Chanel has launched its latest fragrance campaign with the unveiling coming ahead of a key season for male fragrance sales, Father’s Day. The luxury fashion and beauty giant is making its usual heavy investment in ensuring its marketing has an impact.

The campaign is directed by none other than Martin Scorsese with Bleu de Chanel ambassador Timothée Chalamet starring. The company said it “ushers in a new era of the House’s iconic fragrance”.

It’s inspired by “the magnetic pull and timeless spirit of this fresh, luminous scent, Scorsese, an icon, and Chalamet, one of the boldest actors of this generation, worked together for the first time ever to create a contemporary picture of free, daring, and determined self-discovery”.

Scorsese has a long history with the company and he directed the first Blue de Chanel campaign as far back as 2010. 

This time we’re told he’s “using his creative genius to portray the many facets of a man who is forging his own path. In a world where the bright lights of fame tend to blind us to reality, Timothée Chalamet portrays a man who sets off on a quest to find himself, following only his own instinct, in a deeply candid role written just for him”.

Scorsese said that the “world has changed. There’s another aspect to celebrity in a way. Which is even more extreme than 10 or 15 years ago”. With that in mind, the film “explores the delicate ambivalence between the overexposure that comes with fame, which causes the actor to live a scripted version of his life, and his profound desire to seek authenticity in his craft”.

So what do we get with this new film? Contrast-filled scenes shot in black and white “depict the duality between the character’s celebrity persona and his dark side, while flashes of blue, which symbolises hope, provide glimmers of optimism. This playful use of colour culminates in the final scene, in which Chalamet’s character, plunged into mysterious and charismatic blue, comes face-to-face with his inner truth”. 

This all illustrates the campaign’s message: “Find your blue, find yourself.”