Review of Courrèges Spring 2024 Ad Campaign by Photographer David Sims with models Loli Bahia, Anok Yai, Xu Wei, Lulu Tenney, Julia Nobis, and Axel Gay
Courrèges deftly synthesizes subcultural art and music references with its slick and striking Spring 2024 campaign by photographer David Sims.
The campaign begins with Sims’ full-body portraits of dancing models dressed in the season’s slick, monochrome, retrofuturist offerings, including the collection’s star accessory, the archive-inspired Holy Bag. But it is the striking layout decision that makes the final campaign images the most intriguing and impactful: the portraits are horizontally rotated and pushed to one side of the spread, while the other is dominated by the digitally disembodied head of each model, their hair still blowing dramatically and eyes meeting the camera’s gaze with defiant poise.
It’s an oblique reference, but we can’t help but be reminded of Gustave Moreau’s iconic painting L’Apparition, which, in his signature lavish, pre-surrealist style, depicts a dancing Salome confronted with the floating head of John the Baptist. At the same time, however, the collage approach recalls the playfully punk DIY style of music fanzines, making for an unexpected intersection of art history, retro music culture, and cutting-edge fashion.
It’s an impressive visual feat to be able to draw together these diverse references in one slick layout that still maintains the instantly recognizable minimal cool of the Courrèges brand.
Courrèges Creative Director | Nicolas Di Felice
Photographer | David Sims
Models | Loli Bahia, Anok Yai, Xu Wei, Lulu Tenney, Julia Nobis, and Axel Gay
Stylist | Marie Chaix
Hair | Duffy
Makeup | Lucia Pieroni
Manicurist | Ama Quashie
Casting Director | Piergiorgio Del Moro
Production Design | Poppy Bartlett