In many previous posts in this blog I analysed the strong link between cinema and fashion, writing about designers who worked as costumiers or costume designers who contributed with their art to give films that special allure that makes audiences dream.
But, while film and fashion seemed to get along well, it often proved difficult to create a perfectly manufactured holy trinity by adding advertising to the cinema and fashion equation.
Indeed, despite many fashion houses started promoting their products through highly polished campaigns in the 80s enlisting famous directors, actors and actresses, many adverts still didn’t manage to hold any cinematic appeal as the main message – buy! – naturally seemed to prevail.
During the last few years, though, things changed with fashion houses doing satanic pacts with famous directors to create one mini-film, a trilogy or an entire short saga to advertise their products.
Fragrance madness in the 80s attracted many directors to shoot perfume adverts with fashion houses keen on paying to have the capitalistic message at the core of their ads blurred and merged into stories about strong passions and obsessions that had the power to bewitch the audience.
Swallowed by the perfume mania rife in those years David Lynch, shot in 1988 a series of “literary” adverts with quotes from Ernest Hemingway, Francis Scott Fitzgerald and D.H. Lawrence for Calvin Klein’s Obsession.
More perfume mania followed with Lynch shooting ads for Armani’s Giò (1992), Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium (1992), Lancome’s Tresor (1993), Jil Sander's Background (1993), Karl Lagerfeld (1994) and Gucci's fragrances (2007) and Dior's men’s fragrance Fahrenheit (2007).
Cinematic ads – especially ones advertising perfumes – soon became the norm: Dolce & Gabbana called Giuseppe Tornatore to shoot their perfume ad that featured Monica Bellucci as widow fatale, creating an entirely fake Sicily where funerals were accompanied by an Ennio Morricone soundtrack.
In 2004, post-Moulin Rouge, Chanel opted for an ad shot by Baz Luhrmann and featuring Nicole Kidman (and the only man on earth who didn’t know who Nicole Kidman was…).
Then last year things got even more complicated when the new Chanel N.5 ad directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet was launched on a symbolic date, 5th May 2009 - the fifth date of the fifth month of the year - to pay homage to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s lucky number.
The ad followed actress Audrey Tautou, starring as a mysterious woman travelling on a train from Paris to Istanbul and wearing a spellbinding fragrance, a sort of magic elixir that intoxicated a handsome young man.
The impression of watching a little film rather than an advert was given not only by the perfect details such as the train compartments made with original components bought from Venice or the locations chosen by Jeunet, such as the rich, colourful and chaotic markets around Istanbul, the Bosphorus at sundown and the supertankers crossing it, but also by the emotional power that Tautou managed to convey through her intense eyes and by Jeunet’s peculiar shots.
The director recreated the emotions evoked by Chanel’s scent in one of the most beautiful scenes: it’s night and Tautou is having trouble sleeping in her train compartment and the hypnotic rhythm of the train gently shakes the perfume bottle on her table, while the lights entering the windows hit the bottle projecting all around the actress golden reflections that envelop her in a mysterious and sensual aura. The ad could also be considered as the final installment of Jeunet and Tautou’s cinematographic history: the trilogy that started with Amélie (2001) and continued with A Very Long Engagement (2004) closed with an, erm, advert, albeit a cinematic one.
Chanel fans will have to wait until September to see what Martin Scorsese did for the fashion house's aftershave and, while we wonder who will be the next director on Chanel's list of future campaigns, fashionistas obsessed with haute couture and cinema can get a new thrill from the latest installment of the Lady Dior series.
Shot by David Lynch, “Lady Blue Shanghai” is the follow up to the Hitchcockian "Lady Noir", directed by Olivier Dahan, and "Lady Rouge", by music video and film director Jonas Akerlund.
Both the films featured actress Marion Cotillard, so it was only natural to have the actress again in the third (and last?) part of the saga celebrating the Lady Dior bag.
Though already presented in Paris a few weeks ago, Lynch’s 16-minute film was officially launched yesterday afternoon to coincide with Galliano’s Dior’s 2011 Cruise collection.
The latter, presented last night in Shanghai (one of the most fashionable cities at the moment also thanks to the 2010 Expo), channelled the 60s and the Nouvelle Vague, echoing in some of its elegant and chic designs (that verged towards haute couture for their embroideries and decorations) the style of cinematic icons such as Romy Schneider and Jeanne Moreau.
Galliano didn't include any homage to Chinese culture in this collection that was probably conceived more as a tribute to Shanghai as "the Paris of the East", the city's nickname in the inter-war years, and to its fashionable women known for their almost Parisian style in their taste and attitude.
Lynch shot "Lady Blue" in his trademark style, so mystery, flashbacks, a haunting soundtrack and some interesting shades of "David Lynch red" turn into vital elements in the film.
The short focuses on Cotillard finding a mysterious blue and squarish bag in her hotel room.
As security guards arrive to investigate, she starts reminiscing about having been to Shanghai before and following her Chinese lover up a building in front of Shanghai’s Pearl Tower.
Lynch avoided in "Lady Blue" all the main stereotypes that Shanghai could have inspired, Art Deco style, Shanghainese beauties such as actress Ruan Ling Yu and qipaos included, though echoes of the city in the '20s-'30s are clear during Cotillard's flashback.
Further elements about the film, including the poem that inspired the short, "Pipa Song" by Bai Juyi, about the sprinkling sound of a pipa instrument, like pearls falling on a jade plate that, somebody claims, inspired the building of the Pearl Tower (interestingly enough the ad Lynch shot for Armani was inspired by a poem the director wrote...), can be discovered on
the Lady Dior site.
The trend in these new films is to blur the commercial message in the background and make sure viewers remember the story rather than just the logos connected with the specific product advertised (in Lady Dior's case a bag that costs roughly $2,000...) .
As the love affair between fashion houses and cinematic adverts or films continues - last week the Quay Brothers presented in London their film for the new Comme des Garçons fragrance Wonderwood, while Karl Lagerfeld’s film Remember Now was screened in St Tropez in conjunction with Chanel’s Cruise collection - you wonder if this fashionable cinematic mania will allow us one day to see a honest film about the fashion industry with a credible plot, some great shots and not so many branded clothes and accessories being flashed to us from the big screen.
Time will tell, in the meantime the rush for that iconic and cinematic fashion advert continues and you can bet that, thanks to the new technologies available, competition amongst fashion houses to get the best director and the best effects will definitely increase.
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