CHANEL looks to the world of cinema for their latest The Iconic Handbag campaign featuring the renowned movie stars Brad Pitt and Chanel ambassador Penélope Cruz.
Photographed and directed by Inez & Vinoodh, the campaign takes its inspiration from the 1966 Claude Lelouch film A Man and A Woman, a motion picture delving into the emotions of falling in love.
The film takes place in the seaside resort Deauville, the home to Mademoiselle Chanel’s hat boutique of 1912. Serendipitously, the actress in the film carries a Chanel handbag, a personal accessory from her wardrobe, which she chose to wear during the romantic scenes of A Man and A Woman.
Stills from The Iconic Handbag campaign
The campaign is an almost word-for-word reproduction of the film building up to the iconic line ‘Do you have any rooms available?‘.
The easily recognisable silhouette is used as a prop throughout the reinterpretation to display various emotions, such as the hiding of concern as one hears its clasp fasten or notices Cruz caressing the quilted leather.
The handbag possesses allure and uniqueness and is a marker of courage, fantasy, audacity and freedom, an encouragement to be bold and take charge in becoming the heroine in our individual lives.
Stills from The Iconic Handbag campaign
The Chanel bag represents versatility, an accessory that can take one from a restless night to the rising of dawn. It is timeless, a wardrobe staple to be passed down throughout the generations, a piece that reappears repeatedly throughout collections in various colours, shapes and materials.
Emanating a sense of found freedom, Chanel’s Iconic Handbag is an amalgamation of the House’s past, present and future, it is a means of reinvention and an unwavering symbol of greatness.
by Nicole Pereira