Thunder Perfect Mind

Im not a massive fan of TV clothes advertisements. Either they come across as too artsy, full of wangst and anorexic models or try to be the opposite and inadvertently have a repellant effect on their viewers, i.e Rivers Ads. 

The same goes for perfume ads (especially print ones). 

Whether they are single page Dolce & Gabbana sex scenes in magazines or Coke addled Burberry waifs on billboards, practically no perfume ads tend to make you actually want to run out and buy the perfume. 

This Prada advertisement, however, is different. 

I still can't remember how I stumbled across 'Thunder Perfect Mind' a 2005 TV ad for Prada's first perfume (probably mindless Youtube surfing) but I can't help loving every single thing about it. Firstly, it stars one of my favourite supermodels, Daria Werbowy and the film/ad has a great, romantic, dreamy 'feel' about it that makes you want to move to France and wear only high heels and lovely, feminine Prada clothes for the rest of your life (highly responsive to advertising, moi?).

'Thunder Perfect Mind' follows Werbowy as she "portray(s) the many intricacies of women" (Boards Magazine, 2005) through various female archetypes-The Virgin, The Mother, The Wife, The Mistress and The Daughter - their paths crossing throughout the film and as Werbowy acts out these roles she reads an ancient Gnostic poem as narration. Sound pretentious already? Wait for this: The ad is actually an excerpt of a short film made by Ridley Scott's daughter and each costume in the film (in addition to the perfect pieces that Werbowy wears) were designed by Muiccia Prada herself (people who don't know who she is need to go out and buy themselves a Vogue). 

I suppose the idea is actually fairly pretentious (archetypes, Ridley Scott etc) and I really should hate it for that, seeing as the whole thing is supposed to be an ad for perfume after all, but one has to be honest; everything from the cinematography to Werbowy's acting skills is Top Class and really makes for a dreamy, romantic 6:01 minutes of escapism into the glamorous world of haute couture. It doesn't make me want to buy the fragrance right now, but it does make me want to watch it again and again and again. Some of my favourite outfits are the yellow chiffon dress, red-lipstick kisses dress and every single one of the trench-coats. Check it out below and let me know what you think in the comments: