Chanel No. 5 spokeswoman Gisele Bündchen rides the waves this fall in the perfume campaign’s new short film, The One That I Want, directed by Baz Luhrmann. It’s a collaboration between the world’s highest-paid model (Gisele earned $47 million last year) and one of Hollywood’s most talented directors, for the bestselling iconic 1921 fragrance. What’s not to love?
On October 13, Chanel released two photos of the model with a surfboard and a 15-second teaser. The actual film was released on the morning of October 15. It begins with Gisele riding massive waves in a Chanel wet-suit with a Chanel surfboard, then segues into scenes of her raising a child, followed by snippets of her with big wavy hair in a sparkly gold dress. In essence, we see the many facets of the modern woman: the athlete, the mother, the fashionista. But throughout it all, the theme of love is present. Actor Michiel Huisman plays Gisele’s lover. We see her cry over him while speeding through New York City in a vintage convertible, and we see her face light up with joy after they kiss; their relationship and the tensions present are very real.
Musician Lo-Fang sets the mood for the 3 minute, 16 second film with his seductive rendition of Olivia Newton John’s song for Grease, The One That I Want. His slower, more dramatic version of the song is almost unrecognizable from Olivia Newton John’s original, but the underlying theme of love in bloom is the same.
Perhaps surfing isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Chanel No. 5. But the athletic-meets-glam approach to this new ad harks back to Coco Chanel’s early designs, which emphasized practical sportswear and the use of jersey. And Gisele’s character portrays the modern woman, who wears many hats, similar to Coco herself. “It’s the spirit of Coco Chanel that has continued to influence the house. She was about paradoxes in character–one minute she’d be in trousers on the beach, the next she’d be in a beautiful frock,” Luhrmann told Vogue at a press conference on October 13. The campaign video subtly conveys that Chanel No. 5 is the multifaceted woman’s fragrance of choice. It’s the fragrance that one can surf in, socialize in, be romantic in.
Read more at Forbes.