The people marketing ""Memoirs of a Geisha"" know a thing of beauty when they see it. They're banking that you will, too.

The print ad for the Dec. 9 film is a tight shot of the bewitching, insanely gorgeous Ziyi Zhang, star of the movie version of the best-selling Arthur Golden novel. Her eyes are tinged blue like a Hokkaido sky; her lips are as red as sea coral. You can practically feel the layers of a silk kimono, hear the snap of gold fans and paper parasols, see the fluttering petals of cherry blossoms.

It's intoxicating. And brilliantly deliberate. If one movie had a natural tie-in to beauty and fashion this year it's ""Memoirs."" Both Banana Republic and Fresh (a boutique beauty brand) will enjoy tremendous exposure courtesy of exclusive partnerships with Sony, whose Columbia Pictures made the movie with DreamWorks Film and Spyglass Entertainment.

Banana Republic has launched a limited-edition holiday collection of pieces that celebrate the film's Asian influence, including a silk kimono top, velvet Chinois jacket, satin kimono dress, quilted geisha bag and an Asian tassel necklace. Fresh, which already had a popular Sake Bath and Rice Collection, created new beauty and bath lines that celebrate the film and pay homage to Asian culture. And Zhang's face graces the package of spring cherry green tea, a Japanese Sencha green tea blended with cherries, from Republic of Tea.

""The movie is a lot about beauty,"" said Lev Glazman, co-founder of Fresh along with his wife and business partner, Alina Roytberg. ""Everything about geisha has to be understated. It has to have an understated sensuality. It must create an air around you that is clean, deep and sensual.""

To that end Fresh created Geisha Eau de Parfum, made with jasmine flower, rose, peach, mandarin and langsat fruit, which is similar to grapefruit. There's a beauty palette for the face with blush and lip gloss. And there's sake bath products that glamorize the Japanese bathing ritual.

The fashion and beauty tie-ins to the film come at a time that marketing and branding Asian-influenced products is hot. Books about Japan and China are out in abundance now. Pearls are coming on strong for holiday gift giving (additionally, jewelry designer Ema Takahashi has created a line called Peony inspired by Japanese ink drawings of the flower). Japanese cuisine remains popular (Nobu recently opened a grand new restaurant in New York and the Michelin Guide just awarded Masa Takayama a coveted two-star designation for his restaurant Masa in Manhattan). And China's economy is on everyone's lips these days.

""There is definitely more Asian influence in America now,"" Glazman said. ""It comes from colors and patterns. You can see it in home d?cor and home design objects. It's all Asian-inspired patterns and motifs that are flying out of stores. After the movie, there will be even more things inspired by Asia.""

It makes sense, according to John Barker, president of DZP Marketing Communications in New York. ""On the surface, this cross-promotion between Banana Republic and Sony Pictures is a stretch at best,"" he said. ""But if you look at it from the standpoint of a shared consumer audience, it's really a perfect match. This film will appeal to educated, upscale women, which is Banana Republic's customer as well.""

Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Prudential Douglas Elliman's retail leasing and sales division, said that anyone who can get the kind of advertising that will be generated by a film like ""Geisha"" has an edge on the competition.

""For Fresh ... it's a dream to be promoted by a big movie studio,"" she said. ""Banana Republic has tried to find themselves for so long, and I think this new Japanese-inspired clothing line will put them at the forefront and allow them to better compete with Abercrombie & Fitch and J. Crew.""

Plus, it's just plain pretty.

""This line is so different in the way we're positioning it because it's linked to the movie and the movie is all about beauty,"" said Glazman, adding that when he first read the book he instantly saw the beauty. ""Geisha treated themselves to the finest of everything. We wanted this to be like a day in the life of a geisha.""

Source: Courant.com"