Idôle

Zendaya sets out to conquer her freedom for Idôle by Lancôme!

La Vie est Belle is certainly the biggest success of the house of Lancôme! Yet the house still had beautiful fragrant stories left to tell, and it does so with the lovely Idôle in 2019. Idôle, a perfume for modern, free-spirited young women, will thus be a distillation of femininity as much as a great cry of freedom voiced by the lovely Zendaya in a splendid advertisement that moves us as much through the beauty of its images as through the strength they convey.

Idôle, a fantastic ride

This advertisement opens rather surprisingly on a panorama filmed at dawn; we glimpse the legs of a horse, then the back of a beautiful horsewoman in a flowing pink dress. The horse advances slowly, observing, along with its rider, the surrounding environment. In the distance, Los Angeles awakens in a rosy light, and the young protagonist seems to hesitate before the gigantic scale of this megacity. Yet she seems captivated by the panorama and breaks into a gallop despite her initial fear.

The horsewoman crosses water, bridges and streets, now smiling. But once she finds herself in the very heart of the city at a busy intersection, she hesitates and seems to be searching for something she cannot find. It is the light piercing through the gray of the buildings that comes toward her and becomes her guide; she sets off again with renewed vigor on her mount.

At full speed, she rides through the streets and past the most beautiful monuments of Los Angeles, her gaze proud and determined. She eventually returns to the hills and to nature, from where she chooses to admire the sunset. Faced with the beauty of this sight, the woman decides to hold up her trophy, a victory over her fear and apprehension in the face of the urban jungle. With her bottle held out at arm's length, she becomes an icon of freedom. If I can do it, we all can, she declares to the camera, as if to carry us along in her wake.

The aesthetic and symbolic world of the Idôle advertisement

Lancôme has always taken great care with the aesthetics and symbolism of its advertisements, even back in the 1990s when this was not yet the trend; we remember very well the Trésor campaign as well as that of Poème, just as we recall the strength of the much more recent advertisements for La Vie est Belle. This advertisement for Idôle, filmed by Manu Cossu, was thus created entirely in that same spirit of delivering a message, once again a thoroughly optimistic one.

Moreover, the young face of the campaign appears more radiant and more determined than ever, carried by a mount showcased in the most aesthetic of ways. Finally, the soundtrack, signed by the great Sia, undoubtedly brings a splendid extra soul to this quest.

Zendaya, the face of Idôle and a symbol of today's free woman

Zendaya was recently chosen as the face of Idôle by the house of Lancôme, both for her distinctive beauty and for her fiery temperament.

It is worth recalling that the young Disney star, now 22 years old, drew particular attention in 2015 in a minor scandal in the United States, during a television show in which her dreadlocks were mocked. The young woman is said to have given a very quick retort that went around the world: there are enough clichés about Black Americans' hair; there is no need for ignorant people to pile on by judging others based on their hair. And so, at only 18 years old, the lovely Zendaya became a strong-minded woman ready to stand up for herself and for her values, a symbol of freedom that suits the temperament of the Idôle woman very well.

Idôle, flowers and sensuality for a radiant femininity

Created by a talented trio of women perfumers, Shyamala Maisondieu, Nadège Le Garlantezec and Adriana Medina, Idôle plays on a jasmine-rose-white chypre accord to offer a bright, fresh olfactory picture for young women in search of femininity, without ever sinking into gourmand excess.

Portrait of the Idôle woman by Lancôme

The young Idôle woman is divinely beautiful, but not only for her looks—above all for her strength and her drive to defy the entire world in order to conquer her freedom, overcome her fears and move forward (at a gallop) toward a life she has chosen, rather than a life chosen for her!

Idôle and La Vie est Belle, Lancôme's modern conquerors?

The portrait drawn of the Idôle woman could well also be that of the more assertive woman of La Vie est Belle. One might be the elder sister of the other, but the Idôle and La Vie est Belle women are both, indeed, conquerors. For Lancôme, feminine freedom has long been a rallying cause, and Idôle is a new way of putting it forward.

The Lancôme Idôle fragrance

The house of Lancôme is currently unveiling its brand new perfume for 2019: Idôle. Described as a fruity, floral and airy juice, it is also presented in a surprising bottle, particularly thin and no more than 15 mm thick. Idôle is a spring-like, luxurious essence, bringing together undeniable aesthetic elegance with a rich, highly harmonious scent. All that remained was to secure a standout face of the campaign to cement its reputation. This has now been done! Lancôme chose to set its sights on Hollywood star Zendaya.

