The new Chanel No.5 advertising campaign has made a splash since its release last week. The buzz is driven not only from featuring Gisele Bundchen fabulously sporting a wetsuit and glamorous outfits and also from the beautiful ballad performed by up-and-coming American artist Lo-Fang, who appears in the ad by Baz Luhrmann, the director of Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby.
The melody may not sound familiar but fans of the 1978 Grease movie may well recognise the lyrics sung by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in upbeat style. Lo-Fang's sublime version of You're The One That I Want is the backbone, not an accompaniment to the roughly three-minute film that also stars Michiel Huisman from TV series Game of Thrones.
"There's no dialogue in this little film. The song itself is the narration. It's the thoughts inside the man's head. He plays the subtext not the idea on top,'' said Luhrmann in a behind-the-scenes video about the film, titled The One That I Want.
The song is a classic, the director added, which can move through time. Reinterpreted in many ways and at different times, it still carries its fundamental meaning.
A part of the lyrics — "To my heart I must be true" — is written on a note left by Huisman, who leaves the beach house before Bundchen comes back from surfing. She finds it, spritzes the classic No.5, puts on lipstick, sends her daughter to school before going out to work as a supermodel, who leaves the shoot to drive across New York City to meet her man.
"The Chanel woman can be with herself on a beach, can be with her child, can have an aspirational and fulfilling work life, and at the same time she can have a true relationship; she can have romance," said Luhrmann. "And in the end, the Chanel woman chooses love."
Bundchen was cast for the role because she's emblematic of her time — a dynamic woman, a model, a mother, businesswoman and philanthropist. She represents a woman who struggles to make time for everything — herself, family, career and love – but ultimately listens to her heart.
Back in 2004, the Chanel muse Nicole Kidman portrayed a woman who decided to break free from it all, only to return to reality, renouncing her passions. The Moulin Rouge!-inspired No.5 film was also directed by Luhrmann.
Kidman and Bundchen follow in the footsteps of beauty icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Catherine Deneuve, and Carole Bouquet in continuing the No.5 legend, which began in 1921.
The fashion house's first perfume was created by Ernest Beaux after Coco Chanel asked him to reflect her vision of modern femininity through a fragrance.
Five being her lucky number, the French couturier selected the fifth submission — a breakthrough by Beaux who made it the first ever fragrance with extensive amounts of aldehydes. Lighter versions of the perfume now include Eau de Toilette and Eau Premiere.
Back in 1921, the fragrance reflected Coco Chanel's vision of modern femininity.
