'who knows if the moon is a balloon, coming out of a keen city in the sky - filled with pretty people?'
E.E Cummings
[miss dior cherie print ad, tfs]
Watching the most recent episode of gossip girl and what should puncture my viewing but a lovely advertisement for miss dior cherie. Actually owning the perfume myself, although it is not one of the ones i wear in rotation although sometimes i dab it on when i leave for a night out, i was naturally intrigued, but even more so when i discovered that the commercial was filmed and directed by none other than the stylish and chic sofia coppola.
I love her style, both sartorially and in film. Her directorial perspective is really engaging, and i know there were a lot of people who hated marie antoinette, but i really really really loved it. Yes, the dialogue was clunky at times, but i just loved the way that she presented versailles. Extravagant, yes of course, to a fault, but ostensibly young. That is how i always pictured versailles in the time of Marie Antoinette, a court of youth finally liberated at the death of the playboy king and allowed to really roam free and left unchecked. Marie Antoinette and her silly friends gambling the night (and fortunes of france) away, drinking themselves to oblivion, drunk on youth and its invincibility... Decadence that is not a result of deliberate disdain, but rather that of hopeless naivety and nonchalance.
Anyway, back to the ad in question. It stars the lovely Maryna Linchuk frolicking in the streets of paris to the strains of brigitte bardot's 'je joue', which of course is the song i would frolic to in paris given the opportunity. Either that or something by serge gainsbourg or edith piaf, but that is, of course, by the by. So this gorgeous model then does what girls possessing her beauty, body and stature do... (f)rock up to the dior atelier for an 'impromptu fitting' (quote unquote style.com) for a fabulous dress.
If that doesn't get me yearning to spray this perfume all over me then i don't know what will?!
The perfume business is an intriguing one indeed. It is founded on the basis of desire. In one sense, perfume is inviting and alluring, it covers the body in luscious scent that simply calls out for attention. That is the practical purpose of perfume, indeed. No, the more cynical purpose of perfume is based on a less amorous form of desire. As the CEO of dior, Sidney Toledano, himself said, and i paraphrase because i cannot remember the exact words, the whole idea of perfume is to allow all women an access point into what is, essentially, an unreachable and extremely high fashion brand. Haute Couture in all its extreme fabulousness is unattainable for more than 95% of the world's women, but by purchasing the perfume and spritzing it liberally over their body women of all walks of life can buy into the world of Dior and its image, for a mere $95. A small price to pay for the semblance of chic.
And so the purpose of hiring Sofia Coppola to create this piece of wonderful frippery that is fresh and fun and insouciant in the manner of those effortless hipsters that everyone and their mother is wishing to emulate these days, is to allow the young(er) girl/woman their own access point into Dior. For most young girls haute couture is out of sight and out of mind. Even the ready to wear can be of no interest to them. But Dior as a brand, and the whole image that it represents is something different indeed. They may not even be fashionably inclined or interested, but an advertisement such as this would create for them the world of parisian chic, simple but oh-so-cool, painfully hip even, which is something that a lot of young girls/women would commit murder for. They buy the perfume, and with a little spritz they too become the leggy Maryna, frolicking without a care and carrying a bundle of balloons that lift her into the air.
Like i have maintained and emphasised all along. Fashion is fantasy. And there is no bigger fantasy than the one created by Perfume.
[behind the scenes on the shoot... fashionologie via tfs]
X
ps. i'm back! i've missed you all incredibly, but hopefully my scheduled posts made it seem as if i'd never left! haha. i hope to reply to your comments and get round to checking all your lovely blogs tomorrow. This saturday is my formal though, and i still need some shoes and jewellery. wish me luck in my quest!
Oh, and i was given this lovely award by the tea drinking english rose. how very kind of her! it made me feel all special when i returned from the beach a little sun-kissed (a euphemism for burnt if i ever saw one) and with sand in my hair.
I would like to pass it on to
and 10.17
much love!
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