Since creating our recent blog post about Chanel’s fashion advertising over the years it was interesting to see how the luxury brands haven’t really changed or innovated their advertising very much over the years.

From 1920 -2012 the fashion advertising agencies Chanel have worked with have created the type of fashion advertising that you would expect to Malika Fashion see. Ie for beauty advertising campaigns there is a beautiful model with her face next to a bottle of perfume and for fashion advertising campaigns there are models posing in the stylish clothes. 

From the fashion advertising campaigns from Chanel that we show on our blog the ones that I think are really strong are the fashion advertising campaigns with a concept and a new way of showing the product and the emotion associated with it.

The beauty advertising campaign for Chanel no.5 which shows the number 5 made from large gold dots with the model wrapped in fine gold fabric hovering over the number with perfume spraying around her is a creative idea, a new way of showing the perfume whilst still communicating the luxury brand values of Chanel’s most famous perfume.

Tom Ford has used concepts to advertise his perfumes. Tom Ford’s fashion branding is all about sex and even if we don’t like it and some of his fashion advertising campaigns are truly vulgar and show women as skin and bones he has a strong concept and a strong brand message. One of his campaigns that I did really like was a perfume advertisement with the bottle pressed between two round breasts pushed together with fingers with bright red nails – overtly sexual and completely aimed at men.

The fashion advertising agency that created the fashion advertising campaigns for Lacoste moved Lacoste on from being a clothing brand selling sportswear to a fashion brand that everyone wanted to be part of. The fashion advertising agency changed the ads from images of model’s playing tennis outside, to images of models flying through the air in a studio – in the middle of space with the strapline Lacoste: A little air on earth/ Un peu d’air sur terre. This fashion advertising agency mixed a concept with brilliant art direction and turned the fashion brand around almost instantly

Of course fashion brands and luxury brands don’t always want concepts and great ideas behind their campaigns. Quite often fashion advertising agencies need to understand that the fashion and luxury branding is very much about communicating the aspiration, status and the emotion associated with purchasing luxury goods these days. Luxury fashion brands want their fashion advertising agencies and fashion branding agencies to create images of luxury and beauty that are foremost about decadence, pleasure and desire.