Bring on the airbrushing!  Louis Vuitton has just unveiled new ads featuring Madonna in which she looks like a wax figurine.  Shot by Steven Meisel for Fall 2009, the Material Madge looks gorgeous, but I’d rather see her in all her womanly glory (and yes, that means with crow’s feet!).  Let’s celebrate aging and the way women’s faces are really supposed to look, rather than erasing every last trace of humanity, wisdom and…well…age!

Fashionologie reports that, somewhere out there, there’s a video that will soon be released, too.  I am loving the high-concept videos that glamour-machines like Lancome, Chanel and Dior have been putting out recently.   My all-time favorite remains the Chanel No. 5 ad with Estella Warren as Little Red Riding Hood.  I remember seeing it when I was younger and thinking it was so chic.  Check out my favorite below!

We received a sneak-peek in March, and Chanel has finally debuted its stunning new commercial with Audrey Tautou for iconic scent Chanel No. 5. 

The commercial, directed by Amelie and A Very Long Engagement director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is to die for.  Once you’re finished happily drowning in all the atmosphere, however, it’s also a little giggle-inducing: Wear Chanel No. 5, and you, too, will have a gorgeous man like Travis Davenport pine for you on a train and then slobber all over your neck!

Seriously, have you smelled Chanel No. 5?  Yes, it has residual glamour and a kick-ass ad campaign.  Yes, Marilyn Monroe claimed she wore it to bed naked.  But no man under the age of 55 would follow you across space and time after getting a whiff.

Now, Coco Mademoiselle?  Completely different story.

Oh, the glamour of it all!

Chanel is producing another soul-crushingly gorgeous commercial for its No. 5 fragrance; Audrey Tautou, from Amelie, will star.  Below are publicity stills from the two-minute-and-25-second ad, which will debut on May 5–88 years, to the day, after Coco Chanel introduced Chanel No. 5.  Audrey stars alongside Travis Davenport, and the two play strangers on the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul.  WWD says:

…the ad evokes the seductive power of a woman’s fragrance. Tautou, who first charmed moviegoers in Jeunet’s 2001 hit “Amélie,” first crosses Davenport aboard the train. Later, both unable to sleep, he lingers outside her cabin. In Istanbul, Tautou misses a riverboat, only to photograph it later from another ship, revealing Davenport on its deck. The ad, which recalls the vibrant colors of “Amélie,” plays out to Billie Holiday’s lilting track “I’m a Fool to Want You” and closes with a shot of the couple embracing, standing atop Chanel’s logo formed in a mosaic.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I cannot stand Chanel No. 5.  I think it smells like the worst kind of musty, mothball, out-of-fashion, great-grandmother smell…and this is from a woman who loves Guerlain Shalimar, the Queen of granny perfumes!  When Coco Chanel created the scent, she famously wanted to invent something synthetic and, quite literally, artificial, so that the wearer’s delicate beauty would be enhanced by contrast.  It relies heavily on synthetic floral aldehydes as top notes, which gives it that distinctive tinny (to my nose, gross) smell.  Fragrance is a super personal thing, however, so Jolie’s trash is another gal’s…well…Chanel No. 5.  But while I dislike the scent, even I must admit the bottles and, of course, the advertisements are to die for!

Photos by Courtesy Photo