Ad campaigns AW16: Quirky, urban, crowded and crazy

The autumn/winter campaigns leave the classic and the traditional behind with an energy burst and a feel for the eccentric.

It’s not only collections that are big news nowadays. Ad campaigns are too. They’re released with (almost) as big a fanfare as the clothes themselves and more often than not feature the model/photographer/stylist/art director/city backdrop of the moment.

Of course, what that usually means is the same faces again, and again… and again. Last season it seems you couldn’t blink without another Gigi Hadid campaign or the sight of Karlie Kloss showing off those endless pins in a pair of denim skinnies.

That’s not quite the case this season (although Kloss and Hadid are both in several campaigns) and there are still unifying themes. One of the strongest is an injection of quirkiness. There are, of course, the very quirky ads. But even the more mainstream have an offbeat edge. There are far fewer of those deadly dull famous-person-from-the-waist-up-with-a-handbag ads and we don’t seem to have quite so many beautiful-woman-in-beautiful-dress-against-traditionally-but-nondescript-beautiful-background ads this season either.

For which we should all, perhaps, be thankful. Years spent writing ad campaign analysis features and having to analyse about 500 of them per season can leave you desperate: Just how much can you say about a single picture of Gisele in a black dress against some sand dunes?

So, to the blockbuster ads for AW16. But first an apology. Yes, they’re mainly luxury brands - but that’s where the most interesting ideas tend to be. The retail sector is usually too focused on pushing an endless stream of monthly drops to think about grand concepts that might push fashion brand marketing a step or two forwards. Their best work tends to come around Christmas or linked to special collab collections.

So, for now we’ll just have to put up with Gucci, Prada, Chanel and all those other luxe labels.

Accessories with attitude

Bags clockwise from left: Amber Valletta for Stella McCartney, Chloe, Prada, Love Moschino, DSquared, Selena Gomez for Louis Vuitton

Accessories advertising is often among the most conservative - selling that high-margin £2,000 bag or those £400 sunglasses is a serious business after all and that means ads often have more in common with luxury watch or jewellery ads than directional with fashion campaigns. But the power of the millennial is everything these days and as brands reboot their images to appeal to those easily bored consumers, the usual Breitling-ad-circa-1995 approach just won’t do.

Eyewear l to r: Love Moschino, Chloe, Vera Wang, Gigi Hadid for Max Mara , Prada

That means a defiant stare for eyewear with even a relatively conservative brand like Vera Wang opting for Moody Introspection rather than Standard Glam. But it’s in bags where the change is most noticeable. From a nearly nude Amber Valletta personifying Stella McCartney’s “No Leather, Feathers or Fur” ethos, to a quirky Selena Gomez all dressed up for Louis Vuitton or model Ella Wennstrom doing a (not very convincing) impersonation of a moody teen for Love Moschino, this is as far from classic luxury handbag advertising as you could get.

Collective responsibility

Fashion gangs: Dolce & Gabbana, Net-a-Porter, Givenchy, Balmain

Fashion has a herd mentality and this season it’s the herd (or crowd) that rules. Maybe brands just want to get heir money’s worth and show as much of their collections as possible, but the budgets must have been enormous for some of these campaigns given how many models (both supers and newcomers) or celebs who are starring in them.

But don’t run away with the idea that the season’s group shots are just some collective gathering akin to an old-style family wedding shot. What we get are groups of Hedonists - quirky (and occasionally menacing in Marc Jacobs’ case) beautiful people who are lazing, lounging and lotus-eating as the perfect reflection of the autumn/winter’s surprisingly brightly-coloured, intensely-patterned and retro-influenced looks.

Hedonists: Miu Miu, Roberto Cavalli, Just Cavalli, Gucci

By contrast, we’re also offered fashion’s own interpretation of street gangs, marching on us with their £2k bags sat Maggie Thatcher-like on their arms, their fringed jeans flowing as they stride forward or their impossibly-patterned knit coats and dresses either reflecting the energy of the Naples street or perhaps detracting from the greyness of a London pavement.

For some brands (like Givenchy and Balmain) it’s the uniformity of the multiple model approach that rams home the seasonal trend message. For others like Dolce & Gabbana in Naples and Net-a-Porter, the contrast of each look is what counts.

Famous faces

L to r: Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Balmain, Marc Jacobs, Max Mara, Balmain

Yes, I know famous faces are nothing new, but brands are working hard to make the most of what are likely to be astronomical fees that they’re paying their celebs this season. Max Mara has gone pretty traditional with its Gigi Hadid campaign but Fendi has played around with Kendall Jenner and made her much less recognisable than usual. Her sister Kim Kardashian keeps her usual curves under control at Balmain, appearing in moody black and white shots, as does husband Kanye.

