina is certainly one of the sexiest actresses on the front row nowadays and is sure to bring on new interest in the brand. More news and the upcoming commercials will be available at the official Thierry Mugler site.
Catch some more news & gossip on celebrities fronting perfume campaigns on the New Face section.

Eva Mendes and Angel ad collage via fashionfoiegras.com,