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Emma Watson Selling Soul For Cash, Controversy And Curse-Laden World Of Chanel's Fallen Stars
Posted by Molly Friedman at 5:35 AM on June 17, 2008
As excited as we are for borderline troublemaker Emma Watson and her rumoured new deal to become the "face of Chanel" at 18, the $6 million contract comes with a curse or two. The French cosmetics giant has been airbrushing celebrity visages in ad campaigns for years, but its most recent short-term star partnerships haven't always ended amicably, nor have they resulted in the kind of chaste and glossy reputation sources predict for Watson. Though a friend insists that "She's not going to end up like these other Hollywood train wrecks, she just isn't...No one is going to be saying, 'I never wanted to see Hermione in that light,'" we took a look back at her quilted bag-carrying predecessors to shine a light on the kind of controversy this same wallet-fattening gig has earned its celebrity reps in the past.
Despite having represented Chanel's Coco Mademoiselle fragrance in addition to appearing in campaign after campaign as the brand's moody red-lipped rep since 2001, Kate Moss and her contract were kicked to the curb months after the supermodel's famed cocaine tape hit the tabloids in April 2005. Though Keira Knightley was loudly announced as Moss's replacement, Kate very quietly usurped a bit of Keira's thunder by re-entering the house of French glamour after her comeback hit its stride a year later. But by far the most publicized partnership between Chanel and star occurred when Nicole Kidman appeared in a short film directed by Baz Luhrmann to promote her new role as iconic fragrance Chanel No. 5's porcelain-faced embodiment.
But all the hullabaloo and fanfare came to a stop when Kidman became pregnant, irking Chanel and causing them to pull yet another switcheroo, hiring fellow French star Audrey Tautou to take over the reign. As Tautou's star remains lukewarm, industry insiders began buzzing with the surprising and off-kilter news that none other than heiress to the grunge throne, Frances Bean Cobain, would begin appearing front and center as Chanel's new ad girl. But Cobain's upward momentum towards the fashion world's limelight never materialized, and having perfected the art of sudden blows, Knightley is now rumoured to be ousted as Watson prepares for her year or so of acclaim and glossy ads. We just hope Emma manages to keep the apparently very short attention spans of the Chanel bigwigs, or at the very least, has the stamina to turn her inevitable drug- and Britney-flashing downfall into a glittery comeback like Kate.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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marmay
Posted 6:24 AM 17/6/08
Maybe Chanel should just hire George Clooney to model for them. He's never satisfied with what he's got either, so he would be a perfect spokesman.
marmay
SomnambulantHobbit
Posted 6:14 AM 17/6/08
Isn't it weird how Francis Bean morphed into Kelly Osbourne? (and even weirder that I remember her birth as a really happy day and how proud I was for Kurt)
SomnambulantHobbit
aspiringexpatriate
Posted 5:48 AM 17/6/08
Maybe she won't have a Special K laced downfall? Though she'd probably be great in a posh-turned-punk role at some point in the near future.
aspiringexpatriate
flowers.
Posted 5:47 AM 17/6/08
but! [www.fashionologie.com]
flowers.
superru
Posted 7:42 AM 17/6/08
I think it's creepy how they shot kiera knightley all hunched up with visible bones. That's not chic. The Nicole Kidman campaign was also bullshit simply because of the ridiculous amount of money and effort put into it, and at the end it just looked overdone. If they had a beautiful but unknown model I'd have more respect for the brand.
superru
Swordfish
Posted 8:06 AM 17/6/08
But it can't be inflation (with an n this time) because the Bush admin keeps insisting there isn't any.
So?
Swordfish
Swordfish
Posted 8:00 AM 17/6/08
That's a mill more that Miss Kidman earned. What does that mean???
Inflatiom?!
Swordfish
kit10indublin
Posted 8:52 AM 17/6/08
So far the score is - Chanel products owned by me=0; profit to Chanel from my pocket=0. Is another skinny Brit girl gonna change that score? Most definitely not.
@superru: Knighlty's ad was deliberately posed that way to try and hide her boniness - seriously. She looked, to me, to be dangerously thin when that ad was shot. The boob was photoshopped in - she joked about it in some magazine at the time. Not sure if she's still that thin now.
kit10indublin
Little Mintz Sunshine
Posted 11:14 AM 17/6/08
Obviously, Winehouse was busy.
Little Mintz Sunshine
betina
Posted 11:58 AM 17/6/08
The fact that she had a photographer zooming up into her crotch because she accidentally (barely) flashed her crotch while trying to have a seat makes her a borderline troublemaker? What the hell is wrong with you people?
betina
raincoaster
Posted 4:41 PM 17/6/08
Isn't Keira's contract just for Coco Mademoiselle? Mind you, Emma would work for that particular brand better than for, say, Chanel #5 or Allure.
Trivia: Vanessa Paradis was a model for Chanel once upon a time, back when she was, I think, 16.
raincoaster