It’s not the first time Lagerfeld takes the camera in his own hand. Earlier he was responsible for commercials for Adidas and H&M. He created an affordable collection for the latter last year. As creative director he’s also been shooting the commercials for Chanel for a couple of years now. The Dom Perignon campaign was shot in two days in early Spring 2005 at a hotel in the seventh quarter of Paris. The hotel has the atmosphere of Versailles.
“Compare it to the atmosphere of a work of art. Like some paintings from the nineteenth century,” says Lagerfeld. Centerpiece of Lagerfeld’s Dom Perignon campaign is the Danish top model Helena Christensen. Together with Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford she belonged to the very top of modeling in the early nineties. “I’ve known Helena for sixteen, almost seventeen years already. She’s more than a model to me. She’s a real friend. Besides, I needed a real personality for this commercial, someone who exudes female strength, not a naive girl. I love the image of a mature and experienced woman... Helena’s face expresses all she has seen, everything she experienced, but most of all the joy she’s felt in her life,” Lagerfeld stated.
The photos, dominated by peach and pink hues, have a sensuous atmosphere with lots of androgynous elements, men and women whose sexual preferences remain vague. The images’ intimate character invites the spectator to take part. “It’s very intimate and slightly erotic... but in a very elegant way,” says Helena Christensen. “There was a slightly erotic atmosphere during the shooting. And that’s also the effect of the champagne. It really suits festive and intimate moments. Karl really knows how to use feelings and emotions. It’s as if you shoot a movie scene with champagne in a discretely erotic lighting.”
