Brad Pitt’s confirmed as the next face of Chanel No 5!
http://chanel.com/-forthefirsttime
Check out the link for a very fun video to watch, although I do question some of the “facts” listed within by the Marketing team. (Chanel was definitely not the first couturier to create a perfume for her own clothing line, and aldehydes were used for perfumery quite awhile before Beau was commissioned to create No 5 - as the video subtly tries to insinuate.) Take it with a pinch of salt because history is rewritten by the conqueror, and Chanel No 5 has certainly conquered the fragrance Market for nearly a century.
Those interested in smelling it should note that perfume formulas are different between concentrations. You don’t simply dump more alcohol in a parfum to make an EDP or EDT. Each has it’s own formula and proportion of ingredients. Chanel No 5’s pure parfum version and the Eau de Toilette versions are truer to the original Ernest Beaux formulas. The EDP did not exist originally and was added to the line in more recent years so if you want to have an idea what No 5 might have smelt like back in its day, the parfum or EDT are the better references.
For those interested in the debate and intrigue around its formula, its originality, and the possibly-shady business tactics behind its growth, pick up the Secret of Chanel No. 5 by T. J. Mazzeo!
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And P.S. I do think it’s quite a neat idea to have a hot man be the face of a fragrance, although it is by no means a “first” either. (I think Brad brings a lot more class to the brand than the over-botoxed Kidman, but that’s just me.) In Asia (South Korea especially), cosmetic companies often get popular male actors and singers to be the “face” of new products because they need to bring in the women - and well, it gets the job done.
