Timothée Chalamet is Chanel’s forward-thinking Bleu ambassador

Timothée Chalamet is entering a new Chanel era. The 27-year-old actor may be a notable style icon—hello Haider Ackermann red jumpsuit—but he’s never starred in a fashion campaign before. That is, until now. The French Maison has now named and famed the star as the face of its top-selling men’s fragrance, Bleu de Chanel—following Chanel’s first-ever male ambassador, the late French actor Gaspard Ulliel.

Back in April, social media ran rife with possible Chalamet/Chanel theories when images surfaced of the Bones and All actor stylishly hitting the New York City streets with Martin Scorcese. The acclaimed director previously shot an equally edgy Bleu de Chanel commercial featuring Ulliel in 2010.

Renowned fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti lensed the evocative supporting imagery—with a white shirt and denim-clad Chalamet embodying the scent reminiscent of CHANEL N°5. Most especially, with Chalamet’s upbringing in Manhattan and French roots—his father hails from Nîmes.

While the full campaign will drop in June, Chalamet revealed his ambassadorship to Instagram on May 16. Exclusively, the internet’s boyfriend told Harper’s Bazaar Australia/New Zealand he was excited to collaborate with “a fashion and beauty house that has a vast, substantive history with cinema.” Read about the actor’s likely-to-be-legendary Chanel partnership, as well as his thoughts on playing Bob Dylan in an upcoming biopic, below.

Harper's Bazaar: There is a long-standing brand history with Hollywood and cinema—from Gabrielle Chanel’s first visit to Los Angeles in 1930 to dress Gloria Swanson, to an authentic commitment to preserving cinematic masterpieces and continued support of emerging and established directors and actors. Has learning about Chanel’s connection to the industry impacted the significance of your collaboration? 

Timothée Chalamet: As someone who is passionate about movie making and acting, collaborating with a fashion and beauty house that has a vast, substantive history with cinema meant the most to me. To top that off,  CHANEL has given me an unbelievable creative opportunity to work on a short film inspired by Bleu de Chanel directed by Martin Scorsese—the greatest living American auteur of our time.

HB: Bleu de Chanel, not unlike yourself, relates to a man deeply connected with himself and the world. The scent plays with many dualities—juxtaposing shadow and light, dusk and dawn, and woody notes with fresh undertones. What does Bleu de Chanel represent to you?
TC: What I like about Bleu de Chanel specifically is that, not unlike movies and storytelling in general, the scent and the narrative behind it are open for interpretation. It comes down to subtle assertiveness and the unique interpretation of the person who is wearing it and how the fragrance ultimately makes them feel. That’s all that’s important—it doesn’t matter what I think

HB: What are you most grateful for at the moment?
TC: I’m thankful for everything right now, and that I can reasonably know where I’m resting my head at night and that I get to keep doing something I love to do. I’m grateful to start this relationship with Chanel and to be a small part in the brand’s storied and elevated legacy by helping to inform the next chapter of Bleu de Chanel.

HB: What are you most curious about right now?
TC: Honestly, I’ve been thinking a lot about how life would’ve been in New York in the sixties! As I prepare to play Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, I keep ruminating on what it must have been like downtown at the time—mainly because living downtown is so expensive these days. What would it have been like when it was affordable and accessible, and at the same time so rich in art and culture? I’m wrapping my head around that more than anything because even I grew up in a different New York than New York is now. So that’s the thought of the day.

This article first appeared in Harper's Bazaar Australia in May 2023.