Kristen Stewart named as face of Chanel's new fragrance

Kristen Stewart has been named as the face of Chanel's new perfume, Gabrielle Chanel.

The Twilight actress will front a campaign advertising the fragrance, created by parfumier Olivier Polge, to be unveiled in September (17).

The advertising push will see Kristen star in a short promotional film directed by Ringan Ledwidge.

Kristen was signed up as a Chanel ambassador in 2013 and has been the face of the fashion house's make-up brands since February last year (16). She also advertises Chanel's Gabrielle handbag.

The 27-year-old has starred in another short film promoting the bag, which like the perfume, is named after the French luxury brand's founder Gabrielle Bonheur 'Coco' Chanel.

In the film, an agitated Kristen was shown throwing herself around an abandoned warehouse, discovering the bag and a window with Gabrielle's name written on it before breaking into a smile.

"There's something eerie about the film, but it's ultimately exuberant," she said of the handbag advert. "It leads me to her name, Gabrielle, scrawled on the window, it's like affirmation, I've been validated. It almost represents the first glimpse Gabrielle allows me to have of her, and I get happy."

The star has recently moved behind the camera, directing her own short film Come Swim, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January (17).

She will next be seen onscreen in the movie Lizzie, the biographical thriller based on the true story of Lizzie Borden, a woman who in 1892 was tried for the axe murders of her father and stepmother and acquitted. Lizzie is slated for release later this year (17).