CHANEL
SPRING 2020
Chanel’s Creative Director Virginie Viard has collaborated with photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino and actor Kristen Stewart to create an ad campaign for the brand’s Spring 2020 Ready-To-Wear collection, which is scheduled to arrive in boutiques on February 24th. Stewart, who has been a Chanel ambassador since 2015, is featured in the campaign photography and a short film, in which she shares her thoughts on the newest collection.
What is striking about the campaign is how straightforward it is, which gives it an air of authenticity. In Stewart’s movie roles (excluding the recent Charlie’s Angels reboot) and in her life, she has an intensity that carries over into the campaign’s short film as well. It’s not easy to tell if the film’s content came from the actor herself or the Chanel marketing team, but the delivery certainly feels real, as if she sincerely means every word. Furthermore, the words themselves are super-charged as Stewart describes how Viard is “fully unbridled” with “radicality” as “every base was slaughtered”, and goes on to describe the collection as “impulsive” “sporadic” and “honest”.
The result is a marketing piece that borders on propaganda (in a good way). Stewart’s testimonial essentially reframes the collection, which at first could appear soft and traditionally feminine, and repositions it as a strong expression of modern feminism…like battle gear for punk-rock warrior princesses of the 21st-century urban jungles. The photography doesn’t have quite the same punch, but as is the case for many of the best campaigns in this new era dominated by social media, they are effective supporting materials that can also stand on their own two feet… or defy gravity, as the case may be.
Chanel Creative Director | Virginie Viard
Photographer | Jean-Baptiste Mondino
Talent | Kristen Stewart
