The first month of 2020 is not yet over, but a host of new fashion campaigns have already landed. Here, a look at some of the best so far – from Gucci’s ride through Los Angeles to Loewe’s portrait of American footballer Megan Rapinoe
Gucci Spring/Summer 2020
A surreal campaign from The Favourite-director Yorgos Lanthimos saw horses walk the streets of LA alongside models wearing Alessandro Michele’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection for Gucci. The colourful images – in which the equine stars wander along the city’s boulevards, down the aisles of a plane or swim in hotel pools – were described by the house in typically esoteric manner. “However one looks at the campaign as a whole, there is no way to get to the point, and that is exactly the point, which makes for a libertarian message,” they said. “Truth and style are in the eye and in the ways of the beholder.”
Loewe Autumn/Winter 2020
Megan Rapinoe, the American footballer and activist who rose to international fame after leading her home team to victory in the 2019 World Cup, stars in Loewe’s latest campaign, captured by Steven Meisel and released to coincide with last week’s Autumn/Winter 2020 menswear show. “I am so thrilled about this partnership with Loewe and Jonathan Anderson,” the athlete said. “Multiple worlds crashing together, creating something bigger, different, and more exciting than either could alone. To me, the goal of a collaboration should not be to stand next to one another, but rather become something else, together.”
Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2020
Nicolas Ghesquière’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection for Louis Vuitton channelled the emancipatory spirit of France’s Belle Époque; now, a just-released campaign by AnOther contributor Collier Schorr celebrates the same era, among the Art Deco surroundings of London’s Park Lane Hotel. The striking images – which see models pose against opposing black backgrounds and colourful interiors – star actresses Zhong Chuxi and Emma Stone, a Louis Vuitton ambassador.
Versace Spring/Summer 2020
Jennifer Lopez’s turn on the Versace runway – on which she modelled the house’s infamous plunging ‘jungle dress’, first worn by Lopez to the Grammy Awards in 2000 – was undoubtedly fashion’s break-the-internet moment of 2019. Fast forward to earlier this month, when Versace’s latest campaign was revealed, seeing Lopez don the brand’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection in a trippy virtual realm, photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. It represented “the power of the internet and its role in uncensored expression and self-love,” said the house.
Loewe Spring/Summer 2020 Publication
In the serene grounds of the Peace Garden at Paris’ Maison de l’UNESCO, designed in 1957 by Isamu Noguchi, photographer Fumiko Imano captures Kaia Gerber for Loewe’s latest limited-edition publication, released for Spring/Summer 2020. Imano herself appears in the photographs alongside Gerber, as does her imaginary twin – pasted into the image by the photographer to surreal and playful effect. For Publication #30, Imano – who has photographed herself and her fictional twin for Loewe books before, alongside Liya Kebede, Saskia de Brauw and Fei Fei Sun – looked to the storied Japanese tradition of kabuki, imagining Gerber as the ‘naïf’, and herself, complete with striking make-up by Pat McGrath, as the aragoto villain stock character.
Prada Men’s Spring/Summer 2020
Titled ‘Optimist Rhythm’, Prada’s Spring/Summer 2020 menswear campaign saw a trio of cultural stars – Frank Ocean, actor Austin Butler and director Nicolas Winding Refn – photographed by David Sims in a series of juxtaposing black and white and colour images. Accompanied by acronyms of the Prada name, the campaign is described by the house as “a playful metaphor for a confident embracing of the indefinability of Prada itself”.
Louis Vuitton Men’s Spring/Summer 2020
Marking the first in a series of campaigns “intended to portray man’s positive footprint on the planet” and shot across all five continents, Louis Vuitton by Virgil Abloh’s Spring/Summer 2020 campaign sees image-maker Viviane Sassen shoot the collection in the Moroccan cities of Tangier and Chefchaouen, starring a number of models scouted in the country. Titled ‘Footprint’, Abloh hopes the sun-soaked images will highlight “the ethea of global community, harmonious diversity and cross-cultural inclusivity” and “illustrate and celebrate the formative acts and feelings shared by male youth around the globe”.
Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2020
When it comes to dreaming up campaigns for Jil Sander, husband and wife team Luke and Lucie Meier tend to look further afield than Milan, where the brand is based. Previous seasons have seen photographer Mario Sorrenti travel around Japan (S/S19) or Nigel Shafran take to Scotland (A/W19), and for Spring/Summer 2020 the Meiers invited image-maker Olivier Kervern to capture the landscapes of Sicily and its capital Palermo. “These photographs are both abstract and sensitive; sharp, delicate, and extremely honest,” the designers say. “In these environments and buildings, in these portraits, Olivier has captured the emotions we intended.”
Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2020
There’s luxury men’s fashion and then there’s haute couture for men. Alexander McQueen’s A/W20 menswear collection falls into the latter camp, so extraordinary is the craftsmanship (among other techniques, the studio employed beetling, a practice originating in 16th-century Northern Ireland, which involves fabric – usually cotton or linen but in this case leather – being continuously pounded to create a flat but lustrous finish). Inspired by Henry Moore and captured here by Ethan James Green, the collection is one of breathtaking beauty and elegance.
Salvatore Ferragamo Spring/Summer 2020
Summers shared with friends was the simple inspiration for Ferragamo’s latest campaign, which was photographed by AnOther Magazine contributor Harley Weir. An intense heat is felt in the sun-soaked images, which see a cast of models lounge, laugh and walk through an arid desert, blue skies stretching endlessly behind. “We showed this collection outdoors in Milan last September as a way to emphasise that these are clothes designed to be worn for pleasure, during the summer, and with friends,” says creative director Paul Andrew. The campaign’s images capture this carefree sensation, conjuring ”a summer spent roaming free in the company of people you love”.