11. STELLA McCARTNEY
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Your support makes all the difference.I'd like to have been at the meeting where the concept was pitched: "So, we get the great Inez and Vinoodh to photograph Kate Moss spreadeagled on a sofa at her Gloucestershire home, wearing nothing more than a tiny, velvet mini dress. Then we plaster hand-scrawled, drippy versions of Stella's 'jumping unicorn' logo on top of the images, so you can barely see the model...".
But the client here is Stella McCartney, whose brand identity is based upon the cult of her personality and the homespun bohemia of her upbringing and lifestyle. Her website resembles an intimate scrapbook comprising home videos, projects and personal news. The designer may have connections to celebrities galore, but her skill is in elegantly helping us to forget that.
What's more, those "drippy unicorns" were scrawled by the esteemed French designers and creative directors M/M (Paris). As such, the campaign is a reflection of the circumstances of its (infinitely credible) production. It's no longer necessarily the photographer who is first approached to develop a brand's campaign; increasingly, creative directors or the ever-more-powerful stylists have the casting vote on which photographers and models are used. This complex but striking image asserts a collaborative relationship where each area of creative activity – the designer's, the model's, the brand's, and the photographer's – is awarded equal importance.
Verdict: the insider's choice
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