Fragrance Analysis Erin Davies Fashion Communication and Promotion FASH10106
Fabulous women’s magazine, issue no. 12 Autumn and Winter 2015
Coco
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Chanel, the timeless brand that is the epitome of elegance and femininity are global leaders within the fashion industry. Their timeless elegance innovates and adapts throughout the eras while still affirming their classic Parisian aesthetic in Gabrielle Chanel’s well established image. This Chanel philosophy is at the heart of the fragrance Coco Mademoiselle, with the scent being described by Chanel as ‘oriental-fresh, a floral jasminerose accord, as light as a petal.’ The scent captures the subtlety and strength of Mademoiselle Chanel herself, whilst still being relevant to the modern woman today through it’s romantic and feminine notes.
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These values and ideals have been carried across all of Chanel’s previous fragrance adverts with there only being one other spokesperson for the brand, Kate Moss. This reflects the nature of the brand itself, priding themselves on upholding a consistent image that gives their consumers a character whose story they can engage with, and follow as each new campaign is developed. Since it’s launch in 2001, Kate had been the face of the fragrance campaigns for 6 years until she was succeeded by Keira in 2007. It’s interesting to witness the Kate Moss take on Coco Mademoiselle, as
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In April 2014 Keira Knightley yet again reprised her role as Gabrielle Chanel to become the face of Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle fragrance for the eighth consecutive year. The big idea behind the Coco Mademoiselle fragrance advert, shot by Mario Testino, is to promote the perfume that epitomises the spirit of Gabrielle Chanel herself. It captures the legendary elegance and femininity of Coco Chanel whilst still reflecting her ‘boyish allure’ (Coco - Inside CHANEL, 2013). This further signifies the uniqueness of the campaign, opposed to obvious girlish glamour, Coco Mademoiselle plays upon subtle and ageless Hollywood glamour that exceeds the test of time and epitomises the liberation for women that came to the forefront in the 1920s era, this idea of whimsical freedom is a feature of Coco’s personality that is at the very heart of the Chanel brand. The campaign also highlights their own kind of elegance, ‘Chanel elegance’. ‘Chanel elegance is an elegance, a spirit, a certain abrogation of feminine frilliness’ (CHANEL by Karl Inside CHANEL, 2013).
Inspirations are derived from the decade of the 1920s and the prominent social and cultural issues that helped define that era. Other inspirations that are presented in the advert could also be inspired by macros trends such as the trend for gender equality and female empowerment. The reason that such visual inspirations exist in the advert is in order to give the brand story a greater sense of authenticity and value by incorporating issues and ideas that further strengthen their reach to their consumer through the elements of sophistication, class and a free spirited nature that resonates through the brand image of Chanel.
she brings an element of edge and rebellion that is less prominent in Keira’s campaigns. However, this still links back to the big ideals that are at the heart of Coco Mademoiselle, elegance, luxury, female strength and primarily capturing the essence of Gabrielle Chanel’s personality and celebrating the ‘triumph of who she was’ (Coco by Karl - Inside CHANEL, 2013). The fragrance Coco Mademoiselle is intended to appeal to the younger generation of Chanel fragrance wearers opposed to the more classic and older woman, who favours the more timeless scent of Chanel No. 5, whilst still maintaing the ‘depth, breadth, and longevity of the very distinctive Chanel aesthetic’. (Gautier, 2011). Chanel are targeting the luxury market, competing with other high end competitors such as Prada, Gucci and Dior. By creating a fragrance line, Chanel allow consumers to seek access into the exclusivity of their brand by giving them a ‘piece’ of Chanel and also to ‘extend their offering’ to a lower market level (Posner 2011, p.g. 16).
The Coco Mademoiselle campaign references a number of social, cultural and historic references that gives the brand narrative depth. Primarily the image of Keira is a nod to Coco herself, emulating her important stance in fashion and her unique taste that shaped her beloved brand. The predominant social issue that existed around the 1920s, the era that the advert references, was the oppression of women. The years post war were truly the years that women’s rights, fashion and stance in society broke through the dominant ideology that women were inferior to men in the years before war. However, the 1920s gave way to the reign of Coco Chanel, who shaped the era, once saying that she ‘took the English masculine and made it feminine’ (Buxbaum 2005, p.g. 27). Women were cutting their hair, rouging their lips and sporting a bronzed glow that would have seemed preposterous preChanel. The time period also brought to the front ‘the flapper’, the young fashionable woman who ‘smoked, listened to jazz and talked about sex’, (Robinson and Ruff 2011, chp. 6) this is very much emulated in the carefree and whimsical styling of the campaign. The design equation for the advert campaign is the embodiment of Coco Chanel as a persona, and is heavily inspired by the classicism of the 1920s
era. The choice of model, Keira Knightley merges with the brand identity beautifully. As a figure in her field of work, Keira is at the height of her career, adding to the brand’s existing high profile exposure. Roland Barthes’ theory on semiotics helps to decode the advert here beautifully (Barthes, 1977). Keira resonates the beauty of the classic ‘English rose’ with the subtle rebellion that Coco Mademoiselle prides itself upon. This is evident in the the use of heavily defined eyeliner juxtaposed by her pale, rosy complexion. The use of exaggerated eyeliner and short hair reflects a non conformist, rebellious attitude that gives the brand a youthful and edgy narrative that is unlike most of their competitors. Keira’s short hair and make up also exude the essence of Gabrielle Chanel and the time period, encapsulating the spirit of the unconventional and boyish charm of the ‘flapper’. In terms of costume, Keira’s dress also conforms to the aesthetic of a ‘flapper’ with the use of shimmering beading that is a subtle nod to Coco Chanel’s love of diamonds and how she saw them as stars of the Parisian sky, in her words, she wished to ‘shower women in constellations’ (Chanel and the diamond - Inside CHANEL, 2013). The colour of white featured in the dress was also selected for the intended purpose of ‘capturing light, illuminating the face, enhancing beauty’ (The Colours - Inside CHANEL, 2013). Additionally there is also a reference to Chanel’s brand history with the use of the colour white, with it being a reference to the iconic original Chanel suit and also the purity of Coco Chanel’s trademark pearls. The advert also features the fragrance bottle that is a natural evolution from the Chanel No 5. silhouette. The classic and strong structure symbolises the sleek and sophisticated nature of the brand itself whilst still maintaining it’s femininity through the dusky pink colour feature colour and type that is instantly recognisable to any lover of the brand.
