Animating Chanel

A jet-propelled robot, a beaming sun god and an impish spider are not the likeliest of characters to embody the ultra-luxurious world of Chanel, but Peter Philips, the innovative mind behind them, has made his name pursuing the unexpected. Chanel’s Global Creative Director of Makeup took a break from conceptualizing cosmetic gold to don the animator’s cap for today’s short, a work inspired by a series of headdresses he crafted from beauty product packaging for a Vogue Paris shoot. Built from a trove of compacts, glosses, brushes and more, Philips’s characters embark on a journey that begins with a lipstick-powered automaton blasting through the clouds and ends on more familiar ground, with a model whose chic ensemble channels Mme Chanel herself. Philips came to the task with the requisite technical skills, having studied graphic design before attending Antwerp's Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts. But he did concede on one creative point—the music. “If it were up to me it would have been disco,” he confesses.