The latest Louis Vuitton campaign makes it slightly harder for anyone to continue seeing the brand as a stodgy status symbol — that piece of monogrammed arm candy that lets people know you’re loaded. Creative director Nicolas Ghesquière has been on a mission to change that since 2013 and the ads for Spring/Summer 2016 (‘Series 4’) are dead set on representing “the muses of a new era”. These are a non-Hollywood star (Korean actor Doona Bae), a video game character (Lightning from Final Fantasy) and a boy in a skirt. Jada Pinkett and Will Smith’s son is one of a group of ‘heroines’, shot on the streets of Florida by Bruce Weber.
Ghesquière explains why he chose the admittedly cool but definitely male rapper and actor to be a muse for women’s wear: “He represents has assimilated the codes of true freedom, one that is free of manifestos and questions about gender. Wearing a skirt comes as naturally to him as it would to a woman who, long ago, granted herself permission to wear a man’s trench or a tuxedo.” It’s true what he says about Smith. This is the social media star who once Instagrammed a picture of him in a tunic and captioned it: ‘Went To TopShop To Buy Some Girl Clothes, I Mean “Clothes”‘. There’s no trapping a spirit like that under a label. Not even Louis Vuitton could do it.
Flip through to see other images from Louis Vuitton’s Series 4
