In a major coup for the young American actress who seems to polarise commentators and fans alike, Kristen Stewart has been named the new face of Chanel make-up. Head designer and creative director of the fashion house (as well as the Italian house Fendi and his own fashion label) Karl Lagerfeld has enthusiastically said he thinks she’s “one of the greatest actors of her generation”.
The 25-year-old actress will front a campaign called Collection Eyes 2016 and has already posed for photographs with acclaimed photographer Mario Testino.
According to the fashion house, Kristen posed “for a series of portraits that incarnate the different facets of a contemporary woman” for the new campaign, which will debut in March.
There is no doubt that Ms Stewart is remarkably photogenic. We would happily watch her read the phone book while biting her lip anxiously. And we are rather taken with her obvious disregard for some of the conventions of “stardom”, although we also note she doesn’t seem to shy away from pulling down a few mill per movie. Not that she should, but sometimes we think the lady doth protest too much the stresses and strains of being one of the highest paid thespians of the current era.
We are, however, yet to see a performance from her that we would consider, frankly, to be great acting, let alone one of the best of her generation. Still Mr Lagerfeld is entitled to his opinion just like everyone. But she has undoubtedly cornered the market in moody/gawky.
We look forward to the campaign. It will be interesting to see how Testino uses what has become such an iconic face in modern Western culture – primarily through the success of the Twilight series of movies – to represent the “different facets” of contemporary woman.
Yes, Stewart has made the pouty, icy stare her own motif. And the ingenue “grin”. But both are a relatively niche “look”, and have been somewhat done to death by the fashion industry. Mainly, we suspect, because it’s hard to photograph deeper emotions well.
Anyhow, it is to be hoped that the new campaign is more than variations on a well-worn theme.
We expect we’ll see evenings of sparkling glamour, fast cars, business, moody sunset shots, beaches, industrial grunge, street scenes yada yada yada. And all well and good. Fashion is about fantasy, after all.
When we also see someone like Kristen photographed up to her armpits in soap suds doing the dishes or cleaning her baby’s vomit off her blouse then we’ll be really impressed with the representation of all aspects of “the different facets of contemporary woman”.
Well, This Is What I Think 