Chanel’s short starring Brad Pitt and Penélope Cruz: the brand’s AW24 show in Paris surprised attendees with a video inspired by an iconic French film and celebrating Chanel’s signature quilted bag
While you may think that hiring two A-list actors for a campaign is nothing new, there is a deeper connection between the original film and the video, which was directed by photography duo Inez and Vinoodh and also stars Dutch model Rianne Van Rompaey.
In the original film, starring Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant, Aimée is shown carrying an original Chanel bag. It wasn’t a prop but actually belonged to her, Chanel’s president of fashion Bruno Pavlovsky explained in an interview on the day of the show, after revealing that the video is part of a handbag campaign that will be unveiled globally on March 27.
“The bag wasn’t product placement,” he says. “It was her daily bag. Claude Lelouch told us [himself]. She just put the bag on the table.” (Lelouch also appears in the Chanel film – he’s the man walking on the beach.)
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Cruz is a long-time Chanel ambassador while Pitt has previously starred in a campaign for Chanel No 5, the brand’s signature fragrance. Getting access to such A-list celebrities is par for the course for Chanel, a brand that truly cultivates the relationships with its ambassadors, as Pavlovsky explains.
“Virginie is doing amazing collections and playing with accessories and bags and offering something very unique but very Chanel, and celebrities have their own take on that.”
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Something that many of these celebrities have in common is that they’re not on social media, an aspect of their public persona that another brand would see as a deal breaker when choosing who to work with.
Pavlovsky and his team, however, are far from worried about that, and instead want to foster a genuine bond with the people they work with: “It’s more about the connection we want to create with them; about authenticity, not just for commercial reasons … that is much stronger and their contribution is much more qualitative because you can trust them and they’re comfortable and happy.”
- In surprising attendees at Paris Fashion Week with a short film starring Brad Pitt and Penélope Cruz, Chanel set the tone for a show inspired by Coco Chanel’s boutique in Normandy
- An emotional Cruz was present at Virginie Viard’s latest show; she joins Kristen Stewart, Margot Robbie and Vanessa Paradis – brand ambassadors who make up the Chanel ‘ecosystem’