Dior is at the centre of a skincare related controversy right now and call me cynical but I reckon this one was a deliberate attempt to draw attention to the range. I know, I know, the brand has been synonymous with luxury, high end skincare and the campaigns are slick and always backed up by scientific claims from the beauty house’s Paris lab, however, this time it’s different.
I’m a big fan of Dior, it’s a fashion house that’s maintained it’s shape, grace and style no matter who’s been at the helm. Raf Simons modernised Dior whilst staying true to the brand’s ethos. Even Yves Saint Laurent’s influence is still present in the latest collection but today, under Maria Grazia Chiuri the brand is different. In 2016 and 17 Dior underwent something of a makeover, it became an edgier, punkier more millennial version of itself. Those signature cuts are still there but the brand has shifted its focus to female empowerment – who could forget the famous WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINIST tees seen at Paris Fashion Week for SS17 that started a revolution on the high street?
Maria Grazia Chiuri is ballsy, she’s not afraid to tackle hot topics that arise from her reach as a fashion feminist and for me, her designs are exactly what the brand needs to bring it right up to date. Skincare however is another matter. The Dior beauty range is a separate entity all together, researched and manufactured in a secret Parisian lab, the Capture range has been designed for mature skin and an older market of women looking for extra benefits from their skincare. Marketed as a product for women over the age of 35, Capture has a huge audience of women with money to spend on themselves, Mama Tenenbaum is a fan of the range and the Capture Youth Serum is amongst her favourite skincare products. Now Dior have launched a new subsidiary line called Capture Youth, billed as the ultimate anti ageing product, it’s intended to stop ageing in its tracks.
With so many awesome older women to choose from as an Ambassador for the range it’s difficult to come up with any justification for selecting 25 year old supermodel Cara Delevingne to represent the anti-ageing range. L’Oreal tapped up Julianne Moore for their parallel range and the response to their product appropriate advertising has been immense, their mature skin range features Helen Mirren who looks amazing in the campaign and is surely the reason for the spike in sales. The perfect example of relatable advertising right?
Cara Delevinge is young, successful, well known and has beautiful skin as well as an uber recognisable face. Definitely not as a direct result of using the Dior Capture range, but perfectly poised to cause a media shit storm and then deflect it with some gorgeously edited pictures. I’ll admit Voyeurs, I got myself in a bit of a tizz about this one, I just don’t get it. 25 year old baby-faced Cara Delevingne is advertising and endorsing an anti-ageing cream designed to ‘delay the signs of ageing before they fully appear’. Why? Millions of dollars, huge exposure, guaranteed media coverage and social media trending. Because reverse marketing is big in fashion, it’s been around since the phrase was coined by Tom Ford in the 90’s after his deliberately risque campaign for Gucci was banned – something he admits he intended.
Still think this was just misled casting? Nah, this is just another case of typical reverse marketing in fashion, you’ll see when this one’s run its full course…
Pixie xo