Here is a new print ad for Blake Lively’s ongoing endorsement deal with Gucci. She’s the face of the Gucci perfume Premiere. And she and Ryan Reynolds have his-and-her Gucci endorsements. They are the Gucci couple. Allegedly, Blake got paid $4 million initially in 2012 when she became the face of the brand, but she’s probably renewed the deal at least once and that probably means more money. Gucci put out the new commercial for the campaign as well.
This is much better/sexier than the first commercial, which unfortunately had Blake mumbling through her lines awkwardly. This time around, Gucci was like, “we don’t need to hear her speak.”
Meanwhile, Page Six had an update on Blake’s little Goop Lite site that she announced last year. I thought she would have launched the damn thing by now, but Page Six says it’s coming… soon.
Blake Lively is about to start her lifestyle and e-commerce website.
Our source says the actress will launch the site July 23 selling, “curated fashionable items.”
Lively has said in the past of her plan, “The main element of it is that it’s about storytelling, and it’s about living a very one-of-a-kind, curated life, and how to achieve that.”
We’re told it will have a focus on artisans and products chosen by Lively, who will also appear in videos on the site.
A lot like Goop. Like, A LOT. Although, as I always say, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop started somewhat organically. She just did it as a newsletter once a week, then she gradually added the Goop Shop and it spread from there. Blake is trying to do it all at once – a Lively Shop, Vlogs, advertisements for “artisans” and such. I hate the term “curated fashionable items.” It feels condescending. Like, peasants can’t “curate” their own items. We don’t deserve to have a choice in what we shop for. We should just buy what Blake tells us to buy.
Photos courtesy of Gucci, Instagram, WENN.
Do that many people like her?
Then again, I still don’t understand why gwenyth has followers.
Such things are above peasants like me
I barely have an opinion about her other than I think she’s pretty. I may end up disliking her depending on the tone of this website.
Lol. Ditto
Is she pretty? I mean, she’s pretty. But is she “Hollywood pretty”? For some reason, I look at her and think, “Where’s the star appeal?”. I don’t mean to sound harsh. I really just don’t see it in her.
@Gen: I’m with you. I don’t see it either. She’s a vacant model. I’ve never got the impression that she has an interesting personality. I also don’t see what she’s got that’s so hot that no one else is or can do. She doesn’t have a particularly personal style.
Now, if Lupita were curating fashion items, I might not buy them, but I’d certainly sign up for the newsletter. Blake? Meh.
@Audrey
Well I deffo do. LOL
…..but what does she do?
Pose, Mumble, wear pretty clothes, shill beauty products, set up pap shots… You know, the usual Mocktress stuff
@Gen and @Moot,
I guess everyone has opinions and that is great. I actually think Blake is one of the most beautiful women in all of Hollywood. Including all actresses and models. One exception; Angelina Jolie.
Ugh is right.
I’m with you, Kaiser. I don’t think I ever heard the word “curated” – – unless it applied to a museum – – until Gwyneth, and now it’s everywhere.
Me 3
Can anyone explain what “curated fashionable items” are? Do the items speak to you and explain their history? Do they come with their own guide or a prerecorded message with headphones?
This drives me up the ruddy wall. Suddenly everybody curates rather that selects, that selection is then a blasted edit. It’s like sourcing, while inferiors shop.
It’s not that one insists that only gallery curators curate, (not at all)…it’s the transparent grasping for exclusivity that grates so much. Equally to be abhorred is the resulting laziness from the media…since everyone’s saying ‘curate’ for select, choose, sling together, pick out, etc etc….then so will everyone else, and thus we have only one verb at our disposal! Yay for creativity.
Gawd it makes steam issue from my ears, as you may have gathered.
My big problem is the “storytelling” word. UGH! Everyone (in business and marketing) keeps using that word, but I don’t think it means what they think it means.
Let me guess, this is the story:
Once, there was a privileged wealthy young woman who wanted [FILL IN WITH STUFF], so she looked and looked in every trendy place around the world until she found it, bought it, brought it home, put it on the coffee table, and now all her friends wish they could be as stylish and one-of-a-kind as she is. The End.
@Chris: Thank you so much for clarifying!!
