Inspire conversations

Chanel is no stranger to famous faces: Nicole Kidman for Chanel No.5 in 2006

If the rumours are to be believed, Chanel has signed Brad Pitt to front the campaign for its most iconic fragrance, Chanel No.5.

Chanel No.5 is no stranger to famous faces: Catherine Deneuve, Nicole Kidman and Audrey Tatou have all starred in advertising spots for the brand, but Brad Pitt will be the first non-female celebrity to represent the brand’s women’s fragrance portfolio. What’s more, at ILN HQ we’ve been wracking our brains (and leafing through our considerable archive of press releases) and we’re fairly sure that this is the first time that any brand has picked a man to promote a woman’s fragrance full-stop.

Bold, brave, radical. Chanel is certainly pushing the boundaries of the traditional perfume advert, but then Chanel has a long history of breaking free of convention.

Indeed, Chanel No.5, with its aldehydic top notes, was a drastic departure from the 1921 norm—at the time, fragrances could be neatly categorized into two groups: single-note florals worn by ladies, and musky, almost indolic scents worn by ladies of the night.

For although it’s now considered the ultimate in femininity thanks to Marilyn Monroe, who claimed it was the only thing she wore to bed, Chanel No.5 was originally designed as a boyish ‘clean’ scent to compliment Coco’s androgynous aesthetic.

From that perspective, Chanel’s decision to appoint a man to market the scent appears perfectly logical.

Mrs Thackery reads the latest gossip in Illustrated London News

The Illustrated London News made an appearance at 165 Eaton Place last weekend in the third episode of the second series of the BBC’s popular period drama Upstairs Downstairs.

We don’t believe in spoilers, so you’ll have to watch it yourself to find out what cook Mrs Thackery is reading about…

Watch the episode on BBC iPlayer

Judging from the appreciative tweets flying around this morning from Chemmy Alcott, Britain’s No.1 female skier and Matthew Pinsent, four-time Olympic gold medallist—the first PODIUM sports quiz night, at Long Acre Bar, Covent Garden was a resounding success.

With the stylish downstairs bar adorned by a huge blown-up version of our Issue 2 cover star Frankie Dettori, the stage was set for an exciting and enjoyable evening featuring teams from upmarket brands and retailers, city firms, sports marketing agencies and Olympic hospitality providers. Read more

Keri-Anne Payne, one of our nominees for BBC Sports Personality of the Year (if we had been asked!), at the British Gas Great Swim Day @Getty Images

Despite being the country’s only intelligent sports magazine, PODIUM wasn’t one of the publications invited to submit its nominations for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award 2011, whose shortlist was recently announced. Read more

Where better to revive the glamour of air travel than in Cannes?

BBC Two’s upcoming drama series Pan Am, which is set to hit our screens in November, promises to transport us back to the glamorous era of luxury air travel before fractious air hostesses wearing blue polyester aprons were forced to peddle scratch cards, anaemic hot dogs and polybags of gin to earn a living wage. Read more

Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons in its legendary gardens in Oxfordshire

Last night, Raymond Blanc hit the headlines when he hosted a live dinner in the windows of Harrods (see www.raymondblanc.com). Together with Martell cognac, the event was designed to showcase French craftsmanship. Last week, we were treated to our very own taste of that Gallic flair at a special lunch hosted by Sphere magazine at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Read more

I think I spent all my school years anxious to see the back of compulsory education. The thought of finishing repetitive classroom routines, and waving goodbye to something I did not fully enjoy was both intriguing and exciting. But nothing could have prepared me for the liberation I felt when I got my exam results and the realisation that I had an entire year of freedom stretching out before me. Where to start? The opportunities were endless.

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Today, I went to the Walpole digital forum and was lucky enough to chat to James Quarles from, as he put it, “a little website you might know – Facebook”. Despite the crush of people waiting to speak to him, I was determined to get my two mins, specifically to talk about Facebook’s latest launch – Timeline. Read more

Come and join us in Spitalfields, in the heart of London.

The picture above is of a staff lunchtime surfing session. We are looking for someone who can write a good story to go along with it, that people will share and comment on.

The role is split into two parts:

The first is a taking editorial responsibility for a client’s B2B environmental publication that is widely read by the C level hoteliers

The second is reporting to our social and search manager the second aspect is creating relevant and engaging online content across our own global print and online sports and fashion publications and for our clients’ social media channels. This includes Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and content-relevant Blogs and Forums Read more

Two weeks in and the 2011 Rugby World Cup is on course to be easily the best in the competition’s 24-year history.

The main trend to emerge from the opening games has been the closing of the gap between the established sides and the so-called minnows. Amazing to think that some of the powers-that-be within the International Rugby Board were calling for the event to be cut down from 20 to 16 sides to reduce the embarrassing mismatches that have blighted previous tournaments. Instead wiser heads prevailed and the newer rugby-playing nations were giving a slightly fairer slice of the pie to invest in coaching, facilities and preparations for their squads. Read more

Ready to multi-task in a Renault Clio Sport

So I’ve got my provisional licence and passed the theory test. The summer stretches ahead, promising endless possibilities of road trips, hot days driving with my girlfriends to the English coast, to romantic cities… First problem: I can’t drive. Second problem: I don’t have a car. Third problem: it has rained cats and dogs for most of this summer. Read more

As another glorious, exciting, eventful, shocking and entertainment-filled season looms, there are plenty of questions playing on the minds of every football fan throughout the somewhat empty summer: who can put a stop to the strength and resilience of Manchester United? Will Manchester City with all their expensive talent take a secure hold on the league this season? Will Arsenal finally end their six-year wait for a trophy? Who will be relegated from the glamour of the Premier League to the long hard slog of the Championship? Read more

Cover of the September 2011 issue of Tatler

“Fancy wearing £10m of jewellery in the next 10 minutes?” asks the cover of the September issue of Tatler.

Errr. Yes please!
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Photo: colette.fr

The City Car Ethos

Everybody likes to have elements of luxury in their lives, but practicality is also vital, especially for urban living. So when the two are combined, what is created can only be irresistible. Read more

As the marvellous, spectacular and truly baffling television series Dynamo: Magician Impossible came to a close on digital channel Watch last week, I’m sure anyone who witnessed the mind-boggling and virtually “impossible” tricks by Bradford-born Steven Frayne (aka Dynamo) had the same questions on their mind: what are his secrets? How does he do it? Could it be possible that it is in fact magic? Read more