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The advert itself is featured as a double page spread in many popular high fashion magazines, most notably in Vogue. Vogue is the perfect fit for a Chanel campaign as ’92% of Vogue readers buy designer fashion and 93% own premium beauty’ (Conde Nast 2013, p.g. 3) which enables Chanel to accurately target their consumer. In the words of Vogue, ‘Vogue readers spend more on fashion each year than readers of Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar’ (Conde Nast 2013, p.g. 2013) therefore it only seems fit that the most popular woman’s fashion magazine should contain
the campaign of one of fashion’s biggest luxury brands. On the whole, I feel the advert is very successful in projecting to their intended audience, the advert contains enough visual codes that relate to the essence of Gabrielle Chanel and the message of sophistication while also furthering their reach by referring to the 1920s era as a whole to appeal to create a sense of timelessness that is relatable to anyone.
(no date). Available at: http:// digital-assets.condenast.co.uk. s3.amazonaws.com/static/condenast/ VOGUE%20Media%20Kit%2024032015.pdf (Accessed: 27 March 2015).
(Accessed: 27 March 2015).
Barthes, R. and Heath, S. (1977) Image, music, text. London: HarperCollins Distribution Services. Buxbaum, G. (2005)
Posner, H. (2011) Marketing fashion. London: Laurence King Pub.
Icons of Fashion: The 20th Century. 2nd edn. Germany: Prestel Publishing. CHANEL (2013) ‘CHANEL by Karl - Inside CHANEL’, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=kSVmNhbiVm4&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 27 March 2015).
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CHANEL (2013) ‘Coco by Karl - Inside CHANEL’, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2B5kxdf7Ev8&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 27 March 2015). CHANEL (2013) ‘Chanel and the diamond - Inside CHANEL’, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=GskJqjBudsQ&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 27 March 2015).
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CHANEL (2013) ‘Coco - Inside CHANEL’, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=2G88zqPxJ00&feature=youtu.be (Accessed: 27 March 2015). CHANEL (2014) ‘The Colors - Inside CHANEL’, YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=TaCdAscgpU0&feature=youtu.be
Gautier, J. (2011) Chanel: the vocabulary of style. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press
Robinson, T. A. and Ruff, L. D. (2011) Out of the Mouths of Babes: Girl Evangelists in the Flapper Era. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
http://www.vogue.co.uk/ news/2006/04/26/keira-is-the-faceof-chanel http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/197624 http://www.vogue.co.uk/spy/biographies/coco-chanel-biography http://glamourdaze.com/history-of-womens-fash
Fig. 1 - http://www.secondcitystyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/coco-chanel211.jpg Fig. 2 - http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5170e742e4b0c4daede21149/523d3299e4b0bf3851d3221f/523d32cae4b0496cd9c51326/1379742472509/ Chanel+Suit.jpg Fig. 3 - http://glamazondiarie. wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Chanel-Coco-Mademoiselle_02.jpg Fig. 4 - http://www.supermodelstars.com/advertisings/chanel/ images/chanel-cocomademoiselle-20050101-katemoss.jpg Fig. 5 - http://media.photobucket.com/user/guggigrrrl/media/ Chanel.jpg.html?filters%5bterm%5d=chanel&filters%5bprimary%5d=images Fig. 6 - https://contactsheets. files.wordpress.com/2012/08/cocomademoiselle-2004-kate-moss-shotby-michael-thompson.jpg Fig. 7 - https://contactsheets. files.wordpress.com/2012/08/ coco-mademoiselle-2008-keira-knightley-shot-by-ellen-von-unwerth.jpg
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Fig. 8 - http://www.delionparfum.com/image/perfume/CHANEL%20 COCO%20MADEMOISELLE2.jpg