Patti Smith to a Principal Dancer: The 12 Best New Fashion Campaigns

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Rimowa Patti
Photography Steven SebringCourtesy of Rimowa

From Smith penning an original poem for her first ever brand campaign to Saint Laurent teaming up with French provocateur Béatrice Dalle, here are the best new campaigns released this autumn

Coach

Coach brings together an all-star cast in its latest campaign, which reintroduces its classic Rogue bag. Drawing inspiration from the bag’s unique attitude and legacy, Juergen Teller shoots brand ambassadors Kate Moss, Jennifer Lopez and Kelsey Lu in famous landmarks around the world. “The Rogue is perhaps my favorite bag that I’ve designed at Coach,” creative director Stuart Vevers says of the bag, which first debuted in 2016 and has now been updated using organic and recycled materials. “It has that combination of heritage, offbeat attitude and a sense of authentic American style that perfectly embodies my vision for the house.”

Burberry

It’s all about duality in Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2021 campaign which sees contrasting perspectives and opposing lenses brought together side-by-side. Encouraging different viewpoints and creative freedom, classic studio stills captured by photographers Mert and Marcus are juxtaposed with candid backstage snapshots by Chris Rhodes. “This season is very much about freedom of expression and the importance of exploring creativity,” Riccardo Tisci, chief creative officer explains. “So, for the campaign, I really wanted to build on these notions and have the collection captured from two different creative perspectives.”

Givenchy

Key looks, leather accessories and jewellery are shot in a cinematic, chiaroscuro mood for Givenchy’s latest campaign by photographer Thibaut Grevet, his first for the French house. Recalling the product-centric, still-lifes of magazine ads from the 90s, the images showcase the striking silhouettes, sensual textures, and contrasting volumes that characterised the A/W21 collection. Also featured in the campaign is Matthew M Williams’s debut handbag for the label, the 4G, which takes its name from the Givenchy emblem. This season, the bag’s classic rectangular design has been given a soft, padded lambskin update.

Stefan Cooke

A series of strong yet subtle masculine silhouettes inspired by the work of American illustrator JC Leyendecker featured prominently in Stefan Cooke’s A/W21 collection earlier this year. And it’s these silhouettes which take the spotlight in the London-based brand’s bold new campaign. Shot by Theo Sion and styled by Alice Goddard, the campaign showcases the collection’s standout moments including houndstooth wool coats, sleek cropped capes, and nostalgic drainpipe denim jeans.

Raf Simons

Bonnets are very hot right now. Last weekend, Emma Corrin got people talking with her pale yellow Miu Miu ensemble featuring long fingerless gloves and a demure headpiece at the Emmys. The hats also feature prominently in Raf Simons new campaign for his A/W21 collection in an array of colours from baby pink to lime green. Shot by Willy Vanderperre and styled by Olivier Rizzo, the campaign showcases the baggy, enveloping clothing of the collection which, as Simons said at the time, is about things he loves – “things I have always loved, that are always there in every collection, in the processes behind it, and the clothes.”

Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein’s campaigns have historically been populated with effortlessly cool people effortlessly lounging around in their underwear, and this latest one is no exception. The new chapter in the brand’s My Calvins campaign dropped this month featuring an international cast of artists and creatives including Kaia Gerber, writer and singer Moses Sumney, and Blackpink’s Jennie. As well as modelling Calvin Klein’s latest offerings, the brand ambassadors feature in short videos centred around expressions of language in the real world: reciting routines, dreaming out loud, talking to yourself. Gerber delivers a monologue at a bodega, while Martin Scorsese’s daughter Francesca shares her inner thoughts in an elevator.

Theory

Misty Copeland, the first Black principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre’s history, is the star of Theory’s new A/W21 campaign. Titled In Pursuit of Tomorrow, the campaign spotlights individuals and communities with the vision and commitment to enact positive change and offer new hope. In portraits and video lenses by Craig McDean, Copeland, as well as Amanda Seyfried and Jeremy Pope, discusses their devotion to their work, the power of fashion, and their commitment to creating a new tomorrow. 

Rimowa

Rimowa takes the crown for coolest campaign star this season thanks to its new collaboration with Patti Smith. For her very first brand campaign ever, the legendary artist, writer and musician wrote an original poem which soundtracks a series of short films featuring Smith, Rihanna, Lebron James, and Roger Federer. Shot by friend and creative collaborator Steven Sebring, Smith’s film follows her and her historic stickered suitcase to meaningful locations including One Fifth Avenue, where she posed for the album cover of Horses, and Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios.

Moose Knuckles

David LaChapelle brings his signature surrealist sensibility and playful whimsy to Moose Knuckles Canada’s latest campaign. Set in a frozen cityscape where the snow is perpetually falling, the motorcycles are made of ice, and frosty waves are eight-foot high, Adwoa Aboah, ensconced in a snowglobe, is kept warm by Moose Knuckles’ A/W21 collection, as are fellow models Emily Ratajkowski and Pete Davidson.

Gucci

Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott created the seductive visuals for Gucci’s Autumn/Winter 2021 campaign, which takes inspiration from the storied Savoy Hotel in London, where Guccio Gucci worked as a liftboy in his youth. The campaign imagines a fictitious club housed within the hotel, and stars a cast of models alongside “special guests” Kristen McMenamy and Italian band Måneskin. Showcasing Alessandro Michele’s viral Aria collection – which “hacked” the codes of another fashion house: Balenciaga – the erotically-charged images also star seminal texts by the likes of Jean Baudrillard, Judith Butler, and Sigmund Freud.

Lanvin

Mert and Marcus also captured Lanvin’s latest campaign – a poppy, vibrantly-hued series of studio scenes starring French rapper Luv Resval and model Bella Hadid. The campaign features works by contemporary American artist and pop art great James Rosenquist. Intending to offer an escape from reality into the “fantasy of pop,” the bright visuals are reflective of Bruno Sialelli’s “playful and joyful” Autumn/Winter 2021 outing, which was unveiled in March of this year to a soundtrack of Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani ft Eve.

Saint Laurent

For A/W21, Saint Laurent presents a David Sims-shot short film featuring French actress Béatrice Dalle. Haunting, verging on voyeuristic, the film sees Dalle breaks down in tears and drop to her knees in despair, all while dressed in head-to-toe Saint Laurent. The campaign also includes a photographic series featuring a star-studded cast of Indya Moore, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Sihanna Shalaj, and Talia Ryder.