Meanwhile it seems like Nicolas Ghesquiere at Louis Vuitton may be trying to shake off the mature image that seems to stick to the brand no matter what. Last season it was a Final Fantasy-fest and this time it’s a youth obsession with Selena Gomez taking a starring role.

And Marc Jacobs has a whole line-up of celebs from Cara D to Missy Elliot, Sissy Spacek and Courtney Love, none of them looking traditionally pretty but all of them doing a great job of getting across the mashed-up retro, meets Victoriana meets rock ’n’ roll message of the collection.

Quirks, geeks and crazy characters

L to r: Neiman Marcus, Milly, DSquared, Just Cavalli, Bally, Chanel

There’s a cast of characters that are occasionally, geeky, frequently quirky and decidedly eccentric in the new season’s campaigns. Their inclusion makes these high impact clothes unmissable and to push the message about having fun with fashion even further, campaign art direction plays with colour and crazy backdrops.

Take Chanel. This brand is a French institution and its beauty advertising can be quite staid. But Karl Lagerfeld has photographed Mariacarla Boscono and Sarah Brannon (both of them styled by Carine Roitfeld) and has mixed in a series of collages that convey brand ‘signatures’ (pearls, quilting and camellias) alongside emoticons that add an on-trend digital edge.

Meanwhile Neiman Marcus has mother and daughter models Pat and Anna Cleveland for an Art of Fashion campaign that’s an exuberant celebration of fashion’s joyful, colourful side. Love it.

Move it

L to r: Dior, Jitrois, Valentino, Balmain, Stella McCartney

Athleisure has made action shoots a major feature of the fashion landscape and it’s no surprise that Stella McCartney’s latest adidas campaign aims to show just how the clothes look in action (helped by Karlie Kloss who’s the campaign’s face). But it’s more surprising to see Kanye West appearing to fall over (did Joan Smalls push him?) for Balmain, or Dior indulging in an energy rush.

Jitrois, giving an exuberant edge to its shoot as models appear to levitate, feels like it’s been leafing through some back copies of Harper’s Bazaar from the 80s and 90s. And Valentino has extended the dance clothes theme of its collection into the campaign with the most joyful celebration of dance that highlights the fluidity of the materials.

We’ve been seeing a general move (pun intended) towards movement for several seasons, leaving behind the previously popular anti-movement trend typified by campaigns like that of Versace for SS16 (remember Gigi Hadid, Natasha Poly & Raquel Zimmerman just lying there like inanimate mannequins?)

And the movement trend looks like it has plenty of life in it too so expect to see more, before we all get bored with it and long for models to take just sit still.

Spirit of the 60s

Flower children l to r: Americana Manhasset, Blugirl, Roberto Cavalli, Etro, Givenchy, Chloe, Gucci

There’s a retro edge running through many of the new campaigns but it’s more about mood than a slavish recreation of past times. And the decade of choice to influence that mood for AW16 is the 1960s. That means campaigns are populated by ethereal flower children. Wavy-haired-and-other-worldly, they’re the perfect vehicle for the season’s extravagantly patterned and embellished silks from labels such as Gucci, Givenchy, Chloe and Blugirl.

Campus and Contessas l to r: Frame Denim, Americana Manhasset, Frame Denim, Tod’s, Tod’s, Lancaster

But the 60s spirit is also alive and well in a look that’s a world away from flower children. Think campuses and contessas. Those college campus casual looks of the late 60s contrasted with the bourgeois-meets-aristocratic mix of Catherine Deneuve or some of the decade’s best-dressed-list regulars like Countess Consuela Crespi. Tod’s has even acknowledged the 60s inspiration with a campaign that features some of its classic-fashion pieces alongside 60s pictures of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton.

Urban sprawl

Brands have taken to the streets (both urban and suburban) in a celebration of the energy and even the monotony of the street, which could mean Gucci in a buzzing Tokyo or Balenciaga in a nameless backstreet of Paris. In fact, it’s the anonymity and normality of many of the streets used this season that’s so jarring but also feels so new. Let’s face it, when a brand tells you it’s shot a campaign in its native Paris, you’d be forgiven for expecting the Eiffel Tower, Montmartre, or at least the Bois de Boulogne, not a location that could be, well, almost anywhere. But fashion needs those unexpected twists.

Of course, street scenes can be easily identifiable as that helps to reinforce the brand profile and Dolce & Gabbana take this approach regularly, using the energy of Naples and its people to underline the southern Italian heritage of the brand.

And the street can also be used as a way to focus attention squarely on the clothes. The wide open spaces of Twin Set’s Stepford-like suburbia and 3.1 Phillip Lim’s deserted shopfront draw us in but force our attention onto the seasonal offer because there’s little else to see.