Edward Crutchley Spring 2023 Ad Campaign Review

Review of Edward Crutchley Spring 2023 Ad Campaign by Photographer Fran Gomez de Villaboa with models Ashley Reece, Denali White Elk, Erin Harrison, Goy Michael, Jinfeng Liu, and Pierce Conran Barker-Smith

Edward Crutchley evokes the sea in a protean Spring 2023 campaign.

The designer Edward Crutchley is known for his experimentation with fabrics, and this recent campaign doesn’t lack for innovation–although it’s rooted in concepts from the deep past. Drawing on Ancient Greek mythology and philosophy, the clothes are driven by the idea of “flux,” or change.

Change is frightening: it can unmoor us from what steadies us. But change can also liberate us, in this case dissolving gender-binaries. In one photo, what looks like a queer Poseidon emerges out of the sea, donning a bikini encrusted with aquatic motifs. In another, an iridescent cardigan jacket plays with the cloqué and calls fish scales to mind.

All this oceanic imagery is portrayed by photographer Fran Gomez de Villaboa with distortion of color and form, as though the models were glimpsed at through refraction.

These photo effects, lending a veneer of fluidity, complement the conceptual thrust behind the clothes. But the effects also slightly muddle the presentation and make the clothing seem like props for a cerebral art piece.

Overall, Crutchley’s repurposing of ancient ideas is fresh and compelling.