If you were a CHANEL perfume, which would you be, and what would it reveal about your personality? For fragrance lovers, the perfumes we wear inevitably become part of our personalities – invisible messages that may give passers-by clues to your character, inviting intrigue; or they may serve as a scented cloak, beneath which you can protect yourself from the world’s gaze. For CHANEL, ‘…fragrance is considered and composed as an invisible item of clothing.’
Gabrielle Chanel’s vision and perfumer Olivier Polge’s contemporary interpretation of it are woven through each of what they rather wonderfully call ‘olfactory garments’ – adhering to Chanel’s vision that went beyond fashion and trends. We love that CHANEL is exploring this theme of asserting your presence, expressing your personality and creating your style with the scent you choose to wear that day. We certainly find that’s how we wear perfume – do you want to magnify the mood you’re in or change it completely? Do you ‘match’ your scent to your outfit and your plans for the day, or use it to give a hint at what lies beneath…?
The new campaign uses deliciously dreamy imagery – bodies dressed in shadows or bathed in sunlight, interwoven with archive clips of skilled artisans at the atelier, of vintage fashion shows, and the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe insouciantly entangled in white sheets, all with Vanessa Paradis lending her voice as narrator. And even if you don’t undertstand the French commentary, goodness it just sounds divine! We’re delighted to share the film with you, below, so dive in to the glamour…
The first chapter in this narrative is named “I am an idea”, presented as a scented ‘manifesto’, and laying the foundation for CHANEL fragrance creation, as they say in their own words…
‘I AM AN IDEA
A CHANEL perfume is an idea Grasped, developed, expressed Like an item of clothing Imagined, assembled, tailored.
A CHANEL perfume is a precious material A fabric woven from images, spun from landscapes.
A CHANEL perfume is a play of shadows and light Which reveals nudity and protects intimacy A set of jewelry and an abstraction A suit of armor and a construction. A CHANEL perfume is an invisible negligee, one that Marilyn chose to adorn her nights.
A CHANEL perfume is the scent of the self Reminiscence of childhood.
A CHANEL perfume is a style, an allure An elegance, a signature. An item of clothing.
A CHANEL perfume is a perfume that chose me For what I am, for what I want. A perfume that says “I.”
I AM A CHANEL PERFUME.’
So now, we wonder… which CHANEL perfume would you be…?
