I
found this advert in the November 2013 issue of Vogue, it is a double page spread near the beginning of the magazine and presents a beautiful photograph of both Natalie Portman and the perfume itself taken by Nick Knight. I also saw the advert as a singular page on the back of the November 2013 issue of Red. This again proves the point that Dior is a highly recognised brand in the fashion industry and is advertsied in some of the most admired fashion magazines. I believe this is the correct way to advertise this perfume as the target audience are young, feminie individuals who do have money to spare so they will be reading high priced fashion magazines such as Bazaar and Elle for example.
Fig 2
N
atalie Portman is a well known actress particularily for her role in the 2010 film Black Swan (Fig 2). Portman is looked apon as a very feminine, natural beauty, I believe that she looks very young in photographs, early twenties possibly, which is why Dior have chosen her as their celebrity star in their campaign. The target audience for this perfume is for young women who want to feel ladylike
and beautiful which is what Natalie Portman conveys, she is an ideal model as the target consumers will believe they can be just like Portman if they wear this perfume. “I have created this perfume to dress each woman in the scent of desire, and to see each of my dresses emerging from its bottle” (Christian Dior 2013).
T
he model is wearing a black dress which I think reminds the audience of the film she starred in, ‘Black Swan’ which creates a new feel to the familiar brand, it creates a more mysterious, dark ambience which results in targetting a new market for the perfume. It seems as though they are trying to offer girly pink vs gothic black. The dress is still girly to it due to the many flowers which have been sewn to it meaning Dior are still sticking to their ‘over girly’ roots. Portman’s makeup and hair also reveal the new dark and mysterious style, the slicked back pony tail creates a masculine look which is currently very popular in the fashion industry and the solid, black eye makeup strongly references the makeup which was used in the Black Swan (Fig 3).
Fig 3
The way Portman has been positioned is very feminine, she almost resembles a proffesional ballet dancer, the awkwardly crossed leg and the other pointing delicatly in the other direction resembles the position ballet dancers take when seated (Fig 4). Her arms are also gracefully positioned to look casual but still have that smooth resemblance. Portman is staring directly into the camera creating a confident, sensual look to the model’s face.
T
he pink faded background which is used across the double page spread represents the Miss Dior narrative which is all about being super girly, think of Barbie and your half way there to the typical Miss Dior stereotype. Everyone understands who the target market are for the Miss Dior perfume, I like the fact that they have created this new mysterious, exciting element to their campaign but they have still included the ghastly pink covering two whole A4 pages which almost ruins the new idea of targetting a more mysterious, obsqurer woman. Not every modern woman is into flowers, heels, pink or pastels, some are into rock music, trainers and trousers for example, the stereotypical woman has changed a lot since 1947 (when Christian Dior released his first perfume) and I can see they have started to target those women as well, but the
Fig 4
pink is just too much! The perfume is also all about love, but pink is not the only colour that represents this, I belive a deep red or purple also suggests seduction, look at ‘Red Edition by Calvin Klein’ (Fig 5).
Fig 5