On this year’s Cannes red carpet, Nouvelle Vague actress Zoey Deutch wore a custom Chanel white dress comprising a corset, a peplum and a skirt embroidered with a camellia motif. But Chanel’s links to Nouvelle Vague run deeper: the luxury house supported the production of the black and white film by Richard Linklater, which tells the story of the filming of the 1960 French classic Breathless.
Chanel also created a series of silhouettes for characters Jean Seberg (Deutch) and Juliette Greco (Alix Bénézech). One important dress in the film is a reproduction of Gabrielle Chanel’s haute couture bustier dress in striped taffeta and beige dotted organza from the Spring/Summer 1956 collection. (Deutch also wore it at the photocall in Cannes.)
The brand supported the afterparty held at Bijou Plage, and some of the press interviews were held in the Chanel suite at the Majestic hotel. “We don’t just give money. We support them all the way,” Elsa Heizmann, global head of fashion’s relationship with cinema, says, speaking to Vogue Business in the Chanel suite, with a sprawling view of La Cannes Croisette.
Chanel has an enduring relationship with cinema. This year at Cannes, it has also supported Arco, the first animation movie by Remembers (France’s answer to Studio Ghibli), as well as the directorial debut of house ambassador Kristen Stewart, The Chronology of Water. In all their differences, the three films reflect the diversity of the projects Chanel invests in. “We’re fortunate to have this history with cinema and to be able to use it as the basis for our support, but we’re still passionate about cinema today,” Heizmann says. (Gabrielle Chanel had bonds with directors including Jean Renoir, Alain Resnais, Jean Cocteau and Louis Malle, as well as film stars like Jean Seberg, Jeanne Moreau and Anna Karina. She also designed film costumes in Hollywood and in Paris. The house has underscored these relationships in its collections and by supporting the restoration of films.)
Chanel isn’t the only fashion brand reinforcing its ties with the silver screen. Saint Laurent created a subsidiary, Saint Laurent Productions, in 2023. After its phenomenal success with Emilia Pérez, which premiered at Cannes last year and garnered 13 Oscar nominations, the Kering-owned house didn’t have a film in competition at Cannes this year, but has projects in the pipeline. Meanwhile, Ami Paris became the main sponsor of Cannes Critics’ Week for 2025, and Lacoste just announced its co-production debut, Chien 51 by Cédric Jimenez.
Chanel has a unique approach to cinema, says Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion and Chanel SAS. “For us, culture is a major element in our communication and is linked to the history of the house. Our commitment in these different fields [cinema, dance, music, literature and other cultural activities] is based above all on our support for creation, with a long-term vision,” he says.
Although not an official partner of Cannes, Chanel has a large presence at the festival — on and beyond the red carpet. (Halle Berry and Alba Rohrwacher, members of the Cannes main competition jury, each wore Chanel.) The house is a partner of a number of film festivals abroad, including Tribeca, Toronto and Busan International Film Festival. In 2024, the house launched Tokyo Lights in association with filmmaker Hirokazu Koreeda to support the emergence of Japanese directors. “We develop our initiatives all over the world, but always with local relevance to create a special connection with our local clients,” Pavlovsky explains.
Heizmann has been in the role since 2022, after leading the celebrity department at Chanel for 16 years. The creation of a department dedicated to cinema in 2022, at the instigation of Pavlovsky, was quite unprecedented among luxury brands. Here, we speak with the global head on the maison’s growing relationship with film.
Vogue: How do you select projects that you’ll invest in?
They choose us, I would say. We’ve developed an ecosystem, due to the history of the house, due to the passion for cinema that we have through all our designers — Gabrielle Chanel; Karl Lagerfeld was a great cinephile, and costume designer; Virginie Viard; and now, Matthieu Blazy — I like that he [Blazy] loves all kinds of films. For years now, we’ve been developing relationships with people in the film industry, and not just actresses but directors, costume designers, producers. Projects arrive from all directions.
Vogue: Why have you chosen to support Nouvelle Vague?
The theme of the French New Wave [a film movement that emerged in France in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which rejected traditional filmmaking conventions]. Gabrielle Chanel was close to actresses from the New Wave. There’s a spirit of transmission at Chanel, of supporting emerging talents. And this film is about youth, a youth that’s daring and that’s going to create a new form of cinema. So I didn’t hesitate. Jean Seberg didn’t wear Chanel in Breathless, but wore Chanel off-screen, so we discussed having an artistic collaboration with the costume designer Pascaline Chavanne.
Vogue: Why Arco?
Illustrator Ugo Bienvenu and director and actor Félix de Givry created their animation company Remembers. They had already worked with us so when they approached us, they knew what we were doing in the film industry, the support we were providing. We chose to support these two young people in making their first animated film. When I visited their creation studios, I was struck by a know-how that can be similar to haute couture. There’s no costume in the film, but there is a parallel. Also, it’s a story with an ecological theme. It’s more aimed at a younger audience but we liked the theme, the emotional side and their poetic universe. It featured the voice of Alma Jodorowsky.
Vogue: What are your next projects?
We’re going to support a film starring house ambassador Vanessa Paradis directed by Yann Gonzalez. Supporting our ambassadors in their projects creates a very strong bond with them. It goes beyond a contract. Vanessa will be releasing a music album in September and we are going to support her for a video clip.
There’s also a documentary on the behind the scenes of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette. Her mother had shot some footage at the time of filming, and Sofia is going to edit the footage into a beautiful documentary to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film. We really like Sofia’s work and it’s going to get people talking about this iconic film again.
There’s the film of Bertrand Mandico starring house ambassador Marion Cotillard. It’s going to be daring. We support a documentary by Isabelle Dupuy Chavanat on the career change of Paris Opera dancers; Chanel is a major patron of the Opéra national de Paris so it makes sense. And then there’s Couture, Alice Winocour’s film with Angelina Jolie and Ella Rumpf. It takes place in the world of fashion, during fashion week. The support in this case was also to give the director the opportunity to immerse in Chanel. The context of her stories are always very detailed, almost like an investigation, so she spent a year with us.
Vogue: Do you have your say on the final cut of the films that you support?
I can only say, ‘I like or I don’t’, knowing that I love all the films we support. However, the directors trust us so much that they sometimes show me the film before it’s finished, but it’s more to get feedback from someone who loves cinema. I think it’s more the producers who have a say; it’s not what we do.
Vogue: What is your dream project?
What would be nice is one day to have a movie theatre. In the same way that Chanel buys maisons d’art: if we don’t, they would go out of business — and cinemas are closing down.
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