When he’s not retweeting Sky Ferreira’s daily countdown until the premiere of The Hobbit, ex-Girls frontman Christopher Owens has been busy collaborating with recently-appointed creative director of Yves Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane (formerly of Dior Homme, formerly of your skinny black jeans), on the introductory campaign to Slimane’s womenswear debut for the storied house, which will debut in Paris tomorrow.
Both the house that Yves built and Owens have today unveiled the introductory video campaign for the Spring/Summer 2013 collection and the brand’s revamped aesthetic, which has been stripped down since Stefano Pilati’s allegedly less-than-amicable departure. The result is, uh, pretty interesting. It’s probably not worth crying over, but – you know – it’s okay if you’re into any of the parties involved.
Since his hiatus from the industry, Slimane has been working primarily as a photographer for both his online journal and a range of publications (various Vogues, Vs and Man About Towns), honing his monochromatic, chiaroscuro signature and tending toward high-res depictions of the emaciated abs and tousled hair of heavily inked pretty young things. The Girls soundtrack, It’s Just A Song, is the perfect no BS accompaniment to what is effectively an iPhoto slideshow of Slimane’s portraiture campaign imagery, which also stars Kati Nescher and some of which pays homage to Jeanloup Sieff’s iconic 1971 portrait of the house’s eponymous designer for his first fragrance campaign.
It’s just a campaign. It’s just a song. It’s just a new era. Below is a more animated discussion we had with Owens at Laneway earlier this year.
