Post by JMBarrieMagic on Dec 16, 2005 13:13:07 GMT -5
Old, yet 'worthy' article.
GRAZIA Magazine (UK)
March 2005
LOOKING GOOD, MRS. JOHNNY DEPP
She's beautiful, talented and has a heart-throb as her other half. If that's not reason enough to envy Vanessa Paradis, she's everyone's favourite model again.
Story by Simon Gage
When Vanessa Paradis first modelled for Chanel 14 years ago, the singer was so clueless about fashion the only designer item she coveted was a big floppy vintage hat she wore on stage to cover her face. It's a different story these days. Not only is the French partner of Johnny Depp a walking red carpet advert for Chanel, she's also modelling for the label again, as the face of its Ligne Cambon accessories range. "When I first worked with them, I was 18 and just this young, selfish girl, doing my own thing," Vanessa, 33, tells Grazia. "I was happier wearing jeans and trainers."
Her first advert, for Coco Chanel perfume, pictured Vanessa on a trapeze, in a birdcage, and was commissioned after she enjoyed worldwide success with the hit single, Joe Le Taxi. "It was like being on a Hollywood set of the 30s or 40s, like being in a fairytale," says Vanessa, who is now also a successful actress in her native France.
The new advert, shot by Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld himself, is much more low-key and in keeping with Vanessa's new image as one half of the coolest couples in showbiz.
"I've never properly modelled in my life," she says. "I'm too short to do that anyway [she's 5ft 3in] -- and I don't want to do just any old commercial. It doesn't really fit with my musical career. But it's not a compromise to do a commercial for Chanel because the image feels magical. Karl has great taste. He's so smart. You'd think a person in his position would have his mind set and everyone would just go "Amen" to everything he says, but he's always asking for my opinion."
Persuading Vanessa to model again was no mean feat, given that she and Johnny go out of their way to avoid publicity. The notoriously private couple, parents to Lily-Rose Melody, five, and Jack, two, live in a remote part of southern France and have recently bought a tiny island in the Bahamas - which they're seriously considering naming F*** Off Island. They only go to movie-making capital Los Angeles when work demands it.
"I don't live in America. If I lived there, I would miss my friends most of all, and I would miss the cafes and the walking, because people don't walk much in America," says Vanessa.
Their most recent visit to LA was for last week's Oscars, when Johnny was up for Best Actor for his role Neverland. Despite looking unbelievably chic and poised in a Chanel dress which Karl made especially for her, Vanessa confesses the event had her quaking in her shoes.
"I love to dress up but the idea of that red carpet scares me so much. It's like being an animal in a cage at the zoo. You see all those beautiful actresses wearing strappy dresses, they smile brightly and pose with their right leg in front of their left, but I find it pretty frightening. I can't do that, I really can't," she says.
Vanessa admits she tones down her normally eclectic look for LA, saving her more outrageous outfits for European events such as the French Oscars equivalent, the Cesars.
"In LA, I want to be discreet," she says. "I might wear something a little louder somewhere else because I feel at ease. Over in LA, the idea of that red carpet scares me so much, I just can't be loud."
As a couple, Johnny and Vanessa seem perfectly matched. They met when he caught sight of her at the Hotel Costes in Paris and he immediately fell in love with her. She felt the same: "We both had pasts, but when we met each other we just knew." They're not officially married, although she says: "Whether there's a bit of paper or not, as far as I'm concerned I'm married."
Although they're the anti-Brad and Jen, so to speak, Vanessa does have friends in Hollywood, most notably Johnny's Neverland co-star Kate Winslet, who she sat next to at the Oscars.
"She's one of the sweetest, funniest girls. A lovely person: a great mother, a great girl, she makes me laugh so bad," declares Vanessa.
Wrapping up the interview, the elfin star has a secret she wants to share about the legendary Karl. "He smells so good," she giggles. "Even at the end of the day he smells just like a flower."
GRAZIA Magazine (UK)
March 2005
LOOKING GOOD, MRS. JOHNNY DEPP
She's beautiful, talented and has a heart-throb as her other half. If that's not reason enough to envy Vanessa Paradis, she's everyone's favourite model again.
Story by Simon Gage
When Vanessa Paradis first modelled for Chanel 14 years ago, the singer was so clueless about fashion the only designer item she coveted was a big floppy vintage hat she wore on stage to cover her face. It's a different story these days. Not only is the French partner of Johnny Depp a walking red carpet advert for Chanel, she's also modelling for the label again, as the face of its Ligne Cambon accessories range. "When I first worked with them, I was 18 and just this young, selfish girl, doing my own thing," Vanessa, 33, tells Grazia. "I was happier wearing jeans and trainers."
Her first advert, for Coco Chanel perfume, pictured Vanessa on a trapeze, in a birdcage, and was commissioned after she enjoyed worldwide success with the hit single, Joe Le Taxi. "It was like being on a Hollywood set of the 30s or 40s, like being in a fairytale," says Vanessa, who is now also a successful actress in her native France.
The new advert, shot by Chanel's Karl Lagerfeld himself, is much more low-key and in keeping with Vanessa's new image as one half of the coolest couples in showbiz.
"I've never properly modelled in my life," she says. "I'm too short to do that anyway [she's 5ft 3in] -- and I don't want to do just any old commercial. It doesn't really fit with my musical career. But it's not a compromise to do a commercial for Chanel because the image feels magical. Karl has great taste. He's so smart. You'd think a person in his position would have his mind set and everyone would just go "Amen" to everything he says, but he's always asking for my opinion."
Persuading Vanessa to model again was no mean feat, given that she and Johnny go out of their way to avoid publicity. The notoriously private couple, parents to Lily-Rose Melody, five, and Jack, two, live in a remote part of southern France and have recently bought a tiny island in the Bahamas - which they're seriously considering naming F*** Off Island. They only go to movie-making capital Los Angeles when work demands it.
"I don't live in America. If I lived there, I would miss my friends most of all, and I would miss the cafes and the walking, because people don't walk much in America," says Vanessa.
Their most recent visit to LA was for last week's Oscars, when Johnny was up for Best Actor for his role Neverland. Despite looking unbelievably chic and poised in a Chanel dress which Karl made especially for her, Vanessa confesses the event had her quaking in her shoes.
"I love to dress up but the idea of that red carpet scares me so much. It's like being an animal in a cage at the zoo. You see all those beautiful actresses wearing strappy dresses, they smile brightly and pose with their right leg in front of their left, but I find it pretty frightening. I can't do that, I really can't," she says.
Vanessa admits she tones down her normally eclectic look for LA, saving her more outrageous outfits for European events such as the French Oscars equivalent, the Cesars.
"In LA, I want to be discreet," she says. "I might wear something a little louder somewhere else because I feel at ease. Over in LA, the idea of that red carpet scares me so much, I just can't be loud."
As a couple, Johnny and Vanessa seem perfectly matched. They met when he caught sight of her at the Hotel Costes in Paris and he immediately fell in love with her. She felt the same: "We both had pasts, but when we met each other we just knew." They're not officially married, although she says: "Whether there's a bit of paper or not, as far as I'm concerned I'm married."
Although they're the anti-Brad and Jen, so to speak, Vanessa does have friends in Hollywood, most notably Johnny's Neverland co-star Kate Winslet, who she sat next to at the Oscars.
"She's one of the sweetest, funniest girls. A lovely person: a great mother, a great girl, she makes me laugh so bad," declares Vanessa.
Wrapping up the interview, the elfin star has a secret she wants to share about the legendary Karl. "He smells so good," she giggles. "Even at the end of the day he smells just like a flower."