Ardusse Spring 2021 Ad Campaign

Review of Ardusse Spring 2021 Ad Campaign by agency Braga+Federico Studio and Photographer Lea Colombo

Ardusse lounges in colorful bliss in a new Spring 2021 campaign. The young Italian house brings in agency Federico + Braga Studio and photographer Lea Colombo, who work together brilliantly to create a deeply restful and uplifting aesthetic.

Colombo situates her cast before modernist sculptures, which suggest abstractions of the natural world. Clad in airy cotton, they lounge with an attitude of repose, which recalls characters like shepherds and poets from classic pastoral artworks. Perhaps taking her cue from the Gen-Z favorite “bisexual lighting,” Colombo conjures up a softly psychedelic color scheme of blues, purples, pinks, and yellows. Layers of shadow and saturation play dramatically across the figures, but the feeling remains one of restfulness.

This soft neon light plays gently across the faces of our models, who are all styled with a beautiful disregard for binary gender convention. Traditionally masculine pieces like blazers and pleated pants are expanded and softened through voluminous cuts, creating airy and delicate visual layers.

The campaign’s simple beauty belies the technical subtlety and historical knowledge that went into creating it. Ancient motifs of the pastoral poet combine with modernist deconstructions of form, all of it wrapped up in impressive technical know-how with respect to lighting. Ardusse has modernized the classical bucolic ideal through minimalist abstraction and gender fluidity, and the results are gorgeous.