Vanessa Paradis & Lily-Rose Depp | CHANEL Fragrance to Couture | UK

Vanessa Paradis and Lily-Rose Depp look unmistakably like mother and daughter. Their CHANEL connection is even more interesting when watched through the films.

COCO, N°5 L’EAU, British Vogue, 17C and Haute Couture create a timeline in which the family resemblance stays constant while the style around it changes completely.

Vanessa Paradis in COCO｜A CHANEL Image That Still Feels Singular

The mother-daughter timeline begins in 1991 with Vanessa Paradis and COCO. Jean-Paul Goude’s birdcage film is theatrical and slightly strange: Vanessa swings like a tiny bird, watched by a white cat, looking fragile and mischievous at once.

Her CHANEL work continued through ROUGE COCO and COCO COCOON in 2010 and the Girl handbag campaign in 2015. By then, the next generation was already appearing beside her.

2015｜Lily-Rose Depp Becomes More Than Vanessa’s Daughter at CHANEL

Vanessa and Lily-Rose attended the Paris-Salzburg Métiers d’Art re-show in New York in spring 2015. In July, CHANEL announced the 16-year-old Lily-Rose as an ambassador and the face of Pearl eyewear.

She and Vanessa later appeared in the casino atmosphere of Fall 2015 Haute Couture. The family resemblance drew attention, but Lily-Rose’s fashion presence was already becoming noticeably different from her mother’s.

Lily-Rose Depp

Two Fragrance Films Worth Watching Back to Back

Vanessa’s campaign was for COCO; Lily-Rose fronted N°5 L’EAU in 2016. They are different fragrances, separated by a quarter-century of image-making.

That is why the pairing works. Goude gives Vanessa a miniature fantasy world; Johan Renck gives Lily-Rose a fast sequence of opposites. Both rely on character, but they define “CHANEL girl” very differently.

Which one would you replay? Vanessa’s birdcage fantasy or Lily-Rose’s sharper, younger N°5 L’EAU film?

Lily-Rose Depp

Vanessa Paradis

British Vogue’s “In the Bag” Changes the Mood Completely

Then British Vogue catches Lily-Rose away from the formal campaign set. Her “In the Bag” film is conversational, quick and distinctly teenage—useful precisely because it sits beside a very controlled CHANEL image.

17C in Venice｜Canary Yellow Instead of Classic Black

At Venice in September 2016, Lily-Rose chose a canary-yellow CHANEL Cruise 2017 (17C) dress for Planetarium promotion. Embroidery and sequins make it elaborate, yet the saturated colour keeps it lively.

17C was presented in Havana by Karl Lagerfeld, so the dress carries the collection’s warmer, more relaxed energy rather than the severity people sometimes expect from CHANEL.

The Couture Bride and the Mother in the Front Row

Lily-Rose walked Paris Cosmopolite at the Ritz Paris in December 2016, then closed the Spring-Summer 2017 Haute Couture show the following month in a pale pink ruffled bridal look.

Vanessa attended as a guest. Lily-Rose joined Karl Lagerfeld for the finale while her mother watched from the audience—one of those fashion moments that is more interesting when the family chronology is already in view.

Lily-Rose has spoken about going to the 31 Rue Cambon salon with Vanessa when she was young, which makes her later role as the couture bride feel unexpectedly circular.

Vogue, Vanessa’s Wardrobe and a Small Pink CHANEL Bag

A later Vogue getting-ready film gives the nicest ending. Lily-Rose talks about searching through the CHANEL pieces in her mother’s wardrobe and shows a small pink bag she has had since childhood.

It is less glamorous than a runway finale, but perhaps more revealing: Vanessa’s work created a wardrobe that became part of Lily-Rose’s everyday memories before she had campaigns of her own.

Two women, one House, very different energy. That is why the story holds up better as a timeline than as a simple “mother and daughter look alike” comparison.

References