Trey, thanks for sharing the campaign. How did you approach it?
Atelier Swarovski works with so many of the world’s most amazing design houses and creative individuals whether stylists, celebrities or make-up artists. So we really asked ourselves how could we capture that and I thought it was interesting to collaborate with those creatives that use them.
So we gathered a group of individuals that they work with that represent different sides of the industry, whether that was Thom Browne in menswear or Edward Enninful who’s a stylist/fashion director. Or Karlie who’s a model who ends up wearing so much Swarovski. Or somebody like Kate and Laura of Rodarte or Jason Wu or Mary Katrantzou from the emerging designers women’s side. Or accessory designer Charlotte Olympia, who does these amazing Kitty flat shoes.
Plus the lovely woman with the paintbrush.
Isamaya Ffrench.
The make-up artist? Makes sense now, I did’t know what she looked like.
She’s a really amazing London based make-up artist. She’s getting a lot of attention, working with a lot of strong photographers. And she’s really more like an artist with make-up and uses all different types of materials, textures, and really has a new sort of hand and a new voice in make-up. So that’s Isamaya.
So the concept?
We then had each designer or creative collaborator worked on a piece featuring the Swarovski crystals. And then we commissioned Tim Walker to do a series of portraits that really capture their sensibility but also their work. And it was great to sort of have this range of different types of people from Jason Wu who had this incredibly Lesage, very elaborate embroideries featuring the crystals, to someone like Thom that did sort of a re-imagined 1960’s Samsonite, Mad Men era brief case in charcoal gray crystals with a stripe. And the Rodarte girls did these incredible butterflies with this sort of jeweled, romantic bohemian butterflies. And so each person really brought something different to the table. And I think brought a different sort of expression of how they use crystals to enhance their work and their vision.
You’ve worked with our Tim before on the Juicy campaigns right?
Yeah. Tim and I did Juicy together for several years back when Pamela and Gela were there. And then we’ve done some other projects together over the years too. But it just really felt right to capture each of these different personalities in their own way and have a little story captured in one image, he was perfect.
What you’re not seeing yet is these really cool, digital layers from a content series Tim and I did that kind of explores each one of these. It’s not being released until September. So images are out first and then the digital films and content will come out after.
The images have that hand of simplicity but yet really drawn you in.
That’s the power of Tim. There’s something interesting there and he really captures the eccentricity or personality or stoic-ness or whatever that person’s about. But he does it in a very simple way and the person really shines. I think it’s a really exciting new direction for Atelier Swarovski. They are so involved in the industry in so many different ways whether that is through a make-up artist, fashion director, model, or designers. And from the highest levels of haute couture to more mainstream brands in the mall, Swarovski’s got such a powerful role. You go into a store like Miu Miu and every bag, shoe, eyeglass, key chain, clothes, I mean they’re just–Swarovski’s everywhere. And I think it’s interesting to think about how integral they are to the industry.
