A Lucire special promotion

Évian’s Baby & Me campaign, which launched on April 21, continues the brand’s cross-media approach to advertising. Its earlier Roller Babies and Baby Inside campaigns, which was shown to European readers on the Lucire website, are among the highly watched advertising videos on the internet. Roller Babies, in fact, holds the worldwide record for the most viewed advertising video online, according to the company, and Baby & Me attempts to tap in to the same audience.
   Already sitting on 28 million views since the video was uploaded on April 19, Baby & Me begins with a man encountering his baby self in a reflection. He begins dancing, to see his reflection follow suit. Others join him as ‘Here Comes the Hotstepper’, remixed by Yuksek, plays.
   The campaign is being backed up by a poster campaign. In France, Métro platforms will begin featuring portraits of the characters of various ages, discovering their baby selves, starting May 15. Maria Sharapova and Melissa Reid are two of the sport stars confirmed for this later stage.
   Even more cleverly, as Évian taps into the younger demographic, is an app that allows users to discover their own baby selves. BETC Digital and B-Reel’s app allows users to upload a picture of themselves, or someone of their choice. The app them “babifies” the image thanks to facial recognition software. This also begins in May, and will be available for Android, Iphone and Facebook.
   A similar technique is used in Babybooths located around Paris. They will also be mounted at the Festival de Cannes next month.

Look out for the Body Shop’s Mothers’ Day gift packages. Lucire tried the White Musk shower gel and body lotion, a subtle scent of one of the Body Shop’s favourites. It’s an attractively packaged duo with a matching shower scrunchy. This would be a lovely treat for a travel gift when you just want a bit of pampering that’s a bit more than the hotel freebies, retailing at NZ$23. (Custom wrapping paper for Mothers’ Day is also available.) If white musk isn’t your scent, try the Japanese Cherry Blossom, a floral fragrance. There are several gift packages in this range: shower gel, body lotion, and hand cream. Most of the Body Shop’s top sellers have a gift package to suit your budget and your nose; Madagascan Vanilla Bean, Moringa Flower and my favourite, the Shea Pamper pack—anything with pamper in the title works for me.
   The Body Shop is also all about eyes with the launch in May of 21 new eye colours. I particularly liked that they can be used both wet and dry, so when you want a defined line or depth of colour, use them wet; for that smouldering or smoky look, layer or blend them. There are shades in this range for all eye colours, moods and occasions. You can have the subtle hues of Caramel Flirt, which is much more than a nude—it has a lovely shimmer without being glitzy; or Sugar Gaze to give a lustrous highlight. Moonlight Kiss can be used as a liner or a smoky evening look, and for a young or more frivolous look, check out Berry Cute—think of a berry smoothy. Blueberry Night pairs wonderfully with Midnight Flirt. If you’re feeling earthy, the matte of Fig Leaf combined with the pearly Sweet Pea will fill the green tones beautifully.
   Retailing at NZ$21 per mono eyeshadow, the Colour Crush range is produced in Italy from high-quality pigments and Community Fair Trade Oils to the Body Shop’s high standard of sustainability and quality. The individual clear pack is compact and enables you to see exactly what you’re buying.—Linden Sprunt

Notch has scored another high-profile cover girl with actress Priyanka Chopra. Chopra talks about why she hates singing live and her concern for her father’s health, and gives advice to her younger sister Parineeti Chopra. The magazine can be found via www.notchmag.com, or through its presences on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
   We’re absolutely loving One Luv’s latest jewellery collection, Through the Eyes of Yves Saint Laurent, comprising miniature glasses. They are a tribute to the late designer’s trade-mark eyewear, and actually open and close like real specs. The designs are available in 18 ct gold-plated, or can be had with rose gold, silver or black. They retail for A$70, come with a long belcher chain, and measure 45 by 40 mm when open. If you’re a discerning fashionista, or you know of one, then we think these are the cleverest jewellery item for discerning fashionistas that we’ve seen in ages. There’s more at www.oneluv.com.au.
   In travel news, the Cranleigh Boutique has launched a distinctive boutique house in Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District, with appointments and gadgets galore. The décor is not what most of our non-UK readers might associate with Britishness—it’s more over the top of what you’d typically find in our pages.
   However, the three-storey house, called the Hideout, impresses on the toys and amenities. It features a cocktail bar, a super-sized air spa bath for two with underwater lighting, a 65-inch hidden cinema screen, a three-dimensional smart TV with internet and Apple TV access, Sono’s music, and Netflix movies (with 150 DVDs). The first floor has a king-size four-poster bed and luxury bedding, while the third floor has an open-plan cinema lounge, fully equipped kitchen, a 55-inch Sony smart 3D TV with a Blu-Ray DVD player, Bose surround-sound system, mood lighting and balcony.
   Cranleigh Boutique owner Stephen Hargreaves’ aim was to create the best accommodation experience for two people in the UK. It retails at between £400 and £500 per night, with a two-night minimum stay. It can be booked by the night all year except for weekends. Additional services including continental breakfast and daily maid are available, as well as free use of luxury leisure facilities. More can be found at www.thecranleigh.com/property/111/the-hideout.aspx.
   Finally, in the main part of the site, we’ve gone Parisian: Lola Saab looks back at the prêt-à-porter collections for autumn–winter 2013–14, while Stanley Moss checks out two very different boutique hotels. Jack Yan writes about the BMW 3-series Touring launch between Auckland and Paihia, while Sopheak Seng checks out Wellington label Mondegreen’s latest collection. Elyse Glickman headed to the pre-Oscar suites, while Eva Mendes launched a collection for Vogue Eyewear in Los Angeles.