I read and was about to post: Could someone please illustrate (please place picture here) what “curated fashionable items,” mean?
It needs to die in this context. It’s really just ‘stuff I like and want you to buy’. Basic.
I don’t get the thing people have for her. She’s a terrible actress and is far from striking in the looks department… I’m being generous. Her personality seems likewise bland. I guess good for her for working what assets she has? I feel like her entire aura just says “meh”.
This exactly. I don’t understand why she’s a “thing.” And the pretentious “curated” remarks are making me stabby.
@Tammy-beauty is definitely subjective: I think she’s a pretty girl but not beautiful.
She’s beautiful. No personality but she is beautiful.
@Tammy
I think she’s gorgeous. Looks very much like Elaine Irwin
I think she’s gorgeous also, yes I can see Eliane Irwin, good comparison.
I
I’m the worst insecure, catty, over critical , neurotic female (yep, owning it!) . That being written, I’m a tough critic as far as models, next big things, ….have to say, she has an odd effect on my hyper critical cynicism . Props to her for that alone. I find myself thinking she’s amazing while dueling with my opinion that she’s not all that at all. I was amazed Leo the ever increasing Jabba the gut clone was into her. However, when I watched her in Savages, I felt a stirring of jealousy and appreciation for her look.
I share your perspective, Gigi, if we are comparing great beauties I don’t find Blake to be one. She isn’t ugly by any means, I just don’t think her face is beautiful. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it seems there are some folks that think she is gorgeous. I find it so interesting when a group of people all look at the same thing and come away with a different take on it.
Agree with that. Pretty face nice figure pretty dress pretty average
I agree. I’m ready for her time to be up. I find her so bland and generic. My father wanted to watch Savages awhile ago and wow, she was a level of awful I had yet to experience.
Sorry to anyone calling her pretty; I just don’t see it. I think she’s bland in looks and energy. I really don’t get why she became a “thing.” The best I can say: she does have fabulous legs. But so do a zillion other young wannabe’s. Now this SWFing Goop; ugh is right. What the heck has Blake Lively ever done creatively that anyone would turn to her for inspiration. Blech! Gucci should get their money back.
Again, I agree. However, lately, thanks to social media and the over exposure of everything, can you consider how exotic beauty, mystique and individuality are steadily becoming extinct? I read a quote on one if the many blogs I’ve come to love ( where witty, otherwise forever hidden ,brilliant minds can get well deserved exposure), that stated something to the tone of … Girls, with their immodest , blatantly desperate, selfies and over sharing on social media have caused young men to lose respect for young ladies. I can’t recall how he stated it exactly. The tone was basically, don’t hate on men, single ladies in this dating age, blame your mostly naked, duck lipped, drinking from bottles in bars pic posting sisters. You want respect, maybe you should be worthy of respect. Sorry, can’t quite articulate the message well.
I am a female. I would happily sign up to go after any human who violates another living being. No one deserves to be desicrated, no matter if they’re topless on a street corner waving a dildo or trying to make their rent via the oldest profession. Please don’t think I’m saying that certain behavior warrants negative attention. . No one “deserves” to be treated badly. With that stated… Women, young ladies, get it together!!!!! Posting half naked pics , blah, blah…. You understand. Make them earn it! Stop giving it all away!!!!!
Okay, rant over…..thank god I have a son 🙂
Like Sienna Miller, dye the hair brown and they become invisible. Though I do think Sienna is gorgeous as she is whereas Blake is already rather plain at her best.
I don’t think she is beautiful, either, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. However, I do know factually that she is a terrible, terrible actress. I saw her in Savages and she was just awful.
Take some acting lessons. I can’t understand how she keeps getting so much work. I do like her fashion choices, though.
HATE the use of the word “curated” being used by anyone who does not work in a museum.
Curated lifestyle items. GOOP part deux. Can we just skip ahead to the part where the public turns in her?
Why would Gucci pay 4 million for someone who doesn’t seem to do anything anymore actingwise? And wasn’t really that famous for that anyway?
