Clémence Poésy talks fragrance and her Chloé campaign in new interviews

As we shared with you recently, Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour) stars in the new ad campaign for Chloé’s latest fragrance, Love Story. In a new interview, she shares more about her relationship with the French fashion house, as well as her acting career. She has also written this article, explaining more about her love of fragrance.

Poésy explains why she was so excited to work with Chloé in particular:

Chloé was one of the first brands I borrowed clothes from when I was starting out. I love Chloé’s sense of freedom. The designs are mysterious, feminine and playful.

She also praises the team behind the new campaign: Clare Waight Keller, the creative director; Anne Flipo, the perfumer; and Vanessa Paradis, who features in the advertisement’s soundtrack.

It feels amazing to work alongside such wonderful women. They’re all people [who] I admire, who have the ability to constantly reimagine themselves. They’re curious and inventive.

She talks about why she thinks perfume is important and its capacity for capturing a moment or memory:

Fragrance is a huge part of my identity. I don’t really wear makeup, and I never do much with my hair, but I would feel naked without perfume. There’s something so poetic about it, isn’t there? The idea that a perfumer can capture a moment, or a story, and put it in a bottle – as an actress, I find that really cool. More than any other sense, smell just has this power to transport you. Think about when you’re on the street and a person walks past wearing the same perfume or cologne of someone you’ve known in your life. It’s a flashback, straight away.

She goes on to write about some of the particular scents that have strong associations for her:

Other scents can be transporting too, like the smell of Nivea sunscreen, which makes me think of summer. And basil – I love basil – that’s also the scent of summer. Winter is the smell of fireplaces and coffee first thing in the morning. Home is Diptyque’s Musc candle. And if friendship were a scent, it would be tea.

Poésy explains how she uses perfume in her acting, to help her capture a character:

When I played Joan of Arc in ‘The Silence of Joan’, I wore Chanel No.19. It still conjures her strength for me, so I wear it when I’m playing a dominant character. But personally, I prefer something feminine that leaves a bit of a trace behind.

Chloé is not her only link to the fashion world, though; both Karl Lagerfeld (Chanel) and Nicolas Ghesquière (Balenciaga) have invited her to fashion shows and given her clothes for events. However, her personal style is quite a simple one, as she says,

I would always rather look a bit underdressed. I guess I’m a bit self-conscious, but I’m not very good at that full-on dress-and-jewels thing.

Most of us probably think of the French as being effortlessly chic, but this is something Poésy only recently realized:

It’s weird. I’d never really thought about it, but I was on a bus in Paris last week while people were going to work, and it suddenly struck me that everyone looked really sleek and classic. No one was trying too hard; they were just cool.

As for her acting career, she expresses desires to play Juliet, share a set with Emma Thompson (Professor Trelawney – they never had a scene together in the Potter franchise!), and do more television:

I feel something has happened in the past five years – TV series are getting better and better, and there are more female leads. I also think that we’re starting to let go of the idea that the girl is there because of the guy.

Her family is also very involved in the film industry; her father, Étienne Guichard, is an actor and writer, and her younger sister, Maëlle Poésy-Guichard, is also an actress and theater director. Poésy says that she’d love to work with her sister:

[Maëlle is] incredibly talented and so much smarter than me. It’s not fair! I’d love to work with her, yeah. But I’m not sure she’d be so keen to work with me, and you can’t get her to do anything she doesn’t want to do.

She also hopes to try her hand at other aspects of drama, such as directing, in the future:

I want to create. People fascinate me; it would be so interesting to get into their minds.

Do you agree with Clémence’s thoughts on fragrance? What do you think about her Chloé ad?