PARIS — Rihanna steps out in the Palace of Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors for the upcoming J’Adore campaign set to break on Sept. 1.
The shimmering spot lensed by her longtime friend Steven Klein takes her back to the brand fountainhead dripping with gold, while simultaneously catapulting J’Adore — Rihanna-channeled — into the future.
The singer, businesswoman and fashion icon has become the face of the blockbuster women’s fragrance from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Parfums Christian Dior 25 years after the perfume first was released.
“J’Adore makes a woman feel they can become who they really want to be, deep down inside,” Rihanna said in a statement. “It’s magical.”
She described the J’Adore woman as being “beautiful, strong, sexy and resilient at the same time.”
“Orchestrating the encounter between Rihanna and J’Adore at Versailles was a truly inspiring challenge,” Klein said in a separate statement. “We had already enjoyed a foretaste of the experience with the ‘Secret Garden’ film shot in 2015, but the ambience was completely different and more nocturnal.”
Rihanna’s link with Dior includes appearing in the referred-to “Secret Garden IV,” a campaign and short film shot inside Versailles, which dropped in May 2015. The following year, Rihanna and Dior also collaborated on a sunglass collection.
“With J’Adore, everything was focused on gold and light,” Klein continued. “I wanted to create a visual dialogue between the classical style of the 18th century and Rihanna’s incredibly contemporary beauty. This film invents a new universe that bridges several worlds and several eras, and manages to achieve a natural and radiant universal appeal.”
Rihanna preparing for the J’Adore campaign.
Courtesy of Parfums Christian Dior
Thrown into the elixir of this campaign are Versailles’ Grand Canal, as well as a golden gown embroidered with pale sequins designed by Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri and a reinterpretation of the golden necklace that inspired the thread weaving around J’Adore’s bottle neck.
Klein said: “Rihanna has something remarkable that exceeds beauty and talent in truly extravagant fashion. Her aura is striking, it is as though she comes from another world. Images of her glow, and literally embody something unique that has never been seen before.
“With J’Adore, she transforms into a living goddess, a queen in her kingdom, who fully embodies the noble character of a perfume that speaks to women all over the world,” Klein said.
Rihanna said she always enjoys working with Klein.
“Even with all he’s accomplished, he still has such a genuine, pure, childlike passion for his art,” she said. “It’s such a joy to work with artists like him. And full circle to be back at Versailles for Dior with Steven Klein — dream team baby.
“The house of Dior has always represented the highest level of elegance, craftsmanship and the regality of a woman,” Rihanna said. “It’s always an honor to be a part of the brand’s history, and to now represent J’Adore is an even greater responsibility because of how important this fragrance is to Dior.”
She added: “J’Adore has an aura. It expresses a genuine ‘essence.’”
Dior J’Adore
Courtesy
As previously reported, Rihanna succeeds Charlize Theron, who in May became jewelry and skin care ambassador at Dior after fronting J’Adore for 20 years.
The Rihanna-J’Adore tie-in can pack a powerful punch. When her nomination was revealed in June, posts that mentioned “Rihanna” generated $210,700 earned media value, or EMV, that month for U.S. Dior Beauty, which includes fragrance, cosmetics and skin care, according to influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ.
“Interestingly, despite J’Adore being a fragrance, Rihanna’s viral presence spilled over into Dior fashion, where posts mentioning the superstar garnered $334,900 EMV,” said Alexander Rawitz, director of research and insights at CreatorIQ. He added that then came out to $545,6000 EMV for the entire brand.
It is tricky to predict how a new campaign will impact a brand, especially since coverage of it tends to be owned media.
However, once the total J’Adore ad rollout hits, factoring in Rihanna’s own social media posts, CreatorIQ expects the campaign to help generate northward of $1 million EMV in total.
J’Adore was a pivotal launch for Dior. Before the fragrance’s introduction in 1999, Dior reassessed its “Diorness” and sought to launch a scent that was lighter and sweeter than one of its then bestsellers, Poison. In the process, Dior hoped to create a new classic.
The name J’Adore came from the expression of adoration — “j’adore” — that Christian Dior himself frequently used, as did John Galliano, the designer, more recently in the house’s history.
J’Adore is among the fragrance market leaders globally in part because it keeps reinventing itself with the likes of Parfum d’Eau, the first alcohol-free eau de parfum. More recently, there has been the addition of L’Or de J’Adore. It was the first major scent created for Dior by Francis Kurkdjian after he became the house’s perfume creative director in October 2021.
Over the years J’Adore, initially created by Calice Becker, has been interpreted by various other perfumers, including François Demachy.
The fragrance’s advertising has been shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Romain Gavras, Craig McDean and Peter Lindbergh. J’Adore’s first campaign featured Carmen Kass wading through liquid gold.
