Miss Dior La Vie en Rose: new campaign for Dior's best-selling fragrance

It doesn't matter that Dior's Miss Dior perfume is a travesty on a thousand levels (the fragrance started out being called Miss Dior Cherie, it changed its formula into being unrecognizable, it took the name of the original 1947 Miss Dior perfume confusing consumers etc. etc; click on Miss Dior vs Miss Dior Cherie differences article to find out the whole truth). A new campaign is a new campaign nevertheless (starring Natalie Portman again, the premise for the new, more "serious" love angle they're pitching) and it will have tongues wagging, no doubt. Especially since Sofia Coppola is directing (i.e. the woman who was responsible for the delightful and oh-so-fun original Miss Dior Cherie campaign with a flirty Marina Linchuk set to Bardot's "Moi, je joue" tune years ago).

Here are the teasers, the whole commercial will air on February 24th.
I assume the line "Christian Dior said" refers to the Dior fragrances brand and not the actual designer...(who had been dead long before Miss Dior (Cherie) was even a spermatic thought at anyone's mind). Ah well, chalk it up into harmless fluff and enjoy the visuals.

"When he takes me in his hands...



...and whispers love to me...



...everything's lovely. It's him for me and me for him...



...all our lives, and it's so real what I feel, that's why."



The teasers are code-named "the fountain" (la fontaine), "the car ride" (la voiture), "the kiss" (le baiser) and "the garden" (le jardin).

Natalie Portman in Miss Dior Cherie 2011 Commercial

The sighs of Jane Birkin under Serge Gainsbourg's classic (and racy) "Je t'Aime...moi non plus" song are accompanying a new sexy siren of the 2000s: Natalie Portman, the newest face for Miss Dior Chérie, again directed by Sofia Coppola (as reported previously)and a viable Oscar contestant for her performance in Black Swan. It's funny to contemplate that the previous music choice for Sofia's commercial a few years ago was a tune by Brigitte Bardot, the very person who first sang the controversial orgasmic song by Gainsbourg; that version was revoked by her husband Gunter Sachs nevertheless. Serge then turned to Jane Birkin to record it to the outcry of the Vatican and the song became immortal in that version.

Nowadays it doesn't sound half as controversial as it did, but is the new commercial for Dior really reflecting the free sprit of the 60s and early 70s in an age that is so conservative despite the bom-bom swaying in hip hop videos and the public display of intimate personal details? "I am the wave, you the naked island"? "I go and I come in between your loins"? I think not...
Apart from a little suggestive play with a tie (posing as both a blindfold and a sort of leash) you'll have to squint your mental muscles into perceiving any more sexual innuendo in the Natalie Portman commercia!. The video is more romantic cliche than racy, although it's certainly more man-to-woman interactive than the previous "I fell fine trailblazing across Paris by myself" commercial by Coppola.
Talk about Natalie Portman stripping for the spot only resulted in her vaguely beginning to remove a few clothes with no more titillation, unless a bath tub scene where she's immersed up to her neck wearing sunglasses is considered risque. It looks like a shot from "Garden State"really, maybe a tip of the hat from the director. Sofia Coppola however really knows how to direct the whole into making us want to douse ourselves in overpriced Eau. Taking in mind I have an aversion to the overly sweet character of the original Miss Dior Chérie (but I do like L'Eau version), I find this is quite a feat! What do you think?

NB. The commercials are set to accompany the latest reformulation of the Eau de Parfum by head Dior perfumer F.Demachy.

Miss Dior Cherie by Dior and Sofia Coppola

If the winter doldrums have taken their toll on your mood and it needs to be alleviated, we have a little cheering up for you: The director's cut of the new commercial for Christian Dior's Miss Dior Chérie fragrance in a high quality video-clip is here on Perfume Shrine for your delectation! Directed in a deliriously and infectiously happy mood by Sofia Coppola ~of "Lost in Translation" and "The Virgin Suicides" fame~ it features model Maryna Linchuk and the song "Moi Je Joue" (=me, I play) by Brigitte Bardot. One of the few Bardot hit-songs not written by Serge Gainsbourg by the way. (You can watch the original song with pics of Bardot here).




The super cute spring-like feel of traipsing through the cobblestone roads on a bike wearing a pastel dress makes me yearn for my spring break while the displayed macaroons in every shade of the rainbow with the Dior bottle as a comparable delicacy amongst them makes it hard to follow a strict dietary regimen (not that Maryna Linchuk needs it!). As if to consolidate the idea of whose designer house the fragrance is, we also get to watch Maryna trying on dresses in bright, upbeat hues in the Christian Dior couture house.




The balloons remind me of the airborne hot-air balloon in the commercial for Yves Saint Laurent Paris fragrance. Obviously Paris in the collective subconsious of cinematographers is tied to balloons! Let's hope not to air-headness (hot or otherwise) though, because it would be completely unjust. It's interesting to note that in this clip the Miss Dior Chérie bottle rests atop a 60s-styled issue of Vogue magazine on the dresser, its pedigree and artistic history a subtle allusion to the history of Dior's house as well. Even though the travesty of emblazoning a semi-old name (Miss Dior is the classic of classics perfume of Christian Dior) on a completely novel scent is confusing to the 9th degree, you have to admit!
The old school cinematography more than makes up for it, nevertheless, recalling a more colourful take on sixties New Wave French cinema making me almost close to revisiting the tooth-achingly sweet fruity floral of Miss Dior Chérie: Who said advertising is not an art-form?

