I don’t usually say or think much about Jennifer Aniston, because she and her acting career and her romantic travails generally don’t interest me. However, when her début fragrance was released in 2010 and arrived in the United States a year later, she edged her way a bit further into my awareness.
I’ve heard the fragrance is nice enough, but as so often happens, I’ve spent more time looking at the ad than sampling her eponymous scent at Sephora. If Ms. Aniston is playing a larger part than usual in my conscious mind, then her ad has touched upon something buried deep in my unconscious.
I’ve been remembering a photograph of Jane Fonda, taken around 1966 when she was in her late twenties. At the time she was breaking out of her image of Hollywood royalty and the “girl next door” by revealing a sexier, more rebellious side. (She would star in Barbarella in 1968.)
Something about the pose, the windblown hair, and the rocky beach landscape seem to be echoed in Jennifer Aniston’s perfume advertisement.
I first came across this photo in a large, image-stuffed book called The Best of LIFE, which reproduced hundreds of pictures from LIFE magazine. The book credited this photograph to Jean-Pierre Lagarde.
There are only so many ways that a female body can be arranged for a photograph, of course, especially when you’re trying to achieve a sexy-but-not-unpublishable look. Still, I have a feeling that this photo of Fonda has been influential on many fashion/celebrity shoots.
Someone, somewhere seems to have decided that this legs-and-arms-crossed, is-she-really-nude pose seems to suit Jennifer Aniston well, since she has also assumed it for her SmartWater advertisements.
(Full disclosure: here, I’ve naughtily flipped the color photo of Jane Fonda’s Italian beach session in order to emphasize the similarity.)
This isn’t the Jane Fonda that I knew from my earlier years, the bodysuit-clad, aerobic-workout goddess. Looking at her life, I’m fascinated by the number of times she has “reinvented” herself.
It’s interesting, how two women can model in similar poses (and hairstyles), against similar backdrops, and create such different moods. Where Jane was going for shock and sex appeal, Jennifer is falling back on her low-maintenance, comfortable familiarity—not reinvention at all.
Maybe I’d find Ms. Aniston more intriguing if she did give us something new, once in a while. But, as I said, I’ve never really been a fan.
To read more posts in this series, click here.
As always, great context makes for a point well reasoned.
BB, I always appreciate your feedback! Thank you. Some of these “essays” on perfume ads are very clear and obvious analogies, and some (like this one, or Lady Gaga) are more filtered through my own visual history.
Your analysis is inspiring. It pushes me to keep my eyes and mind open. Good stuff Jessica.
I enjoy this series and I’m amazed every time when you notice those things.
On a separate note, I want to say that I disagree with Smart Water commercial: there is absolutely no reason for Ms Aniston to be naked on that picture.
;)
I agree with Undina: the ad for the perfume makes a little more sense to me than the ad for the water. :) I haven’t seen that photo of Jane Fonda, but the similarities are striking. I wonder if she was the first celeb to assume that pose? Seems like maybe I have seen some photos of Marilyn in similar.