Prob because she 1. was on Gossip Girl which was supposedly a big fashion show (kind of like Sex and the City) and she got the credit that should’ve gone to the wardrobe department and started dressing like her character while out and about and at premieres, and 2. this caught the eye of Anna Wintour who turned her into a Vogue darling, which 3. led Gucci to take her seriously as a fashion icon. A highly illogical chain of events, I know, but that’s how stupid capitalism is, really.
LOL
It is rather stupid. So basically if they wanted an attractive person who really isn’t that well known they could have gone for literally a cheaper model?
Ryan and Blake aren’t unattractive together, but couldn’t have Gucci found a good looking model pairing? I think most people now look at Blake and Ryan and go ‘Who?’
But she’s a mocktress now, so I guess good for her and maintaining some relevancy.
This. So…playing a vapid character [badly] on a now-canceled almost-network TV show and having no discernible personality or talent whatsoever has catapulted her into being an online lifestyle and fashion guru? Huh. To paraphrase Louise the housekeeper in Being There, it’s for sure a white woman’s world in America.
@gefeylich
Yup…. that pretty much sums it up I’d say.
Isn’t it contradictory to say “it’s about living a very one-of-a-kind, curated life” when she’s telling you what to do and how to do it?
Bingo.
thank you.
Not sure I would take her advice on that anyway? She usually looks boring and scruffy during her supermarket shopping trips, lol. What makes her life so special?
I can’t stand this attitude that surrounding yourself with expensive items chosen by someone else somehow improves your life. Your home should be an expression of who you are and what you love. Things in it should be really useful, or should make you happy because they are beautiful, cute or funny to you, or bring back memories you enjoy. I can’t imagine a more soulless house than one filled with objects “curated” by a celebrity.
I completely agree 🙂
totally agree. not to mention, how is this going to be “about living a very one-of-a-kind, curated life, and how to achieve that[ ]” if her products/recommendations are going to be put up on a website that (presumably) 1000s of people will see and get ideas/purchase from? one would end up with hardly a “one of a kind” thing. it all makes me think of a mcmansion furnished exactly like the one next to it, because you’ve got to keep up with the neighbors, lest they think you don’t have the money to. zero personality goes into such interior decorating.
also, the ridiculous use of the word “curated” drives me insane. unless it pertains to a museum, an art exhibit etc, the word has zero business being used.
Or meat. Lol
Exactly!
I like Blake Lively, I think she’s pretty and harmless but ugh to her blog. I’m thinking though that much like Gwyneth’s blog, it isn’t meant for us peasants but rich socialites/debutantes right?
^This times a million.
I like her but I’ll avoid her blog like the plague.
My question is why do rich socialites/debutantes need Blake to tell them what to buy and where to buy it?
Indeed.
The minute or read I hear the word “curated” in reference to anything other than a museum or art show, my bvllsh/t detector starts pinging. It’s so pretentious and ignorant.
I’ll bet real museum curators eyes roll until their sockets emit sparks when they read or hear this word in the context of “lifestyle curating.”
Well I do – I consciously curate every damn thing in my life, from my slip-covered old furniture to my TJMaxx finds. 🙂 Unless I’m drinking, then it’s semi-consciously curated.
I agree, lots of good points in there GNAT. I don’t understand the use of “one-of-a-kind” when you are selling to the masses.
Well, every store is ‘curated’, some stores are just bigger than others. Even if you only shop at Wal-Mart, you’re still just choosing from products someone else decided to make available to you.
I don’t really see this working, or Reese’s for that matter. People may not like Gwyneth, but she has the credentials for a site like GOOP. She has the connections, and her opinions on material goods carry some weight precisely because she’s so out of touch, because she wouldn’t settle for second best. If something’s good enough for her, it’s probably pretty good. Blake cant carry that off at all, and for all her fame Reese has never been a trendsetter like Gwyneth. They need to find their own niche if they want their sites to work.
WORD.
@Kate- I totally agree.
How astute! Gwyneth does have people who want to be like her, but Blake and Reese, not so much. They will flop.
a MAJOR entertainment news outlet needs to call her out on calling this idea of hers original.
it’s a total ripoff of GOOP.
i’d be embarrassed pushing this as a unique concept.
what is she smoking???
I am going to smack the next person who says they “curated” something unless they work in a museum.