Previous, less successful in my opinion, commercial clips for Miss Dior Chérie can be found here (with Reiley Keough) and here (a making of, with Lily Donalson).Notice a hair-colour pattern throughout? Just saying!

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Advertising series, Christian Dior series.

Clip originally uploaded by aymarius on Youtube. Pics via fashionphotography.blogspot.com

Daisy by Marc Jacobs: fragrance review and lucky draw!

If you doubt your eyes, you can never doubt your nose, it seems. It is unmistakeably capable of discerning that which the promotional material might deny. It has the ability to get not only molecules stuck in its receptive velcro but also memories, associations and musings. And it was thus that Daisy by Marc Jacobs entered my consiousness: as the memory of another scent.
Marc, darling, I know you have Sofia Coppola as a muse; you have made this clear many times from the bags to the shoes to the perfumes. I wonder does she use Light Blue by Dolce & Gabanna too apart from her other favourites? Because frankly this is what your latest reminds me of vividly; oh, so vividly!

At first I did a double take not willing to believe what I had read about it. I had even posted about its notes which come in quick succession; like a fussilade in the face of ugliness they read: top notes of wild strawberry, violet leaves and ruby red grapefruit, a heart of gardenia, violet and jasmine petals on a base of vanilla and musk.
And yet, if we compare with the notes for Light Blue: Sicilian Citron, Bluebell, Granny Smith apple, Jasmine Sambac, Bamboo, White rose, Cedar wood, Amber, Musk ....what do we get? Close to nil...
Because apart from jasmine and musk (which surely are in about 99.9999% of all feminine perfumes) I fail to discern what makes those two so similar. Granted, the citrusy burst of Light Blue and the woodiness of its base set it apart (and probably are to blame for the accolades it's getting right and left).
Basically a classic in the making, Light Blue has been selling crazily and especially in the Mediterranean countries it's something akin to putting on your instant personal gelateria with icy cold smoothies to enjoy all day long. It gives the impression that if you lick it off your arm your tongue will climax.

The tendency to follow in a bestseller's shoes is not new of course and the examples of perfumes who did just that is legion - like the Antichrist, one might humorously say. This is neither the space nor the time to talk about it, we have other posts to concern ourselves with that in the near future. It is enough that fairly recently Moschino came out with something that is also quite close to Light Blue: his I Love Love ~arguably one of the silliest names in the known universe, yet a decent enough little potion.
Of course if we compare notes, we see that it features: orange, lemon, grapefruit, redcurrant, tea rose, lily of the valley, cinnamon leaves, tanaka wood, cedarwood, musk. Ah...a bit closer. But still!
Marc in a rare confessionary mood divulged that

“I don’t want to get too artsy about inspiration, but there is a sense memory, a reference, in fragrances”

Uh huh...thought so.

Not that Daisy smells exactly like Light Blue because it doesn't. And what would be the use of it, if it did? This is of course perfume no man's land as no one wants to answer this question it seems. But give a well-known recipe a little twist and it will sell like cupcakes. This tendency has resulted in an homogenization of the market that is to its detriment, alas, yet perfumers and companies persist regardless.

The promotional material for Daisy reads:

"a sparkling floral scent - fresh and feminine, with a touch of whimsy. A modern vintage that embodies effortless charm."

I have to admit that it is a very nice, inoffensive, pleasant little scent that would be a lovely foray of a budding into womanhood young thing that loves to have an adorably pretty bottle on her dresser. Because Marc, really, you outdid yourself after those spartan Splash bottles of yours! This is sooooo cute, so girly, so fashionably whimsical that fans will come in droves to the stores eager to give you their cash for this.
Three little daisies of vinyl with a center of metallic gold adorn the cap, with a little matching "belt" underneath it. It's much better in person, because the petals are bendable and soft. And it makes me wonder why Marc was reportedly not content with it and thinking of changing it a bit. That would be miscalculation, Marc, I must warn you!

Of course daisies do not smell per se. But who gives a damn? This is fantasy land and Marc is saying it himself:

“Daisies don’t smell, but I wanted to evoke the feeling that you get when you see them — happy and youthful. My gardenia and jasmine scents [Marc Jacobs for women and Blush Marc Jacobs, respectively] are more singular and definitely more ‘designer’ scents. I don’t want to say they’re older, but they’re more sophisticated.”

I admit that Blush is my choice out of his mentioned scents for its crystalline transparency that weaves its spell to you despite your best efforts and his Winter Amber Splashwas powdery goodness to me. I don't know however if I would term them terribly sophisticated. It might have to do with different perceptions.
Daisy is abstract, beginning on a tang of berries -a very popular note in noughties perfumery- seguing on to a floral theme of indeterminate fugue that ascertains Alberto Morillas's artistry, but perhaps betrays his innovative spirit (his list of creations is fascinating: click here). The sustained note of light musk on a lightly vanillic bed stays on the skin poised for hours.

All in all, Daisy is not a bad case of a fruity floral, if only because it is not overly sweet. And this is an achievement nowadays. It is sure to please and it smells good and will earn you compliments from people, most assuredly. If it comes in a too cute container, it's not its fault. It was drawn that way!



Daisy comes in an eau de toilette concentration at 1.7oz/50ml at 55$ and 3.4oz/100ml at 70$, as well as a shower gel (30$), a body lotion (32$) and a rich body butter (35$).Available from major department stores.

And for our lucky readers I have a very cute mini bottle of it available for one winner of a draw. Please post in the comment section if you want to enter the draw and good luck!!


Chypres will resume as scheduled later on...

Pic of eye from athinorama, pic of bottle from Marc Jacobs campaign