Coty and its new fragrance for Chloé, See by Chloé, has launched an online competition to coincide with its UK release.
   The new competition, located at www.seebychloe-fragrance.com, encourages fans to make personalized advertisements for the fragrance based around four mini-webisodes.
   Each of the videos can be customized with users uploading three photographs, choosing the mood from the options available, and letting the website generate a new, personalized ad. The ad can then be shared with their friends on Facebook, and entered online into the competition.
   Fragrances and accessories from See by Chloé are up for grabs.
   See by Chloé is a floral fragrance, with notes of sandalwood and vanilla. Top notes are bergamot, with mid-notes of apple blossom and jasmine.
   The brand was first introduced by Chloé as an extension in 2001, with more casual styles, though prices can creep up near the US$1,000 mark, though considerably less than the typical four-figure sums one normally might pay for something from the main line. The fragrance is, however, only a recent introduction.
   Each of the inspiration videos can also be viewed below.

A Lucire special promotion

Today, Lucire has come full circle. One of the earliest stories on the web for our group was on the Renault Clio’s Nicole and Papa campaign, created in the early 1990s by Publicis. The Clio, which was the first Renault to hit the best sellers’ lists consistently in the UK, was sold with a cheeky campaign featuring two characters—Nicole, a young French lass, and Papa, obviously, her father. Those were the only two words uttered in the majority of the commercials, with the exceptions of ‘Maman’ and ‘Bob’, the final referring to comedian Bob Mortimer.
   The last Nicole and Papa TVC, released when the Clio II was launched in 1998, saw Nicole finally walk down the aisle, about to marry Vic Reeves (a.k.a. Jim Moir) when she finally decides, at the last minute, to run off with Bob Mortimer instead.
   It’s hard to believe that Nicole and Papa entered the British consciousness 20 years ago, in a series which also marketed French flair and the belief that the French have a better lifestyle than the British.
   The Clio is still with us, but it’s much larger than before. Now on its fourth incarnation, the latest Clio is more expressive and sporty in looks, thanks to the work of Laurens van den Acker. It’s on the previous model’s platform, albeit heavily revised, and that’s a good thing. In the stories we did on the Clio—both publisher Jack Yan and travel editor Stanley Moss took Clio 3s around France and New Zealand—we found it one of the most capable superminis, a small car with a big-car feel. In fact, we found it better for cruising New Zealand’s South Island than the Holden Commodore, which we tried around the same time.
   Clio IV features an 899 cm³, three-cylinder engine, but it’s turbocharged, developing more than 90 PS—those are the sorts of eco-friendly, yet powerful, specs that you can expect from the French these days. Renault claims a combined 88·3 mpg from the Energy dCi 90 engine. Archrival Peugeot similarly has three-cylinder units for its 208, the Clio’s closest rival at home, though the entry-level engine here is actually a 1·1 four which develops 75 PS. An RS model appears in 2013, getting 200 PS from a turbocharged 1·6, continuing the tradition of pocket rockets from Clio—Lucire photographer Doug Rimington once owned a Clio RS 182, which proved to be an able and taut sports hatch.
   The great thing is that Clio IV has the looks to match its ‘va-va-voom’ nature. The new model’s styling conveys everything that Nicole and Papa tried to do: that when you get a Clio, you’re getting a dose of French flair. But wait, there’s more: ‘va va voom’ includes a sense of passion, something which van den Acker’s styling attempts to do. This isn’t a dull little hatch in the domestic appliance mould: Clio IV is emotive, and even sexy. They’re not words you tend to hear in the B-segment.
   To show just what Renault means, the company has come up with two videos, one for unsuspecting male test drivers who come to a corner and are surprised at what happens when the ‘va va voom’ button is pressed, and the other for female test drivers.
   And to bring things full circle, Nicole and Papa make an appearance, uttering the lines that made them famous. It does seem that the years have not been kind to Nicole and Bob, because there’s no sign of Mortimer, as Nicole has found herself a new man.
   But isn’t that just what we expected?

Find out more from or book a test drive at the Renault website. Renault’s Twitter account can be found here, and its Facebook here.

Sponsored by Renault

We recently mentioned that the Milano exhibition to accompany The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld had new works, so that those attending in the Italian fashion capital would not feel they were getting a second-hand collection that had already done the rounds in Tokyo, New York, London, Paris and Berlin.
   To whet our appetites of the shoot Karl Lagerfeld did with Keira Knightley, Diane Kruger, Carla Bruni, Carole Bouquet and others in his studio in January 2013, Chanel has released a single image of Kruger reinterpreting the house’s little black jacket.
   Some 20 international celebrities and ‘close friends of the house’ participated.
   The exhibition, held at the Rotonda di via Besana (at the via Enrico Besana, 12), opens April 4, with entry free to the public from April 6 to 20. Opening hours are 10 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. At the same time, displays at Chanel’s via Sant’Andrea boutique will show jackets from the spring–summer 2013 ready-to-wear collection.
   Dubai is the next destination after Milano. More can be found at www.thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com.

Copyright © Chanel

Top Gabrielle Chanel, Seen by Karl Lagerfeld, original drawing by Karl Lagerfeld. Above An Imaginary Meeting Between Coco Chanel and Karl Lagerfeld, original drawing by Karl Lagerfeld.

In our round-up of news from ‘The Scene’: as part of Chanel’s celebration of the jacket, the house has released a new video (below) featuring its history, with footage featuring Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel herself.
   Designer Karl Lagerfeld has also released 11 sketches to celebrate the jacket, including illustrations of Gabrielle Chanel and an imaginary encounter between himself and the founder of the house.
   The story picks up in the mid-1950s, when Chanel felt that the style of the time was too restrictive. The jacket was created for women who could wear it during the day with greater freedom and be stylish enough for the evening. The tweed jacket, which became a signature for Chanel, was also born. Style icons soon adopted the look: Brigitte Bardot, Grace Kelly and Romy Schneider sported theirs. Karl Lagerfeld’s arrival in the 1980s saw a revival of the jacket.
   Lagerfeld honoured the jacket with a book, The Little Black Jacket: Chanel’s Classic Revisited by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld, and a series of exhibitions. Milano will play host to the next exhibition opening April 4, with new works (featuring Keira Knightley, Diane Kruger, Carla Bruni and Carole Bouquet), before it moves on to Dubai.
   Meanwhile, last week’s Gucci Private Suite at Ellerslie during the Auckland Racing Club’s race week was the place to be for New Zealand’s largest city. William Yoon, Gucci’s Asia-Pacific president, and Helen Koo, the managing director for Australia and New Zealand, played hosts. Gucci—in line with its own equestrian heritage—sponsored one race, the Gucci Sprint, where a horse named Vogue won. Celebrities included occasional Lucire correspondent Amber Peebles (in Gucci) and her husband Brooke Howard-Smith, Rachel Hunter, Academy Award nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes and Jonathan Morrison, Boh Runga, Clifton Piper, Cameron Ireland, Sandy Nairn, and Michelle Blanchard.

Images by Cat Soubbotnik courtesy Galerie Rue Sans Fraise

Top Strongylodon macrobotrys. Above Magnolia grandiflora ‘Galissoniensis’. Below Zantedeschia.

Coincidental to the first day of spring, a début exhibition opening in Paris showcases a new and fragrant take on the art-viewing experience. Galerie Rue Sans Fraise, a vanguard multi-use space in the trendy Marais, opens Ecolosion, a hybrid hanami (the traditional Japanese flower-watching ritual) with a French twist and a breath of fresh perfumed air.
   The show features large-format wall-mounted limited-edition floral images by photographer Cat Soubbotnik, counterpoised with suspended mixed-media works on transparent Tibetan paper by Marie Piselli, accented with environmental fragrances created by Scentys, who produce signature olfactory events for high-profile clients. You haven’t seen or inhaled an art experience like this before, one which so joyfully tantalizes so many of the senses.
   Should you happen to be in Paris for the Vernal Equinox, drop into the gallery’s opening reception the night of Thursday, March 21, 7–10 p.m. Have a glass of wine and sniff around the interesting bi-level installation celebrating the world reawakening after a long winter.
   The show remains up through June 21—standard gallery hours or by appointment.—Stanley Moss, Travel Editor

Images by Cat Soubbotnik courtesy Galerie Rue Sans Fraise

Galerie Rue Sans Fraise
9 rue Française
75002 Paris
33 6 29-42-41-14
www.ruesansfraise.fr