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| Coco Chanel |
Chanel is a
fashion brand that was born in Paris in 1910. Its official designer
is Coco Chanel and she specializes
in luxury articles like haute couture clothes, hand bags, perfumes and
cosmetics. Coco Chanel was a daring and revolutionary woman of that age. She
was a creative trend setter who introduced very innovative designs.
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| Perfume |
But now we are
going to talk about her advertisements. Especially we are going to talk about a
TV ad that has caused a lot of impact in the media and of course in general
society. It was created in 2004, and the product of this commercial was the
Chanel No.5 perfume. The
artistic director of the company, Jacques Helleu, had specifically asked Baz Luhrmann, director
of Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet, to do this
spot. Baz Luhrmann
follows his own over- the-top and theatrical cinematic aesthetics, and it seems
that we are watching a spin off of the Moulin Rouge movie. Obviously, the ad
has two versions, one for TV, and another for cinema, which was longer than the
first one and was about four minutes long.
The main actress
(in Moulin Rouge) was Nicole Kidman,
who characterized Marilyn Monroe. In the movie she is a famous person and
is being chased by paparazzi, meanwhile she falls in love with a writer and
they live a romantic and fleeting adventure. In the ad, she disappears from
this world one night because she wants to forget the pressure of being famous
for a while. She gets into a taxi to escape from the paparazzi and here she meets
the man who will star in the romantic story of the ad.
But the
principal reason for choosing this spot as one of the most important in the
history of advertising is its budget. The video of Nicole Kidman was one
of the most expensive in the world. The ad cost 33 million dollars. The first
time it was shown was in 2004 in the leading cinemas of the EEUU, on the first
of November. A few days later the ad was aired on TV. Moreover, Nicole Kidman
was the best paid actress of commercials in the world, with 3.71 million
dollars, which is the same as 928.800 dollars per minute.
Apart from this
ad, Chanel has done more advertisement campaigns where the main actresses
were Coco Chanel, Catherine Deneuve, Ali McGraw, Candice Bergen and Carole Bouquet. But Marilyn
Monroe was her best brand ambassador.
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| Marilyn Monroe |
Marilyn Monroe was an icon of the era, the
sensuality queen and an artistic myth. The most famous incident was in 1955,
when Chanel No.5 was the most famous and recognized perfume in the world, a
journalist asked her what she wore to bed. Immediately she answered, “Only a
few drops of Chanel No.5”. Many years later, in 2004, another big star of
Hollywood took the lead role. Nicole Kidman, the Australian actress who was
chosen because of her exceptional smartness and her ability to transmit the
spirit of modernity of Chanel. She was born on June 20, 1967 and has been
featured in a lot of movies. This fact has given her the opportunity to win an
Oscar, 2 Golden Globes and a Bafta. So this proves that today, Nicole
Kidman is one of the most important film stars in the world.
As for the
filming of this extravagant commercial, we know that Jacques Helleu, artistic
director of Chanel, travelled to L.A. to interview N. Kidman for an hour.
Nineteen months after this meeting, they started to film the ad in Sidney. The
duration of the filming was only five days but in contrast, the preparation of
it took up a lot of time. Lots of costume tests in Paris and London. Meetings
with all the technical groups and at the same time meetings with the artistic
directors responsible for the ad.
THE SPECIAL DRESSES
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| Feather dress |
In the short
film of Chanel No.5 we can see two special dresses that the main actress wore.
On one hand, we are going to talk about the dress with pink tulle,
embroidered with a cascade of ostrich feathers made, of course, by haute
couture Chanel designers. The process of embroidering took about seven hundred
hours and more than ten people worked on it. This task required lot of patience
and concentration with the unique aim: reach perfection.
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| The jewel of Chanel No.5 |
On the other hand, we
will talk about the black dress. It was a velvet dress including a spectacular
neckline at the back because Nicole wanted the dress to be very sexy. Also, the
company wanted to show the famous necklace with the number five and it was the
best option to do that with elegance. This necklace was made with diamonds,
valued at 40 million dollars. Three Chanel people travelled to Australia to
adjust the special jewelry and off course it was the unique clear reference
about the perfume in that ad.
Finally, we know today that this spot is an icon in advertising, not only
for perfume campaigns, but also for other merchandise. Many reasons prove that
it is true, the way the video is made: the filmic style (slices of movies) or
the huge investment that had been necessary to go ahead with the project. For
indeed, this advertisement is remembered as the most expensive in the world.
TERESA FACUNDO TARAZONA
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