On a slight tangent, why are all perfume ads basically the same? The setting might vary slightly, but the photography, copy, look/feel, music is more or less identical, regardless of the brand. Just curious. At this point, a perfume would stick out for me more if the ad was something like a spray freshener ad – some normal-looking woman spritzing all over and grinning and going “Try X perfume – you’ll smell amazing!”
(Friday rambling)
and do people actually buy perfume because so-and-so advertises it? i wonder if that factors into the decision making process (maybe subconsciously it does, or at least it makes you aware of the product?).
Good question. I always wonder that about celebrity endorsements -especially in countries like South Korea, where practically everything, including food and laundry cleaners, is flogged by celebrities. I’ve never bought anything consciously because of a celebrity, but it would be interesting to see if there are any studies on that.
I alternate between two perfumes, and one was recommended by the excellent perfume counter at Bergdorf’s, and the other was one I tried after reading about it (sadly, it’s an old scent -the original Diorissimo- and it’s almost impossible to find genuine bottles these days).
yes, i do wonder about that too re general celebrity endorsements. interesting about south korea, i had no idea.
my sister used to work at a perfume store, so whatever perfume i have was stuff they were getting rid of (“floor samples” that were no longer used) or stuff she bought me with her discount. haha. i haven’t purchased perfume in years, and rarely use it because most of the stuff i have is so “heavy.”
A relative of mine works for Chanel, and while the ads with Brad Pitt were AWFUL(in my opinion) apparently they got a lot of men asking for the scent, for themselves. Not sure that was quite the desired effect but the celebrity did draw interest.
Really, @KaitX? That’s interesting. Chanel No. 5 is my grandmother’s perfume, so I always think of as a fashionable elderly-lady scent – never knew men wore it too.
@KaitX – interesting…
@Faye I don’t think very many men do wear it, they just saw an advertisement with Brad Pitt and assumed Chanel no. 5 was for men! I don’t think many of them bought it when they realised it was a women’s scent. Advertising fail!
There is a reason companies spend the money on celeb endorsements. They wouldn’t do it if there wasn’t marketing research backing it up.
I think it works for say, CK One because they’ve created a real niche market, the aspirational Cool Kid. But yes, the others really are interchangeable (Lancome’s ad with Julia Roberts is truly the worst). Generally, I buy according to how it smells, but won’t shell out if I don’t like the bottle.
I don’t really know anything about Blake Lively, and the one and only thing I would really like to know about her is…how the hell is she walking on the sand in that commercial without her heels sinking below the surface of the sand? Really. Enquiring minds want to know.
It’s not really sand. It’s so dry and sun baked so hard that it’s like concrete.
When I hear about this curated items crap I take it to mean that the celeb in question isn’t doing anything except putting their name on it. Someone else is doing the selections, etc.
Someone else is doing the selections and the celeb says yeah or nay, is how I’ve taken it. That’s how the Beachmint sites work:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeachMint
BeachMint is a venture backed social commerce company for designer-curated direct to consumer sites http://www.crunchbase.com/organization/beachmint
So someone else picks it out, the celeb goes ‘oh pretty!’ and gets credit for ‘curating’ it or some such pretentious crap.
Didn’t she try to launch this before and almost got laughed off the internet? Seems like she and her people are trying to make us forget that.
And what exactly could she tell us that I couldn’t figure out for myself? At least with goop she really and truly is privileged and grew up that way. Thats what makes it work and what makes it so laughable at the same time; she only knows How to be privileged. Blake is just going to provide us with the nouveau riche version?
No, she’s never tried to launch it before. She only announced it would be launched some time this year.
I think this is going to become a thing for dumb celebrities who have nothing of value to contribute and think they are way more interesting than they really are.
I cannot imagine a drug in existence that would make me a fan of her site. Ever.
There are so many of these sites now… me favorite is The Line — even though I can’t afford anything on it.
The Line is awesome!
Glad someone else likes it! I really want to visit the apartment in NY.
Thanks for the info. I’ll check it out
I don’t need a Stepford wife from Planet Dingbat trying to sell me crap. Somebody give her something shiny to play with
As someone whose job it is to actually curate things, misuse of the word, “curate,” drives me up the wall.
