Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I will receive an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you.
It seems that some people over at Chanel may not be too happy with Blake Lively as the new face of Chanel’s Mademoiselle handbag line because she does not fit the brand due to her “off-brand look”…sure ok…
According to the NYDaily News,
A source tells us there have been “internal grumblings” at the design label’s American division since actress Blake Lively was named the official face of Chanel’s Mademoiselle handbag line.
The ads featuring Lively won’t begin appearing in U.S. magazines until next month, but our source says the murmurs began when the actress was named the official face of the campaign last year.
The source adds that the grousing is over Lively’s “off-brand look” — the bitchy fashion industry’s clinical way of saying that Lively’s contemporary American beauty does not dovetail with Chanel USA’s efforts to sell its fashions as the height of European sophistication.
Oddly enough, her look is exactly why Chanel’s ponytailed design poobah Karl Lagerfeld was drawn to the “Gossip Girl” actress in the first place.
“She’s a kind of American dream girl,” Lagerfeld told Women’s Wear Daily in January, when the official announcement was made regarding Lively’s spokesmodel role.
According to that same article, Lagerfeld was introduced to the 23-year-old actress by Vogue editor Anna Wintour last July, during couture week in Paris. The extraordinarily powerful pair dined with the leggy Lively the night before Chanel’s fashion show at the Grand Palais.
The rest is fashion history: After Lively was asked to be the brand’s ambassador, Lagerfeld photographed her at Chanel’s historic Rue Cambon headquarters.
Another insider tells us that “the [Chanel] U.S. office would never have a say” in who is chosen to represent the brand in advertising, adding: “They’d literally fire anyone who admits” not being happy with Lively’s representation of the Mademoiselle bag line.
The source continues that Chanel’s top executives, its public relations executives in France and its global marketing army have input into who is chosen to represent the brand, but adds that if Lagerfeld “really wants someone,” that someone will “probably get tapped.”
A spokeswoman for Chanel told us: “Blake’s spontaneity and fresh youthful image have convinced Chanel that she is the right person to represent the house and this range of bags.”
