Model Fernanda Tavares for Guerlain Shalimar. I think this was shot in 2001. The title comes from an article in the New York Times about the print ads for Shalimar shot by Annie Leibowitz that same year (see image below the jump, possibly NSFW): columnist Mary Tannen notes that...
Guerlain is throwing fresh advertising money at this old classic, hoping to lure a new generation to the scent that scandalized the world of their great-grandmothers when it was said that there were three things a lady must never do: smoke cigarettes, dance the tango and wear Shalimar.
Shalimar never lost its power to shock...
I remember that ad! Beautiful in it’s simplicity. Although I’ve just about had it with strategically placed (or Photoshopped) hair over breasts. I especially hate it when they completely airbrush out the nipples a la Victoria’s Secret. To me it draw more attention to the breasts and makes the poor models look like aliens! I love my country (USA!) but I really think it’s about time we got over our Puritanical view of the human body.
Well said, photo shop is removing everything interesting and morphing the body (or face) into a generic image of sensuality.
For a minute I didn’t realize you were talking about the print ad and I was confused! Yes, it’s lovely, although wonder if it says enough about Shalimar….it kind of could be for anything, you know? But I often think that of perfume ads.
Sorry, Robin! Thought about that after the post, natch. But I do like the commercial, too though I don’t ever remember seeing that one. You’re right, though, it could be an ad for a hotel or travel or….etc.
I don’t care for the bare-breasted ads for Shalimar. But Guerlain does have to market it towards the 21st century, where nakedness = sexiness. Apparently.
It’s a shame really that nakedness=sexy to the younger crowd. It takes all the fun out of getting naked to begin with. Whatever happened to enjoying the journey and not just the final destination? My DH prefers slightly revealing to letting it all hang out anyday. That way he gets to think about it longer…
And besides I never feel naked when I am wearing my perfume anyways…*wink-wink-nudge-nudge* yeah-go ahead and groan but you know ya’ll feel naked if you don’t wear any!
Yep, agreed.
Never truer words spoken, ladies!
Boy the posts seem to be about absolutes today: People with signatures are inflexible, smoking, tango, and Shalimar are verboten.
Just makes me want to be contrary-except for the smoking of course.
They really do! And everyone wants to be contrary today
When I see ultra thin girls standing like that, I often wonder how they have room for all the same internal organs I do.
I certainly have a few more than she does.
I absolutely love that ad, though I do not remember it (I had toddlers in 2001 so basically I don’t remember a thing, we can just cancel out those years entirely).
It is so intriguing, simultaneously colorful and dark, and visually puzzling at points… wow. Thanks for the post Robin!
I’m sure that’s why I didn’t see it either! And wouldn’t have paid attention if I did see it.
I love the print ad but the commercial just seems silly. I just… I don’t think of Shalimar as being brown and mauve and brown. Red and copper, maybe. Or gold. Plush train car with red velvet seating, or an opera house.
Also, though I love Shalimar (especially the parfum in the heat) but it just doesn’t shock me. Maybe I’m too young? It certainly deserves to be where it sits in perfume history.
Here’s the usual question: can a bloke pull out Shalimar? I really like it, I think it’s not absolutely femininre, and yet -after all, fragrance in my opinion is genderless.
I had a sample, wore it a few times, no one noticed, and I enjoyed it immensely, it is the most delicate and charming vanilla note ever.
Still, can a guy wear Shalimar?
I’d be fascinated to smell it on a guy. I’d be following him down the street, I think. I’d never thought of Shalimar as ‘delicate and charming’ exactly, but now you mention it, on a guy that sounds completely right.
I do and, not to toot my own horn, I think I smell fantastic.
That NY Times article is interesting, although I had never associated Youth Dew with the big Orientals of the 80s. It’s a 50s job, of course, and it has not, as far as I know, been marketed as an Oriental. I mean that the although the juice is dark brown, the packaging has generally been that clean, bathroom-y pastel green. And not a naked lady in sight. Innocent on the outside, dark and sexy on the inside!
yes, that image, peculiarly yin and yang…if she just stood there naturally, with her big hands and strong body, with her real ni**les, poking men in the eye, giving life, without the alien photoshopping…wow, she could change the world…
I wonder if photoshop is the new way of making females into eunuchs…
sorry, getting little repercharges of post-feminist ideology from this!
Does anyone know about the music in the video? I keep playing it because it’s very haunting and simply beautiful! Is there a longer version of it anywhere?