Smoking ban: French transport chiefs outlaw cigarette-puffing Audrey Tautou in Coco Chanel film poster
Famed for its cafe culture and Gauloises smoking inhabitants Paris has outlawed publicity images of Hollywood star Audrey Tautou playing style icon Coco Chanel - because she's shown smoking a cigarette.
In an extraordinary sign of the times, Paris' transport authority deemed the posters 'unhealthy and inappropriate'.
They show Tautou posing sensuously as the fashion legend responsible for a range of original breakthroughs including the little black dress, round-neck jackets and boucle jackets.
Almost all the original photographs of the designer and images from the film show a cigarette in her right hand.
Yet RATP, which runs the buses and trains in the French capital, considered historical accuracy secondary to good health.
'Cigarettes are banned on our entire transport system, and there is no reason why we should be giving them free advertising through this film poster,' the company spokesman said.
Coco Before Chanel, the new film starring Tatou, opens in France today. It tells the story of how Chanel rose from a country orphanage to become an international star by founding her eponymous fashion label.
But the film has been widely criticised for ignoring Chanel's passionate affair with a Nazi officer during the wartime occupation of Paris.
The latest film focuses on the early years of Gabrielle Chanel, who was nicknamed 'Coco' during her failed attempt to launch a singing career.
Responding to the cigarette ban, the film's producers said there were no plans to display images of Chanel without her trademark cigarette.
It follows a similar ban on a poster of the legendary Gallic film maker Jacques Tati smoking a pipe which was replaced with a yellow windmill to conform to French rules prohibiting the promotion of tobacco products.
In an extraordinary sign of the times, Paris' transport authority deemed the posters 'unhealthy and inappropriate'.
They show Tautou posing sensuously as the fashion legend responsible for a range of original breakthroughs including the little black dress, round-neck jackets and boucle jackets.
Banned: Star of Coco avant Chanel Audrey Tautou poses with the film poster which has been outlawed by French transport chiefs because it shows the actress who plays Coco Chanel smoking a cigarette
Despite smoking up to 50 cigarettes a day throughout her life, Chanel was 87 when she died in 1971.Almost all the original photographs of the designer and images from the film show a cigarette in her right hand.
Yet RATP, which runs the buses and trains in the French capital, considered historical accuracy secondary to good health.
'Cigarettes are banned on our entire transport system, and there is no reason why we should be giving them free advertising through this film poster,' the company spokesman said.
Coco Before Chanel, the new film starring Tatou, opens in France today. It tells the story of how Chanel rose from a country orphanage to become an international star by founding her eponymous fashion label.
But the film has been widely criticised for ignoring Chanel's passionate affair with a Nazi officer during the wartime occupation of Paris.
The fashion designer (left) had a 50-a-day habit which is portrayed in the film starring Audrey Tautou (right)
Next month its best-selling perfume Chanel No 5 unveils a new advertising campaign starring Tatou, best known up until now for her role in Amelie. The latest film focuses on the early years of Gabrielle Chanel, who was nicknamed 'Coco' during her failed attempt to launch a singing career.
Chic: The film charts the rise of the fashion designer who began life in an orphanage
Responding to the cigarette ban, the film's producers said there were no plans to display images of Chanel without her trademark cigarette.
It follows a similar ban on a poster of the legendary Gallic film maker Jacques Tati smoking a pipe which was replaced with a yellow windmill to conform to French rules prohibiting the promotion of tobacco products.
Before and after: The Cinematheque poster of its exhibition on French director Jacques Tati, left, and the same poster showing Tati's famed pipe masked for its use in the Paris underground
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