BRAD PITT: THE NEW FACE OF CHANEL NO.5

My Luck. My Fate. My Fortune. Chanel No.5 is Inevitable.

Men want to be him and women want to be with him. Enter none other than the sexy Hollywood A-lister Brad Pitt.

In an unexpected move, Chanel has appointed Brad Pitt as the face of iconic perfume Chanel No. 5. An immediate bestseller upon its release in 1921, No.5 was created when Coco Chanel wanted a fragrance to complement her fashion.

Pitt is the first male to head the campaign, a position previously held by various stars including Marilyn Monroe, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Deneuve and Ali MacGraw. Past campaigns have featured actress Estella Warren as Red Riding Hood, Nicole Kidman running through the streets of New York and Audrey Tautou on a luxurious night train.

The new 30 second ad features Pitt reciting a poem to a mystery woman, seductively calling their romance and the need for the perfume as being “inevitable”. 

So why would the French house of Chanel want a male to head their campaign?

Maureen Chiquet, CEO of Chanel, says the decision was “obvious”. The company see No. 5 as “the most iconic fragrance of our time” and Pitt as “the most iconic actor of our time”.

Using Pitt as the face of their signature fragrance marks a return to Chanel’s gender-twisting origins that began when the founder transformed items from her boyfriend’s wardrobe such as boaters, cardigans, tweeds and jerseys, into beautiful designs for women.

The striking move is no doubt intended to surprise and to set Chanel on a new modern direction that “goes where we are not expected”. In this light, Chanel says they are “keeping a legend fresh” by “changing its point of view” with a man endorsing a women’s fragrance.

Chanel believes No. 5 in particular is about the “seduction between a man, a woman and the perfume” and is willing to take a chance on Pitt in order to reinvigorate consumers’ love for their leading fragrance.

While Marilyn Monroe may be the most famous face of No.5 after declaring it was “all she wore to bed”, Brad Pitt is sure to leave a lasting mark as women can now wear him to bed. The icon continues.