I must have been 8 or 9 years old when I felt my first crush on Chanel . I had gone to the movies with my parents, it was Christmas and seeing the commercials before the movie started was part of a beautiful ritual. I remember the noise in the room, which was silenced when a young woman dressed as Little Red Riding Hood appeared on the screen, and the comments after seeing the movie.
They did not talk about anything else, the advertisement for Chanel No. 5 perfume , the most iconic of the French Maison. Absolutely hypnotic and full of magic, that advertisement (which, seen on the huge screen of a cinema, was even more spectacular) was the beginning of an idyll with the advertising spots for the iconic Chanel perfume.
Every Christmas I look forward to them, although I have to admit that the magical effect caused by that little red riding hood who borrowed a bottle of perfume and walked out of the Maison, hushing the wolf and with the Eiffel Tower in the background, has never returned. be yourself. At least until now, that the muse of all muses becomes the protagonist of the iconic spot. Marion Cotillard , the most charming actress on celluloid, stars in the new Chanel No. 5 perfume campaign with an idyllic story, and yours truly couldn’t be happier. This October 29, Chanel will announce the complete story of the spot with which we are going to dream this Christmas.
A love story between Marion Cotillard and Chanel
Before talking about the history of the spot, we must talk about the actress and the French Maison. Because the perfection of a campaign is not understood if the idyll between Cotillard and Chanel is not mentioned. For this, we must go back to the beginning of the actress’s career.
It was 2004 when the actress walked the red carpet dressed in Chanel at the premiere of A Long Engagement Sunday by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. In 2008, during the promotion of the film La Mome, directed by Olivier Dahan and in which she gave life to Edith Piaf, Marion Cotillard became the best actress of the year, winning the Oscar, the Cesar, the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. sheathed in a Chanel.
With a special connection to Chanel from the beginning, Thomas du Pre de Saint Maur, Chanel’s global general manager of Fragrances and Beauty, has chosen the actress because “there was no other choice, going back to a French actress means going back to the image of the Gallic femininity that is, in turn, the spirit of the Mansion”.
The Moon, two lovers and a dance
As for the announcement (which we are all looking forward to seeing), the person in charge of directing it was Johan Renck, director of the Chernobyl series, who had already collaborated with Chanel on previous occasions.
Together with Cotillard, the Swedish director has turned the Moonin the other protagonist of the bell, emphasizing the renewal character of the nocturnal celestial body. The Seine river in a Paris at night, a dance, two very complicit lovers and the magic of the moon. These are the ingredients of an advertisement that not only invites you to dream, but also reminds you that sometimes dreams do come true. Marion, clad in a large black cloak, gazes up at the sky near the Seine River. Suddenly, and immersed in a great halo of mystery, it takes off and reaches the moon. There, her fictional lover awaits her, the professional dancer Jeremie Belingard . Two people with a great connection who meet and start a very complicit dance on the very Moon.
After the dance, the lovers, intoxicated in their seduction, they take flight. “Their bodies, electrified by this lunar dance floor, abandon each other, until the grand finale when they fly together. In a breath, the woman is back on the bridge, she turns around and discovers the man behind her. side. They smile, happy”, describe from the Maison.
The piece has all the ingredients to cause the same hypnotic effect as that 1998 spot with which many of us have been dreaming all our lives.
A dress that is to dream
The dress has been made by Virginie Viard , Chanel’s creative fashion director. Made of gold lace, represents in the words of Viard “the past, the present and the future of Chanel; an icon”. The design is based on Coco’s dress with which Cecil Beatron immortalized her in 1937 and which Lagerfeld loved. “We modified it so Marion could dance,” he explains. The flower and leaf lace has been commissioned from the Lesage lacemakers. A creation that has required more than 900 hours of work .
Cotillard, who has walked many red carpets dressed as Chanel, officially becomes with this bell the face of the iconic No. 5, a perfume that perfectly represents the Chanel woman . Since Marilyn Monroe spoke of nudity dressed in the fragrance in 1954, actresses such as Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet andNicole Kidman have also become the female faces that have perfectly represented the Chanel woman, “who does not run away from herself, but faces herself,” they say from the house.
