The American model and actress gets into character for JW Anderson’s playful, theatrical Autumn/Winter 2022 lookbook
Instead of presenting his new collection on the runway, JW Anderson waited until the final day of Milan Fashion Week to show his Autumn/Winter 2022 collection. A number of white vans carrying billboards were sent into various locations in the Italian city, featuring blown-up pictures of American model and actress Hari Nef wearing the new collection – think of it as an unexpected fashion Trojan horse.
The photos, shot by Juergen Teller, are typically playful, theatrical and at times distinctly unglamorous. In one image, the billboard-bearing van is parked outside of a beautifully-lit up Duomo di Milano at night; in others, it’s pictured next to a construction site, a cluster of graffitied road signs, or even behind a rubbish bin. Anderson and Teller have collaborated on a series of offbeat lookbooks ever since the pandemic hit; JW Anderson’s Spring/Summer 2022 lookbook saw Teller turn the camera on himself, posing against a stack of tyres in nothing but his underwear. “I think sometimes we take ourselves incredibly seriously,” Anderson told AnOther of the shoot. “I feel like you have to have a sense of humour, you have to live in the moment.”
In the new lookbook, Hari Nef – who recently attracted acclaim for her brief cameo as a “trans rabbi” in the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That … – wears a number of different wigs. “A change of hairdo completely flips the persona, because a tamed or untamed mane is a wholly different way of being,” read the press notes. At times Nef appears like an old Hollywood starlet, donning a blonde bob with black tassel earrings and a matching top, while in other pictures, she appears primed for the club in a curly black wig, inflatable balloon bandeau and a pair of hairy trousers. A further cinematic streak runs through the collection, with old movie posters for Brian De Palma’s Carrie printed on trousers and shirts, and South Korean cartoon characters from Run Hany appearing on tracksuit tops and leather bags.
