Stella McCartney Winter 2023 Ad Campaign

Stella McCartney shares a stunning vision of animal elegance with a new campaign for Winter 2023

Review of Stella McCartney Winter 2023 Ad Campaign by Photographer Harley Weir with model Kendall Jenner

Stella McCartney shares a stunning vision of animal elegance with a new campaign for Winter 2023. Photographer Harley Weir captures model Kendall Jenner for the awe-inspiring photo series, which carries forward the collection’s theme of organic energy and grace.

Staged at the historic Manège de l’École Militaire, France’s oldest riding school – and starring its equestrian inhabitants alongside the human models – McCartney’s Fall Winter 2023 runway show paid homage to these majestic beasts and drew inspiration from riding equipment and culture. But more than just a design theme, the celebration of animal life tied into the brand’s most deeply held core value: its commitment to animal welfare through entirely vegan design, and an accompanying message to take better care of our Earth and its inhabitants. Embodying this perspective were designs that reworked fur, feathers, and leather materials with innovative, cruelty-free materials and techniques.

Translating this message of kindness and connection into a series of stunning visuals, Weir’s campaign takes shape as jaw-dropping photographic compositions that find a glorious connection between woman and horse. Captured among the desolate beauty of an expansive salt flat, the lone human figure of Kendall Jenner communes with a pack of wild horses, exuding the mystical energy of an earth goddess that is intriguingly juxtaposed by the styling’s sharp silhouettes. One image – seemingly equal parts inspired by the animalistically erotic staging of the play Equus and the cowgirl glam of Beyoncé’s Renaissance album cover – sees Kendall dressed in nothing but (faux) horsehair boots and a matching handbag as she reclines decadently on the back of a horse while the sun dies behind distant mountains and thin wisps of cloud, bathing the landscape in moody purple light.

While Kendall Jenner needs no special introduction to justify being the face of a campaign, her appearance here is especially apt, as the model is also an avid equestrian herself, and has said that her girlhood dream was to become a horseback rider.

The casting choice thus feels like a match made in horse heaven, and Weir’s ensuing photographs speak for themselves. Powerful, sweeping, untamed but elegant, the campaign is a gorgeous statement of Stella McCartney’s vital call for a world where every living creature can exist together in harmony.