The campaign – photographed and directed by Inez & Vinoodh – repeats almost word for word, shot by shot, some of the film’s original sequences.
During scenes set in Deauville – the seaside resort where Mademoiselle Chanel opened a hat boutique bearing her name in 1912 – A Man and A Woman sees actress Anouk Aimée carrying a CHANEL handbag as love erupts.
The bag we see in Lelouch’s film was Aimée’s own bag, her favourite one, which she wore both on and off screen.
“Placed on the table in a hotel restaurant, between the man and the woman, the legendary bag symbolises everything that, at some point in our lives, gives us the courage to assert our deepest desires,” CHANEL says.
“A unique and special moment. The bag conveys our audacity, the audacity to finally become the heroine of our own lives.”
CHANEL creative director Virginie Viard has always been passionate about cinema – particularly the New Wave – and wanted to pay tribute to Lelouch’s masterpiece with the campaign.
The campaign is a celebration of the CHANEL bag, described by the Maison as “an emblem” that “metamorphoses according to the mood… a day bag to be worn in the evening, a faithful companion from a sleepless night to rising at dawn”.
“It lasts a lifetime, to then be handed down from generation to generation. Collection after collection, it appears in countless variations of colour, shape and material,” says CHANEL.
“Imbued with meaning, contrast and mystery, it exudes a sense of freedom. It is a coat of arms slung over the shoulder, a liberated silhouette that reveals something about the wearer.
“It bears within it the very history of the House of CHANEL, its present, past and future, woven together like the links of its interlacing chains and leather ribbons.”
Watch the campaign film below:
