When do you start counting down to Christmas? Is it when the Halloween decorations come down? Is it when Mariah Carey’s seminal bop returns to the charts? Do you, perhaps, wait for December? For us, it’s all about the adverts. When the big brands start talking about the festive season, our TVs taken over by snowy landscapes and heart-warming narratives squeezed into 30 seconds, we can’t help but get into the spirit. Now, Pandora has got in on the action and joined us in our Christmas countdown.
The beloved jewellery brand’s One Lovely Day offering – tying in with its Christmas collection – sees animator Andy Baker immortalise Pandora’s global ambassador Millie Bobby Brown in cartoon form, along with global muses Nathalie Emmanuel, Georgia May Jagger, Halima Aden, Margaret Zhang, Tasya van Ree and Larsen Thompson. Larsen, an American actress and model, is thrilled with the results.
‘I was always curious to see how I would look as an avatar’, she tells Grazia. ‘Pandora did an excellent job of making us all look so realistic and true to who we are. To be chosen as a muse alongside a group of such empowering, beautiful women who have become my good friends is a dream. The Pandora family has brought so much joy to my life ever since I was a young girl as my mom was always collecting Pandora charms, and now I get the chance to collect my own.’
The Christmas campaign also gave her the chance to reunite with Millie, whose role in Stranger Things and this year’s Enola Holmes has made her an international teen star. ‘I had the opportunity to befriend Millie last year at fashion week in Milan,’ Laren explains. ‘Fast forward to now, and it’s exciting to have the opportunity to collaborate on a global campaign with such a beautiful person.’
Christmas will offer the UK some respite from lockdown as we revert to old traditions while making new ones – Zoom Christmas parties, anyone? For Larsen, she’s hopeful that this year’s celebrations will remain intact. ‘I’m fortunate that all of my family lives in Southern California, so we will be spending it together like we always have,’ she says. ‘Although it has been a difficult year I’ve been trying to make the most of this uncertain time by spending lots of time with my family, working out, and bettering my crafts.’
Hers is a Christmas straight from a carol, albeit without the snow. ‘No matter how old I get the child in me comes out every Christmas morning’, she says. ‘I wake up around 8am with my two brothers and we run straight to the Christmas tree as we start unwrapping our gifts with my parents. We usually host Christmas at my house with my family and our cousins and we cook a similar feast to Thanksgiving. We bake some pies and spend the rest of our night drinking hot cocoa and watching our favourite Christmas movie, Elf.’
There will surely be a Pandora charm under the tree, but this year more than ever, this is secondary. ‘This year, I’m just grateful to have family close by and spending quality time together’, she says. ‘Which is a gift in itself.’
Visit the Pandora site here.
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