Blake Lively: Gucci Première face

The statuesque Blake Lively is the face of the new Gucci Première fragrance, a scent meant to embody the glamour of Old Hollywood. Gucci’s creative director, Frida Giannini, however, says the spritz is also a way for women the world over to embrace their own real-life, red-carpet moments. You know, share the fantasy.

Given the Première moniker, however, the casting of the Gossip Girl star (who is also set to appear in Oliver Stone’s upcoming flick, Savages) does make sense.  After all, she does live the silver-screen lifestyle.

On that Hollywood theme, the perfume takes its name and inspiration from the Gucci Première couture collection that debuted at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Those evening gowns were created for today’s A-list starlettes, the likes of Salma Hayek and Jessica Alba, Cameron Diaz and Berenice Bejo.

Gucci Première is a big, glamorous perfume, its floral notes combine with heady, wood and musk essences. Bergamot and orange blossom define the opening of the juice; at its heart: white flowers and musk; and at its foundation, leather and balsamic woods. Imagine the taste of a sweet cocktail in candlelight, jazz playing, a hint of cigar smoke wafting in the background. That’s the idea.

The Première bottle also channels  the glamorous bygone era of film with its gilt finish and gold-on-gold interlocking Gs. As does the TV and print campaign. Nicholas Winding Refn, director of the critically acclaimed 2011 thriller Drive (for which he won a best-director award at Cannes), shot the commercial, while acclaimed shooters Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott (Mert & Marcus) executed the print work. “We wanted to have a film effect,” they explain of their vision, “almost like a film noir, but with a modern twist.”

The perfume will be available in Canada at Holt Renfrew this September, www.holtrenfrew.com.

As of November 1, it will hit shelves at www.thebay.com, www.sephora.ca, www.shoppersdrugmart.ca, www.murale.ca and www.ogilvy.ca.