Fashion,Style & Beauty on Fashion Girls

Fragrance is something that will add whatever sense you want to your apparels, you can be sexy, cute, sweet, elegant or whatever else with one same apparel, just with a little help from different fragrance. It’s like every woman has some sort of obsession with fragrance. So as we also love Gucci, the Gucci Guilty is coming, the fragrance inspired by Streisand.

Yesterday, we got a sneak preview of Gucci’s upcoming fragrance, Gucci Guilty. We learned about the scent’s composition, the inspiration from Streisand and the Frank Miller-directed TV commercial starring Evan Rachel Wood. Today, let’s share the information on this new fragrance.

First, the fragrance: The top notes are mandarin and pink peppercorn; middle notes are fruit and lavender; and base notes are amber and patchouli. It smells good, but the amber and patchouli are a little much for me, personally.

The name: Apparently, Gucci’s creative director Frida Giannini is a big Streisand fan. The name “Guilty” came to her while she was in her car listening to a Streisand song of the same name. Another source of inspiration for the fragrance? The cover of the 1976 film A Star Is Born starring Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. In fact the resemblance to the print ad is almost striking.

The bottle: The bottle is awesome. It’s Gucci’s first perfume bottle to feature the interlocking G’s and it almost looks like it’s hollow from the front while the liquid is more visible from the sides. It’s simple and chic, has a retro/art deco feel and would just look really pretty on top of my dresser.

The ad campaign: Apparently, Gucci Guilty’s ad campaign is the brand’s biggest ever. As you may know, a 30-second trailer started buzzing around the internet a week or so ago for Frank Miller’s Gucci Guilty, which will debut as a 60-second commercial on September 12th during the MTV Video Music Awards. The short film was shot in front of a green screen in Fellini’s studio in Rome. We got to see a slightly racier version yesterday and let’s just say you get to see more than just a couple of silhouettes undressing. We also learned that all of the tattoos are Evan’s own.

The casting: Frida wanted a girl who embodied the idea of the “Guilty” character, which is basically girly with a sexy edge (hence the “guilt”). As far as the choice of Chris Evans, whose last name happens to be his love interest’s first, they mentioned something about all these super hero movies he’s starring in; so perhaps that’s the direction they wanted to go in with the character.

Gucci Guilty will hit stores in mid-September and will include a lotion, shower gel and shimmer powder. We’re not sure on the price, but it will be tough to call this one a guilt-free purchase!

OK, that’s all we’ve got on this upcoming Gucci Guilty. And guilty or not, I definitely want to get my hands on this little cutie, even just for the cute bottle.

In the fashion industry, one important thing is to choose the right faces for your products, and usually the faces are either models or celebrities. For us ordinary people, one big feast (besides the gorgeous designs) fashion gives us is the glamorous ad campaigns. We’re actually happy to see a fashion ad campaign coming out every time, and the question is: Which face you want to see? Models? Or celebrities?

Well, anyway, this years, it looks like you’ll see more models, it has been said that models continue to book campaigns over celebrities.

This morning, WWD published a story about models’ edging out celebrities in fall campaigns.

The publication says that European houses have booked more models than celebrities for their recent ads, and that American houses—which tend to favor models over celebrities, anyways—will likely continue in this vein for fall as well. The one exception? Madonna for Dolce & Gabbana.

YSL’s Stefano Pilati and Gucci’s Frida Giannini agree that models are the preferred choice. Pilati, who is shooting fall ads with Daria Werbowy as I write this, said, “Actresses are fantastic, but they’re not models and it’s not easy. [Actresses] have an attitude, but will never be the fashion attitude. To me, fashion photography is with a model; otherwise, it’s a portrait.”

Giannini quips, “The other issue with celebrities is that they are characters who are often associated with a certain film. I prefer a strong, generic face that’s not related to any world—whether that be music or Hollywood.” Meanwhile, Brazilian beauty Raquel Zimmermann is set to star in Gucci’s latest campaigns.

WWD’s sources provided other examples: Balenciaga will cast ten models this season, among them Karen Elson and Stella Tennant; Louis Vuitton’s ads—recently shot by Steven Meisel—will feature Elson, Natalia Vodianova and Christy Turlington; and the Roberto Cavalli campaign will star Gisele Bündchen.

Karl Lagerfeld has also reinstated his band of Chanel and Fendi regulars: Abbey Lee Kershaw, Freja Beha Erichsen, Iris Strubegger and Anja Rubik. When asked why he selected only models, the designer replied that there are “not so many” celebrities to choose from. Plus, their “overexposure in ‘people’ magazines also makes it that one may be a little tired of celebrities and the red carpet. I love models and there are great ones for the moment.”

Another reason celebrity faces have dwindled in ads is that the star-crowd are a risky bunch. The director of Marilyn Agency’s celebrities and branding in Paris, Robert Ferrel, adds that “you have to understand that that movie star might have one hit movie and then a dry period. Especially in this economic environment, brands are definitely looking to get more out of their investment.”

Pilati concludes the article stating, “I do the fashion. They, the models, know how to wear it, and the photographer knows how to take a picture of it. It’s where the fashion dream comes from.”

The industry consensus is more “models and less celebs,” and we couldn’t agree more. Now if only Vogue felt the same way about their covers.

This time, in the little fashion battlefield it looks like models are winning. So what’s your opinion about this? Do you agree that models are more expressive in fashion industry, or you want to see more celebrities? Well, anyway, tell us your idea of this in the comment.