httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6zs2nBZwqY
“Usually it’s like people running through poppy fields or whatevernobody actually does that. We were aiming for something honest,” Jake Gylenhaal offers when explaining how he, Liya Kebede and 4-year-old Leila arrived at the concept for the just-released video for the latest Calvin Klein Eternity fragrance.
It features the nuclear family in a beach house, with waves lapping outside, lazing on minimalist furniture repeating stanzas of e.e. cummings’ “i carry your heart with me” poem to each other; not a poppy in sight.
The print campaign in turn was shot by Willy Vanderperre and signals the first foray of Raf Simons into the beauty and fragrance arm of Calvin Klein, w he notably has control over all iterations of the brand.
Calvin Klein created Eternity in 1988 to conjure a mood of family and permanence.
Jake, Liya, and Leila join the likes of Ed Burns and Christy Turlington in the pantheon of Eternity.
For starters, the mixed family is a first for Eternity and Halley’s-Comet-rare for a global fragrance campaign, certainly with the presence of a behemoth like CK. Also, the inclusion of the e.e. cummings piece in the story, though not a direct decision of Simons’ it feels very in keeping with Simons’ fascination with post-war American iconography and pathos.
If that wasn’t some kind of incredibly cynical sub-marketing move on the Stronger actors’ part, than the latest campaign at least shows that he’s more than ready to play the part, e.e. cummings or otherwise.