Donna Karan Spring 2024 Ad Campaign

Review of Donna Karan Spring 2024 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Trey Laird with Photographer Annie Leibovitz with models Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Shalom Harlow, Liya Kebede, Karlie Kloss, Iman Hammam, Carolyn Murphy, and Amber Valletta

Donna Karan boldly announces its return with a campaign that takes us straight back to the brand’s supermodel heyday. The campaign was shot by Annie Leibovitz, a super photographer herself.

The campaign brings together a legendary roster of supermodels who helped to define the Queen of 7th Avenue’s influential grip on the New York fashion scene in her late 80s heyday, as well as a few newer leading faces: Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Shalom Harlow, Liya Kebede, Karlie Kloss, Iman Hammam, Carolyn Murphy, and Amber Valletta. Liebovitz captures them in a powerful group portrait dressed in a collection that reboots vintage DK signatures, a palette of gold dust pervading the atmosphere.

The cast is iconic and impressive and the message that it seeks to convey – that Donna Karan still has all the clout you remember from back in the day – does come through.

The accompanying short film is an essential aspect that deepens the campaign’s narrative, revealing the stories and insights behind these famous names and faces. The video cuts together interviews from each of the models wherein they reflect on the designer’s influential and innovative commitment to dressing real women with an emphasis on practicality, sophistication, and strength.

Though these design principles are just as relevant as ever, the campaign could have used a bit more imagination to show how Donna Karan’s vision of them feel important today. Some of the imagery feels like it could have used a fresher art direction perspective instead of primarily relying on familiar faces. It also feels like a missed opportunity not to include the kinds of women who were excluded from the 90s runways: plus-sized women, trans women, and differently-abled women.

Nonetheless, the campaign does offer meaningful perspective on empowerment through dressing and design by highlighting the voices of the people in front of the camera, and is sure to stir major buzz. Though it would have done well to find a balance between freshness and nostalgia, instead of relying too heavily on the latter, the campaign is an attention-grabbing and assertive statement of a big return.