Donna Karan Winter 2024 Ad Campaign

Review of Donna Karan Winter 2024 Ad Campaign by Agency Big and Partners and Photographer Alique with model Andreea Diaconu

Donna Karan evokes nostalgic elegance with its Winter 2024 campaign, shot by photographer Alique.

Making direct reference to Donna Karan’s “golden age,” Alique captures model Andreea Diaconu in sophisticated seasonal dresses and separates amid studio spaces of abstract gold and concrete forms.

When the brand relaunched with its Spring 2024 campaign, we were potentially concerned by the possibility that the creative perspective wasn’t doing enough to move the brand forward. The main thrust of the campaign’s impact came from the casting, which featured an impressive lineup of supermodels who worked with the brand in its heyday alongside faces from the next generation. A series of accompanying videos featured these cast members reflecting on the impact of Donna Karan’s design vision for the time.

This latest campaign, however, drops those elements that felt like they were taking the brand in a forward-thinking new direction, and relies on the same old visual and styling approach. Consistently can definitely be a strength, and Donna Karan knows its brand and its customer, but it feels like there’s little here for that customer to connect with except for a hint of nostalgia.

It does take time to build a comeback, however, and the brand is still in the stage of laying the foundation for its next chapter. Moving forward, it will be essential to consider what it means to balance this reverence for the Donna Karan’s bygone era with the recognition that we are in a very different fashion and marketing landscape.