Exactly. They haven’t a clue what’s involved in the process of curation; they’re just picking out ‘me wantees’.
Who the hell will want “curated fashionable items” (which are just normal object of some brand) for a super high price?
You look at the one picture above of her on the red carpet and its insane that she states that’s she shy.
Baring her chest and sticking out her legs in every outfit and posing open mouthed for cameras really helps with her shyness didn’t you know?
I don’t think shy women get bolt-ons.
At the risk of being a total idiot on a Friday morning (blame having not slept since Tuesday perhaps?) but what the frilly heck is being sold when a ‘curated fashionable item’ is being hocked? I mean… I understand sorta that working when I get my catalogs from the Smithsonian and various museums & zoos, selling copies of King Tut’s tomb toilet soaps, Monet scarves and tiny plush tigers wearing safari gear. But… a vapid C-list non-entity selling a line called that? What is for sale, copies of ‘how to pose with your mouth open’ quarterly and ‘you too can be known for having hair’. She doesn’t design anything. She doesn’t make anything. She doesn’t seem to DO anything beyond attend fashion shows and occasionally crop up on magazine covers I never buy and late night chat shows I haven’t watched since I was 17. It’s not a movie or a show she is pushing, so… what? What is there to buy, why does she think people WANT to buy it and possibly more important, why WOULD anyone want to give her money for anything?
Jenna
You should be an opinion columnist for a decent newspaper….your comments have such vigour and colour, you’d knock spots off every such writer I can think of, no exaggeration. 🙂
This Blake Not So Lively, as Michael K has it, is an very odd choice for luxe ads, to me. When I saw her briefly for Chanel, all I saw were badly ‘curated’ eyebrows! No kidding….badly dealt with, reminding me of schooldays and giving her a decidedly downmarket look. I can’t dance around my shameful reaction, which is that she looks ‘common’. Awful thing to say, but hey ho. Add ‘vapid’ and ‘generic’, and you have the last person I’d heed for style tips.
Sorry for negativity, I’m sure she’s harmless.
‘…you too can be known for having hair’ – dying here!
Am I seeing things or does she look a bit like ScarJo in that ad? Nothing like being photoshopped into your husband’s ex-wife.
Isn’t Jessica Biel coming out with a life style blog too?
I think she’s opening some kind of “children’s restaurant” in LA. And yes, the sound you hear is the click of my eyes rolling back in my head.
Everybody can’t be GOOP. GOOP’s blog has cohesion, and it actually appears like Goop was slowly creating a culture to her blog that accurately reflected who she is as a person. In contrast, It’s sort of obvious that Lively will just be promoting products from the highest bidder.
Okay, this is really petty, but also strikes me as hilarious for some reason:
As she first walks from screen left to right in profile ( when the camera is above her), her entire outer thigh jiggles with the force of her heel strike- and from then on, the heel strike is cut & scene changed to avoid that portion of gate in the remainder of the commercial. Bad directing/lighting management, good editing pick up.
And the end shot where she lifts her chin with her mouth hanging open made me chuckle, too.
* gait*, not gate. (gets up to refill coffee mug)
rumor has it Blake scored Us Vogue august cover
Meh, curated may sound pretentious but at least she’s self aware enough to move onto something else and not moan about how she wants to win an Oscar and things along those lines.
Do they make curated cupcakes?
This pinterest thing she’s doing may work better for her than acting did.
Not allowing her to talk made this commercial better than the first one.
I like Blake. I think she is beautiful.
The only thing exceptional “curated” item she has to offer is the name of her plastic surgeon. Best in the business.
Even though, I fully believe that GOOP’s original plans alway included launching a clothing line and everything, she went about it the tight way. At least GOOP has an Oscar and did big headliner movies, so someone would be able to know she is an actor even if they couldn’t place the particular movies she’s done. I’ve never saw one Blake Lively movie, so I wouldn’t automatically know who she is. Also, Gwynn had a cook book out and did other stuff that would appear to be more organic as to why she started up the whole lifestyle website. Blake has absolutely nothing to contribute to why she is doing this lifestyle blog. It just looks like she is copying GOOP with no real direction as to bring the task together successfully.
