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Top Trends: Using "Real People” or Top Models on the Runway?
After Dolce & Gabbana used young Sicilian boys as models during their recent Milan Men fashion show, French fashion house, Lanvin, decided to continue the trend. For their upcoming Fall 2012 ad campaign Lanvin chose “real men and women.”
Lanvin creative director, Alber Elbaz, is best known for his genuine fashion visions. After the brand's successful Fall 2011 ad campaign starring top models Raquel Zimmermann and Karen Elson, Elbaz decided to move in a surprising direction for Fall 2012.
Instead of top models, Lanvin decided to photograph “real men and women” for their new and interesting campaign. The French fashion house also included a few older people to appear on billboards and in fashion magazines.
Fashion photographer Steven Meisel was chosen to lead this fashion production. One of his most interesting casts is Jacquie Murdock, an 82-year-old dancer who feels like her dream of becoming a model has finally come true. Murdock was quoted as saying that "at 18, I went from an agent to an agent looking for jobs, even as a hand model. I have finally made it and I will never give up. Hopefully someday I will get to Paris!".
Lanvin is not the first fashion house that has used “real” people in fashion campaigns. Duo designer label, Dolce & Gabbana hired several young Sicilian boys to walk their recent men’s fashion show in Milan. Though the boys looked a bit stiff on stage, their appearance added an authentic vibe to the whole show.
Do Dolce & Gabbana and Lanvin’s curious choices raise a question about the definitions of beauty? Are we going to see more and more fashion campaigns and runway shows using ordinary people rather than top models and perfect-figure icons?
If this is a new trend, maybe the guy next door or the old lady sitting next to you on the bus are the new faces of the fashion industry...
