Chanel No 5: the Smell of Success

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The New York Sun

Take a major Hollywood film star, an internationally renowned designer, and a fabulous 18th-century mansion on the Left Bank of Paris. Add a generous dose of European royalty, a sprinkling of some of the wealthiest couture customers in the world, and a clutch of the best-dressed designers, celebrities, pop stars, actresses, and beautiful models. Scent the air with the musky aroma of hundreds of Diptyque Pomander candles, tent the magnificent courtyard in white muslin in case of rain, and put the champagne on ice.


Thus, the scene was set for one of the most glamorous and exclusive affairs of the Paris pret-a-porter season – the private dinner Karl Lagerfeld hosted for Nicole Kidman, the new “face” of Chanel No 5, and Baz Luhrmann, the Australian director, at his home, the Hotel Pozzo di Borgo.


The front of the invitations featured a drawing by Mr. Lagerfeld of Ms. Kidman wearing a gown with a billowing train in palest pink, ostrich feathers and a yard-long necklace of 350 diamonds, the ensemble she wears in the opening scenes of the new No 5 advert, which was conceived and directed by Mr. Luhrmann.


The dress code, “five o’clock and later,” was interpreted in different ways. Sofia Coppola wore white, Grecianlook Prada; the editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour, was in Chanel gold tweed, straight off the catwalk, while the editor of French Vogue, Carine Roitfeld, was in vintage 1975 Yves Saint Laurent.


Delphine Arnault, daughter of the LVMH tycoon, Bernard Arnault, previewed a ruffled, tulle Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs dress from next spring/summer’s collection; Stella Mc-Cartney Willis wore Stella; and Jefferson Hack, a Christian Dior by Hedi Sli mane, pale blue, officers’ mess jacket and jeans.


Linda Evangelista, who had opened the Chanel spring/summer 2005 show earlier in the day, had flown back to Canada for her brother’s wedding, but fellow former supermodels were there in force: Nadja Auermann, Shalom Harlow, and Amber Valletta were all in vintage Chanel, while Eva Herzigova wore a white lace gypsy blouse with her favorite Paper, Denim & Cloth jeans.


Ms. Kidman outshone them all, her pale skin glowing against the rich pewter beadwork of her short, strapless, Chanel couture dress.


Sipping champagne, we previewed the new No 5 ad, which will be released for television and cinemas on November 25. It is the biggest advertising and promotional project Chanel has ever undertaken, and is rumored to have cost well over $9 million.


Lasting three minutes, it is a miniature Baz Luhrmann movie, shot in the manner of Moulin Rouge and starring Ms. Kidman and the Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro in a romantic, doomed – and, one assumes, illicit – love tryst, set to Debussy’s Clair de Lune.


“It was great fun,” Ms. Kidman told me. “Baz and I talked about every love story from Romeo and Juliet onwards.”


She is currently finishing filming of “Bewitched.” And after that?


“I’m taking some time off.”


Dinner was served in the marquee. Lobster with roasted figs was followed by seabass and then un morceau of dessert – chocolate mousse hiding a cache of raspberries and vanilla ice-cream.


After dinner came dancing and while some guests boogied away until 3 a.m., Ms. Kidman slipped away. The new face of No 5, after all, must have her beauty sleep.


The New York Sun

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