Jacques Helleu, the artistic director of Chanel, passed away after a long illness on Friday at the age of 69... Only three weeks ago we met Helleu in his Paris office and he was, in a word, a rockstar--everyone noticed how youthfully timeless he was.... Tall and lithe, he towered over everyone in the room... The perfume ad with Keira Knightley--the last one he did--played over and over on a flat screen on the wall. Everyone watched and clapped. I remember being mesmerized by his collection of Cannes Lions lined up on a shelf (it's the Oscars in the advertising world)... Just imagine, he worked with artists like Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Luc Besson, Ridley Scott just to name a few and the most beautiful actresses... The world Jacque Helleu created for Chanel was so powerful and magical... His passing is a really big loss.