I wonder what was the main criteria for this ad’s casting! Estee Lauder is releasing a new perfume my dahlings! This hasn’t happened in a decade so you can imagine it’s a pretty big deal. For the brand and for its loyal fan base.
The new perfume is called ‘Modern Muse’ – nothing unusual so far, it’s a nice name with a modern ring to it. But have you seen who’s fronting the campaign? It’s the ever-lovely, mom-haired Arizona Muse. As photographed by Craig McDean, Arizona Muse is Estee Lauder’s Modern Muse. Catchy, I know!
Intended to highlight the contemporary woman and her many faces, Modern Muse is a dual perfume. Jasmine and woods come together in a sleek, exotic combination hinting of a woman’s soft femininity and unreserved strength. Beyond the nice witty name game, choosing Arizona Muse was quite the inspired move as she looks like a modern woman with classic features but unique, strong beauty.
UPDATE: You repeatedly asked for more details about this ad campaign, so here I am answering your calls! First of all, the commercial comes with a short video as well, showing Arizona Muse and her lovely custom-made dress with a soundtrack by Bruno Mars (‘Just the way you are’) partially filmed inside the Guggenheim museum as you can watch it below both in the commercial and the making of.
The dress Arizona is wearing for this campaign was custom made and not available in store. The bow details have a strong significance in relation with the name of the perfume as it features 8 bows: three on the shoulders 4 more on the front of the dress, from waist down and one at the back. Another bow on the perfume bottle totals 9 bows, the number of Muses from the Greek Mythology. Believed to be the source point of any creative enterprise from literature to any type of art, the Greek Muses were the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory): Calliope and Erato were the poetry Muses, Clio the history Muse, Euterpe the music Muse, Thalia the comedy Muse, Urania the astronomy Muse, Terpsichore the dance Muse, Polyhymnia the hymns Muse and Melpomene the tragedy Muse.
Back to the dress: the bows are a recurrent motif in fashion and although you can easily find bow accessorized dresses in any season and almost any store, there are timeless references to keep in mind if you want to purchase a dress similar to the one Arizona is wearing in the campaign. The most famous models I selected for you come from Chanel, vintage and Red Valentino, the affordable label of the famous Valentino fashion house. Below, side by side, you can see the two dresses flanking Arizona at the right (Red Valentino) and the left (vintage Chanel). (information about the dress provided by EsteeLauder)
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Who makes the dress that the model is wearing in the Modern Muse commercial?
Thanks
Cheryl – apparently the dress was custom made for the commercial (for Arizona to wear).
Based on a classic design we can find in Chanel’s vintage designs (similar to this here) or, more contemporary, in Valentino’s Red Valentino affordable label (similar to this here), the custom made dress features a total of 8 bows.
However, adding the 9th bow, the one on the perfume bottle, we reach the number of muses from the ancient Greek mythology.
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