From Naomi To Lily-Rose & Keira, Chanel's J12 Campaign Features A Blockbuster Line-Up

Chanel has flexed its muscle and called upon an all-star line-up for its new J12 watch campaign. Nine women – Naomi Campbell, Lily-Rose Depp, Keira Knightley, Claudia Schiffer, Ali MacGraw, Vanessa Paradis, Liu Wen, Carole Bouquet, Anna Mouglalis – and one man – William Chan – feature in a series of black-and-white portraits shot by fashion photographer Brigitte Lacombe. There were no props, save for the latest version of the ceramic timepiece, and no brief, bar the campaign catchphrase, “It’s all about seconds.”

“A watch is to tell the time, but it’s also an expression of what you like – a fashion expression, so who you are,” says Schiffer in the video footage captured. “I time all my meetings because I don’t like to be late. Because I’m German.” MacGraw, meanwhile, looked to the past to share her thoughts on the topic: “I had this major moment like anyone my age did in the Sixties and the Seventies when music was extraordinary – suddenly we were able to live with optimism and freedom – we could do whatever we wanted to!”

The decision to cast the net wide was down to the different life experiences of the brand's ambassadors. “They’re not the same,” Thomas du Pré de Saint-Maur, head of creative resources at Chanel, told WWD. “The idea is that by taking a certain number of experiences from different ages, different cultures, different life paths, the one thing that links them is a history with Chanel.”

When re-designing the J12, artistic director Arnaud Chastaingt, who has headed up Chanel’s watch creation studio since 2013, said that he “felt a certain apprehension” about altering a classic. “I would even go so far as to say that for me, starting with a white page, from zero, like for the Boy Friend or the Monsieur, it’s easier than reworking an icon like the J12,” he shared. “Finally I decided to change everything without changing anything.”

The campaign is the first to be released since the death of the house’s longstanding creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, in February, but not the first activation. At the latest and largest iteration of Chanel’s travelling Mademoiselle Privé exhibition in Shanghai, president of fashion, Bruno Pavlovsky, told Vogue that the future of the brand will be grounded in the same savoir-faire that has defined its past. “Virginie is the same but she is different,” he said. “She will probably bring some femininity to the Chanel look, but it will stay the Chanel look. We are enthusiastic for the future.” The Cruise 2020 show will take place in Paris on May 3. “Let's see,” added Pavlovsky of what to expect.