Just Greedy

Gwyneth’s collaboration with her personal trainer, Tracy Anderson, is the last straw. If I had an Oscar, 2 small children, a famous musician husband, properties in London and New York, a website, a cookery show and a few films in the pipeline, I would not bother producing a fitness DVD. What is it with modern celebrities selling out? I can understand selling out that includes posing for Juergen Teller in a Marc Jacobs campaign. That kind of selling out makes sense but bed linen, cheap perfume and fitness DVDs are for ex-Big Brother participants and not Kylie, Kate and Gwyneth respectively. I guess it comes down to keeping up with the Joneses when the Joneses happen to be the Beckhams or the Pitt-Jolies or whoever else celebrities measure themselves against.

There are however a few movie stars out there who manage to maintain a high profile whilst retaining their dignity. Natalie Portman is a good example; she expertly combines appearances in both mainstream and art house movies and her line of vegan shoes seems to demonstrate a desire to do good rather than a desire to get rich(er). One of her latest projects is a kind of fake ad for a fictional perfume called Greed. Directed by Roman Polanski and starring Natalie and my other favourite actress, Michelle Williams, the fake ad is part of an exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery in Rome by Italian artist, Francesco Vezzoli, which examines the strategy behind a perfume launch. You can view a trailer for the ad on Dazed Digital or the gallery's website and you will be able to watch the piece in its entirety after the exhibition opens on the 6th February. Finally, a celebrity perfume launch that we can get behind.



Images from the Gagosian Gallery website