Rebel Wilson’s “Rebelle” in InStyle Magazine

Australian actor Rebel Wilson is the face of InStyle‘s May 2019 issue, and for this cover and interview, the magazine photographed her in a series of shots inspired by classic (if occasionally over-the-top) perfume ads of the 1970s and 1980s.

Here’s Rebel wearing a slinky black gown and reclining on a couch with a bouquet of orchids at her head…

And here’s Jerry Hall, with slinky gown and orchids, for Yves Saint Laurent’s Opium in 1981. She’s wearing YSL, of course—clothing and perfume.

For a little more cleavage, here’s Nastasia Urbana for Opium in 1988. You’ll notice that the YVES SAINT LAURENT lettering is the source of the REBELLE type too.

Sometimes perfume ads verge on the absurd, so it’s not surprising to see Rebel posing inside a giant bottle of Rebelle, her fictional fragrance.

There may be other examples of models inhabiting bottles of the fragrances they’re promoting, but this image of 1960s supermodel Jean Shrimpton montaged inside the Chanel no. 5 flaçon is the one that comes to my mind.

(This photo was taken by Helmut Newton in 1971.)

For another mock ad, Rebel posed in black and white against a stark white background, one hand at her hip and the other touching her jacket collar, hair gently blowing around her face.

In the late 1970s, Chanel muse Catherine Deneuve posed for No. 5 in a chic menswear-inspired suit with a tucked white shirt and black bow at her neck.

Deneuve is the most obvious inspiration for Rebel’s suited-up Rebelle shot…

…although other ads have followed Chanel’s lead, like this 1980s shot of Paulina Porizkova in a tuxedo and diamonds for Estée Lauder’s Knowing.

I always love a good perfume ad satire, and I enjoyed this feature in InStyle. I haven’t yet thought of direct inspirations for the other “Rebelle” photos in these pages, but if I do, I’ll update.

 

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