Film & Fashion: Coco Before Chanel
PAGE 4
Q: How did you cast Audrey?
AF: I was sure that for the part, I needed to find a good actress, but I also needed to find a true actress [who fit the part] without doing the makeup and imitating her. When you see the pictures of Gabrielle Chanel, and when you see Audrey, it's amazing, the similarities. The way they look, the intensity of the eyes, the very thin body—you have to have another kind of body to play Chanel. Chanel was the very first androgynous woman; she was so different. And when you see Audrey, what I felt was that she has a lot of charisma, she's very singular (physically speaking), and she has a lot of determination.
Q: Do you see any parallels between yourself and Coco Chanel? Either personally or stylistically?
AT: I am not modern at all. I don't like the Parisian show business; it's not my cup of tea. And my style—she created the masculine/feminine, and I think that is something I share with her, because I am not girly-girly.
Q:You are also the face of Chanel No. 5.
AT: I realize now that No. 5 was revolutionary, because everything was out of fashion at the moment—the smell, the packaging, the name—everything was exactly the opposite of what everyone else was doing. So it's amazing that she could be so modern and ahead of her time. Today it's still the highest-selling perfume. It's still modern; it's not old-fashioned at all.
AF: I was sure that for the part, I needed to find a good actress, but I also needed to find a true actress [who fit the part] without doing the makeup and imitating her. When you see the pictures of Gabrielle Chanel, and when you see Audrey, it's amazing, the similarities. The way they look, the intensity of the eyes, the very thin body—you have to have another kind of body to play Chanel. Chanel was the very first androgynous woman; she was so different. And when you see Audrey, what I felt was that she has a lot of charisma, she's very singular (physically speaking), and she has a lot of determination.
Q: Do you see any parallels between yourself and Coco Chanel? Either personally or stylistically?
AT: I am not modern at all. I don't like the Parisian show business; it's not my cup of tea. And my style—she created the masculine/feminine, and I think that is something I share with her, because I am not girly-girly.
Q:You are also the face of Chanel No. 5.
AT: I realize now that No. 5 was revolutionary, because everything was out of fashion at the moment—the smell, the packaging, the name—everything was exactly the opposite of what everyone else was doing. So it's amazing that she could be so modern and ahead of her time. Today it's still the highest-selling perfume. It's still modern; it's not old-fashioned at all.
NEXT STORY