Who is Zendaya, the face of Idôle by Lancôme?

Zendaya is considered one of Hollywood's rising stars of the moment. Despite her young age, Zendaya already boasts a particularly full résumé! Born on September 1, 1996 in the United States, Zendaya has more than one string to her bow and does not hesitate to invest herself in numerous artistic fields. She is at once an actress, singer, model, producer and dancer of African American heritage. After a first appearance in a toy commercial, it was truly as a model for Macy's, Mervyns and Old Navy that Zendaya launched her career. At the same time, the young woman made her acting debut, playing young Ti Moune in the musical Once on This Island. Her talents as a dancer, meanwhile, were showcased in several music videos, notably for Selena Gomez and Katy Perry. Zendaya's fame ultimately took off in 2015, thanks to her role in the Disney Channel series K.C. Undercover, in which she plays a 16 year old secret agent. Since then, her film appearances have followed one another. Zendaya notably starred in the blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming, which earned her a cover of the famous magazine Vogue US. More recently, she also played one of the lead roles in the musical film The Greatest Showman. Zendaya is paving the way for a promising career and is considered by many to be one of the young stars to watch.

The collaboration between Zendaya and Lancôme

In fact, the collaboration between Zendaya and Lancôme began several months earlier. The young woman was recruited as an ambassador for the brand at the start of 2019. Her role as face of the campaign, meanwhile, was set to begin over the course of the summer. Delighted with this collaboration, she signs here her first large-scale advertising campaign, and is full of praise for this new perfume: she loves that it is fresh and light; she is very particular about perfume, and Idôle smells wonderful; she loves it.
Zendaya seems to embody, better than anyone, the image of the new Idôle by Lancôme. Bold and ambitious, she symbolizes the freedom sought after in this essence. She thus becomes the standard-bearer for an entire new generation of women who challenge the status quo, states Lancôme, who free themselves from traditions and who redefine the meaning of success.

The news broke only a few weeks ago. Lancôme is preparing to bring a new perfume into the world, following its prestigious La Vie Est Belle, the house's blockbuster since its release in 2012. Let us hope, along the way, for a destiny as prestigious for this newcomer as that of its elder. Naturally, to accompany this highly anticipated release, Lancôme designed a new advertising campaign. This prestigious creative house also partnered with a new face of the campaign: the young and talented Zendaya. So, what about this essence? And above all, how did Lancôme choose to showcase it in its advertisement?

Rose, the star of Idôle's first advertisement

Idôle by Lancôme was created by three perfumers, namely Shyamala Maisondieu, Adriana Medina and Nadège Le Garlantezec. This perfume aims to embody the new freedom of today's women. It is at once fresh, clean-lined and minimalist, as if to symbolize a blank page on which every woman can begin to write her own story. As if paying tribute to the house of Lancôme, Idôle fully embraces the brand's signature flower: rose. Here, several varieties are interwoven, revealing the full richness of this iconic raw material of women's perfumery. The exclusive Isparta rose, the Centifolia rose absolute from Grasse, rose absolute and rosewater become one. It is thus quite naturally that this flower stands as the focal point of Lancôme's new advertisement. First revealed against a black background, it then blooms against a white one. In the Idôle advertisement, a multitude of different roses appear one after another, before revealing the astonishingly thin bottle of this brand new perfume. Understated yet no less appealing, this new teaser has just what it takes to spark curiosity.

Another advertisement to come: Zendaya as the face of Idôle

While Zendaya does not appear in this first campaign, it is already safe to bet that a new advertisement will appear on our screens within a few weeks. Indeed, Lancôme has already confirmed that Zendaya will be the face of its Idôle essence, news to which the young woman reacted very enthusiastically on social media: she said she was deeply honored to represent a brand such as Lancôme and to join an incredible group of iconic women. Ambitious and highly driven, Zendaya perfectly embodies the image of this new perfume, a symbol of a new generation of women who challenge the status quo, who free themselves from traditions and who redefine the meaning of success [...] this newfound confidence drives them to constantly raise the bar a little higher, a philosophy that Zendaya strives to follow, as her already impressive résumé attests, even though she is only 22 years old.