Top 10 Breakout Fashion Ad Campaigns of Spring 2021

The Best Breakout Fashion Ad Campaigns of the Spring 2021 Season as chosen by Kenneth Richard

One of the most exciting things about fashion is that, with its continual focus on the new, we can never be sure from where the next big creative success will arise; we can never be certain whose creativity will strike us and show us a new way of seeing. The Top 10 breakout campaigns gather the work of young designers and creatives who have impressed us with the boldness and strength of their visions, and from whom we can expect more greatness not-too-distant future.

Eckhaus Latta surprised us with a campaign that cast pre-teen models. From a traditional fashion ad campaign perspective, the choice to cast children is rather strange. Most campaigns succeed by showing us someone who we want to be or want to be like. Nobody in their right mind wants to deal with the awkwardness and anxiety of being about to start puberty again. Instead, the creative team has a much deeper goal in mind. That we are able to reach across the years and connect with these kids opens us up to that same vulnerability. We recognize the universality of this feeling of uncertainty and transition and see a sensitive and uplifting depiction of moments on life’s journey.

Maitrepierre’s darkly whimsical spring campaign made excellent use of the GIF image format, a curiously underutilized format in fashion communications considering its wide visual potential.

Two very different brands – Ardusse and Palm Angels – made the same smart choice to work with talented young photographer Lea Colombo. While her approach to fashion campaigns makes use of the same style she employs in her own art projects, the different contexts made for two campaigns felt quite unique, despite certain visual similarities.

Koché made one of the best uses of nudity we’ve ever seen in a fashion campaign. The imagery brilliantly deconstructs fashion to reconsider its most essential element: the human body. Suzie and Leo photographed their models – completely nude, save for the occasional pair of shoes or piece of jewelry – in Koché’s studio in Paris. Despite (or perhaps because of) its obvious irony as a fashion campaign where the models don’t wear clothes, the campaign feels refreshingly sincere. By subverting fashion and deconstructing the creative process, the creative team at Koché has accessed something that feels deeply true – and they have done so with beauty and honesty.

Here are The Impression’s Top 10 Breakout Campaigns of Spring 2021 as selected by Chief Impressionist Kenneth Richard.

Ardusse

Agency | Braga+Federico Studio
Photographer | Lea Colombo
Models | Marnix Eyckmans, Dior Beye, & Prithvi Balwantsingh
Stylist | Giovanni Dario Laudicina
Hair | Fabio D’Onofrio
Makeup | Luciano Chiarello
Production | Ten Artist
Casting Director | Piotr Chamier
Set Designer | Ruggero Baisi


Christopher Esber

Christopher Esber Creative Director | Christopher Esber
Photographer | Duncan Killick
Models | Aleyna FitzGerald, Alex Bates, Francis Kamara, Hannah Elyse, Jessica de Pierri Bertoncelo, Nyaluak M. Leth, and Valerie Wetmore
Stylist | Ali Kornhauser
Hair | Sophie Roberts
Makeup | Filomena Natoli
Set Design | Christopher Esber, Alisha Rich, Stephanie Leslight, and Laura Jane Patterson


Common Hours

Founder and Creative Lead | Amber Symond 
Creative Direction | Bruna Volpi 
Photography Day One “The Fields” | Georges Antoni 
Photography Day Two “The Barn” | Jake Terrey 
Film Director | Ribal Hosn 
Music | Umberto Clerici 
Sound engineer | Drew Bisset 
Talent | Lili Sumner at Chic, Hannah Elyse at Chadwicks, Agi Akur at IMG, Anja Brown at Priscillas 
Hair | Daren Borthwick 
Make-up | Linda Jefferyes 
Hair and make-up assistant | Sacha Lorge 
Styling | Lee Matthews 
Styling Assistants | Sarah Cvetko and Avalon Keating 
Photography Team Day One | Chris Peck, Chris Proud, and Max Brown 
Photography Team Day Two | Ryan Flanagan and Nick Shaw 
Motion Assistant | Myles Doughman 
Production | The Artist Group 
With special thanks to Jo Sinclair, Kathy Ward and Clare Lee 


Dion Lee

Dion Lee Creative Director | Dion Lee
Creative Director | Alex Robertson-Dunlop
Photographer | Bryan Huynh
Model | Fernanda Ly
Stylist | Cece Liu
Hair | Jonathan De Francesco
Makeup | Marcelo Gutierrez
Casting Director | Bert Martirosyan
CGI Artist | Rodolfo Olf


Eckhaus Latta

Eckhaus Latta Creative Director | Mike Eckhaus & Zoe Latta
Agency | Eric Wrenn Office
Creative Director | Eric Wrenn
Photographer | Talia Chetrit
Models | Ever and Liam
Stylist | Matt Holmes
Location | Upstate New York


Koché

Koché Creative Director | Christelle Kocher
Photographers | Suzie and Leo
Models | Alexandre Di Gregorio, Mimi Macvan, & Shanice Alonya Sloan 
Hair | Andrea Idini
Manicurist | Delphine Aïssi
Casting Director | Marie Levy


Maitrepierre

Maitrepierre Creative Director | Alphonse Maitrepierre
Creative Direction | Studio L’Étiquette
Production | Clara Smith
Assistant Photographer | Jeremy Massa
Digitech | Clara Girbal
Models | Hallya, Nini & Lera
Hair | Yumiko Hikage
Hair Assistant | Louma Coiffeuse
Makeup | Louisa Trapier, with makeup by KIKO Milano
Set Design | Felix Gesnouin


Palm Angels

Palm Angels Creative Director | Francesco Ragazzi
Photographer | Lea Colombo
Casting Director | Mollie Dendle


Peter Do

Peter Do Creative Director | Peter Do
Photographer | Yiru Wang
Model | Miayea
Casting Director | Nicola Kast
Production | Jessica Z. Wu 
Floral Arrangement |  Miguel Paolo Yatco
Location | Catskills, New York


Sir.

Creative Director | Bruna Volpi
Photographer | Jake Terrey
Film | Ribal Hosn
Models | Agi Azur, Billie Jean Hamlet, Charlee Fraser, and Francis Kamara
Stylist | Jess Dos Remedios
Hair | Daren Borthwick
Makeup | Linda Jefferyes
Production | The Artist Group