Singers Solange Knowles, Neneh Cherry, Yukimi and Eau Splendide ambassador Angèle discuss themes such as chance and jazz in a clip that will air on media platforms and YouTube.
“From day one, we made it clear that with Chanel, they wanted to take a musical journey, and that’s exactly what we did,” says Dave Holt, publisher and chief creative officer of Wax Poetics, who worked with the French luxury brand on the video. “They wanted to show how creative people take chances.”
The roundtable discussion was filmed on a chilly day in Paris. (The proceedings are also included in a mini-edition Wax Poetics zine.)
“I’ve always found this idea of waiting for a sign and understanding why something happened to be so relatable,” Angèle says in the ad’s opening sequence, which cuts to footage of Paris. “It’s amazing to step out of your comfort zone, not knowing what’s going to happen but trusting that it’s going to lead you to success.”
“Paris has always been a place of hidden gems, stories waiting to be revealed, a place where art and creativity are constantly flowing,” she continued.
Olivier Polge, Chanel’s chief perfumer and creator, draws a parallel between music and perfume. “Somehow, it also expresses something intimate,” he said. “Something that comes through you. When we talk about perfume, our vocabulary is very limited. There’s no word that really expresses the essence of it. We use a lot of vocabulary from music: we talk about notes, about harmony—I guess you could even talk about the tonality of the perfume. There are things we can’t express, and I love that.”
Knowles shares the courage she felt when she recorded her first album at age 14. “Sonically, I went back and listened to it and it was more experimental and adventurous than I thought,” she said. “There are some brave moments. I also feel like as a teenager, your starting point for writing is so raw and sincere that I feel like lyrically I have so much more to say than what I’ve said before. Everything I say is so poetic.”
“Music is such a powerful medium,” Cherry continues. “I had a little radio in my hotel room that was tuned to jazz so you could hear the effect when you walked into the room. I just put it on and I heard a Dinah Washington song. I love her so much—I was lying there with my heart bleeding. Just feeling and thinking about it, I guess, that leads us to what we’re going to talk about next about the language of music… the feelings that music and sound evoke. It transcends language.”
“It carries smells, it carries sights,” Knowles says, calling it “such an incredible gift and tool that we have to be transporters of time and space in this way.”
For Xuejian, taking a chance is about “embracing life.” I imagine that feeling is about closing your eyes, jumping back, and waiting for something to catch you.
She added that it’s about “having a certain belief that something will catch you and that there’s a plan there.”
Chanel didn’t stop there, launching Chance Eau Splendide globally.
The brand took the new fragrance to the streets of Shoreditch in East London. The brand painted a small area from Shoreditch House to Chance Street in the fragrance’s lilac hue and will host a pop-up event on Chance Street from Friday to May 5.
The pop-up space is painted as a pop-art-style mural featuring the perfume bottle and the slogan “Take a Chance!”
Inside the perfume box is a small box that mimics the cap of the perfume bottle, a nod to Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s superstition, shaped like a dice, with each side opening to reveal a mysterious message such as “Chance is a wonderful twist of fate.”
Other rooms include fun games such as an ATM-like machine that prints small pieces of perfume onto sample cards, a lottery machine with prizes such as posters, mirrors or samples, a maze board game and a bar where visitors can smell all the other versions of Chance, from Chance Eau Fraîche, Chance Eau Tendre to Chance Eau Vive.
At the end of the pop-up is a small shop where customers can purchase Chance Eau Splendide and sample a free cotton candy inspired by the fragrance’s purple hue. The pop-up will also offer live perfume and beauty consultations, including Chance fragrance-inspired makeup.
On May 1, visitors can book a Chance Street evening, which will feature a live DJ, cocktails and snacks.