Sandra Choi, Jimmy Choo’s creative director, described the fragrance, which combines notes of ginger, bitter orange, jasmine, honey and amber as “daring.” “It’s punchy – it’s almost like a young woman becoming the Jimmy Choo woman,” she said.
And to embody that woman, Jimmy Choo has tapped 22-year-old singer Sky Ferreira as the face of the fragrance. “I love the fact that she embodies the side that is daring, that she’s a little bit experimental, she’s finding herself – but at the same time there’s a side of her that is tough but sweet,” said Choi of Ferreira and her work as a musical artist. “She’s like a raw diamond.”
Steven Klein shot the fragrance’s ad campaign, which pictures a blonde Ferreira wearing a swimsuit and silver sandals, holding an oversize bottle of Illicit. An accompanying online film pictures Ferreira on a yacht, diving into the ocean, dancing in a club and standing against a hazy Los Angeles skyline.
Ferreira, who was in London to launch the fragrance with a performance at London’s Mondrian Hotel Wednesday, said the chance to show a different aspect of her persona drew her to the Jimmy Choo campaign. “The way people look at me, they think, ‘Oh, like, grungy teenager,’ and I’m 22 years old now, and people still look at me the way I was when I was 16 years old,” said Ferreira, who first burst onto the music scene in 2010. “I wanted to do something maybe a little more sophisticated. I wanted to see a different side of me, I guess.”
The singer, model and actress has modeled for Saint Laurent and walked the runway for Marc Jacobs in the past, and has been known for her edgy image – that includes a brush with the law, after she was arrested in 2013 for drug possession. But now, Ferreira is focused on host of creative endeavors – he’s releasing a single called “Guardian” later in the summer, and has roles in two upcoming films. She’ll appear in “Elvis & Nixon,” alongside Kevin Spacey and Michael Shannon, and “The Trust,” with Nicolas Cage, with the former set for release this year. And Ferreira said that collaborating with creatives such as Klein and Choi in turn influences her own work. “When I write songs I visually see them more so than hear them, so getting to collaborate with people is very inspiring,” she said, and added that some shots in the Jimmy Choo campaign were inspired by her video “You’re Not the One.”
As for the fragrance, perfumer Anne Flipo of International Flavors and Fragrances created the scent, which combines top notes of ginger and bitter orange, a heart of rose and sambac jasmine and a drydown of honey-amber accord and sandalwood. Flipo described the fragrance as being built around “sensuality and addiction.” Choi added that “there’s a sense of presence and boldness” to the fragrance. The fragrance is Jimmy Choo’s third for women, following Jimmy Choo, Flash and Blossom.
Choi designed the flacon as a rounded, faceted glass bottle molded with a baguette-shaped pattern and a square silver lid, which Choi said reflects her “all-time love, the Art Deco period.” The outer packaging is a gold box, embossed with a stud pattern.
The fragrance, an eau de parfum, comes in 40-ml., 60-ml. and 100-ml. sizes, which are priced from 42 pounds, or around $64 for 40 ml. through to 78 pounds, or around $119 for 100 ml.
The fragrance’s ad campaign will break in the U.S. and U.K. in September, and will also run in the pre-holiday period in November and December. In both markets, the print campaign will run in fashion and beauty titles including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle and Harper’s Bazaar.