Rihanna’s reign as Queen of Dior J’adore has officially begun.
In June, it was announced that Rihanna would succeed Charlize Theron as the face of the iconic perfume—and where better to hold her coronation than the Palace of Versailles? On September 1, Dior unveiled Rihanna’s first campaign film, directed by Steven Klein and set to the Anti track “Love on the Brain.” According to a press release, the ad tells the story of “a metamorphosis and a coronation, a fusional encounter between a pop idol and a legendary perfume.”
Throughout J’adore, The Film, Rihanna transforms into the human embodiment of J’Adore’s golden perfume bottle, stripping off her gorgeous black coat, gloves, and Lady Dior handbag for a regal sequins corset dress and stacked pearl choker necklace, both designed by creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri. And while every queen must have their cape, Rihanna’s sheer golden robe gets left behind on the floor of the Hall of Mirrors.
“Among the golden hues of Versailles, she is a queen who resists all classification, the radiant incarnation of triumphant femininity,” the press statement continues. “The Hall of Mirrors is her catwalk. The Grand Canal her stage.”
Do I know exactly what the perfume smells like simply based on this video? No. Do I want to smell like whatever Rihanna smells like? Of course. (For those wondering, the latest J’adore perfume, L’Or de J’adore, blends notes of orange blossom, jasmine grandiflorum, and centifolia rose.)
Prior to the film’s release, Rihanna spoke with Vogue about her sentimental connection to J’adore Dior, which originally debuted in 1995. “My mother worked in a perfume shop,” she told Vogue in August. “She used to always bring home the J’adore testers when they were almost empty, so there was always a bottle in the house. I have always loved this perfume.”
Dior refers to the campaign as a “celebration of the Dior dream in unison with the extravagance of a total star and universal woman.” Bringing J’adore and Rihanna together is just “the beginning of a new dream in gold.”
