French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg reprises her role as brand ambassador for Balenciaga as they launch a new women’s fragrance, L’Essence, reports Coco Perez.
The Spanish fashion house only recently returned to the world of perfumes with Balenciaga Paris in 2010. L’Essence, which is due out in September, is an evolution of the original fragrance, borrowing the familiar note of violet leaf and combining it in a new way with a more masculine note of vetiver.
"It’s like a development of the first fragrance," explains artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière in a behind-the-scenes video. "For me, it’s like another episode of the same story in a way. Of course, [Gainsbourg] embodies the fragrance, so it’s important to keep going with [her]."
The new campaign is much more intimate, however: "Balenciaga Paris was the first perfume fragrance for a long time, so it was important to set up a universe… I think now it’s time to get closer to [Gainsbourg]."
Gainsbourg, 39, was born into two famous families – her father is French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg and her mother is British actress Jane Birkin. Her longtime partner is French-Israeli actor-director Yvan Attal, with whom she has two children, Ben, 13, and Alice 8, and is expecting a third.