Yeah exactly like she is SWFm’ing the GOOP like a fan girl but she knows not what she does and she isn’t single.
I don’t know about this girl. She has a lovely body but I don’t know if enough people like her for her to get on the curated items blog train. I barely know who she is. I don’t think she’s beautiful facially by any means, her features are very geometric and masculine to me.
*Girl Face*
Is it kind of odd to you that Blake is announcing that she is doing a blog? Embarrassing really, because a blog is just something you do. A business venture is something you announce, like opening a clothing line or a restaurant, but a blog? Odd.
@Word GIrl: Well, 10 years ago, a blog was something you just did. Today, there are thousands of Millennials and Gen Yers who are creating “lifestyle businesses” through writing blogs and “curating” [XYZ]. It’s annoying, but there it is. For 20-somethings, this is how you start a business.
*Moot*
Haha, okay I get you. I’m a mellenial too, but I still think it odd.
I’m off to the grocery store to curate my produce.
Ugh I agree with nearly everyone on here, I can’t stand Blake and do not get her appeal at all. She’s literally starred in one tv show that she wasn’t even praised for (Leighton Meester ended up with the bigger fan following and critical praise) and she’s just famous for showing off her best twin assets + legs + anything else possible. She’s only recently tried to start dressing ‘classier’ but google old photos of her, with her old nose and teeth lol. She looks like a completely different person in sisterhood of the travelling pants!
Everyone hates on Gwyneth but I think she is naturally beautiful and at least hasn’t relied on plastic surgery and showing off her body to be regarded as beautiful and famous. She is a good actress and seems like a very devoted mother. I would totally buy what she suggests, based on what I could afford. Blake Lively? Not so much..
Is it just me or did she get a 2nd nose job? The ad looks contoured and Photoshopped to death. Then I get to the Cannes pictures and it’s not all contour and Photoshop. That’s what her nose looks like now! Her 1st nose job looked like a slimmed down version of her old nose. Her nose is way more pointed and up turned now. She looks very generic, like a Barbie.
I think you’re right! But why? Her 2nd nose was the better than this one.
The second commercial is a big improvement over the first one.
That mush mouth thing she does in the first commercial just kills me. I swear I’m not a hater, but lord I wish she’d learn to enunciate better But i also have to say, I think she looks much better in color than black & white. Those pics of her on the red carpet at Cannes? To me she looks like a big blonde goddess. That black & white commercial? Strangely average. She’s not as conventionally beautiful as a Charlize Theron and she’s not as striking as an Angelica Huston so her face looks mediocre in B&W.
Also – still not sure what the hell she’s selling. Curated life? Huh.
Lastly, I asked my boyfriend recently what her appeal is and he said Blake is sexy in a non-slutty way. She’s wholesome with a rockin’ body. Personally I don’t see the sexy but I’m not a guy. Maybe her appeal is to men and fashion people like Wintour. If so I don’t know how well her lifestyle website will do. But maybe the female Blake fans that would love her site just don’t comment much on messageboards and forums.
To me, the qualifying factor for creating a lifestyle blog isn’t Lively’s beauty rating, it is her previous attempts to sway the public to buy her OWN health products and to create her own products. I don’t expect any entertainer to be a knock out, hell i’m no knockout myself. I digress..Gwyneth’s whole schtick was living a healthy lifestyle, and she, herself, actually produced products geared towards the lifestyle she lives. Gwyneth’s products and diary had cohesion. She actually interviewed “common folk” about their strugles with weight, went to real resturants, talked to real chefs, suggested hollistic beauty and health routines i.e, oil swilling. All Blake Lively has ever done was promote expensive products created by business owners, who gave her a huge pay day to advertise their creations and priducts. To sum it up, I believe Lively lacks tge ample creativity and effort and relatability to pull this new endeavor off. I would be happy to see her prove me and the other nay sayers wrong though.
“I’m going to sell curated fashionable items on my website.”
This is what having an Etsy sign-in sounds like when you’re in love with yourself.
I don’t think she’s so bad – I’m kind of rooting for her to do well. But that tag line is SO pretentious! Puleeaze!