EXCLUSIVE: Kaia Gerber Stars in Alexander McQueen’s New Campaign for the Slash Bag
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LONDON — Kaia Gerber is the face of Alexander McQueen’s new campaign for the Slash bag.
It is Gerber’s debut campaign with the luxury British brand, and also the first time that Alexander McQueen has tapped a celebrity for an accessories campaign.
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Gerber wore McQueen to her first Met Gala in May with her actor boyfriend Austin Butler.
The body of the bag is divided into vertical, padded leather sections, inspired by the slices and slashes in McQueen’s silhouettes.
The handle is a series of rings with the McQueen signature knuckle and skull motif, encrusted with Swarovski crystals. The bag, which also has a silver chain strap, retails for 2,250 pounds.
The campaign was shot in two mediums by the British fashion photographer and film director Glen Luchford, who regularly shoots for The Face, Self Service Magazine, Arena and many others.
The still-life image shows Gerber staring inquisitively at a prosthetic lookalike. The campaign also features a short film set in a dystopian future.
Gerber is dressed in McQueen, and wearing the Slash bag on her shoulder as she makes her way through a lonely, white, futuristic space. She encounters her mannequin double, strokes the face and starts to cry.
Luchford is a cinephile. His film takes elements from Denis Villeneuve’s “Blade Runner 2049,” with the orange hued lighting and sci-fi mood of Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Skin I Live In,” with clinical prosthetics.
In 2001, Luchford directed “Here to Where,” a film about a man stranded at an airport, which has been cited as inspiration for Steven Speilberg’s “The Terminal.”
In 2023, Gerber will star in “Mrs. American Pie,” a period comedy miniseries on Apple TV+ that will also feature Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Allison Janney. She will also appear in “Bottoms,” a teen sex comedy produced by husband and wife duo Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman.
McQueen has put the focus on film in its latest campaigns. Earlier this year, McQueen collaborated with the award-winning visual artist Sophie Muller on a short film that brought pieces from the brand’s spring 2022 collection to life.
Mirroring the concept of the fashion show, which was shot on the rooftop of a car park in East London in October 2021, the film features models standing and moving at the top of a building in central London with the city’s skyline and various cloud formations as the background.
“I love the idea of embracing the mystery and unpredictability of the sky, the fact it is always moving, always changing,” said Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen, when the campaign was released.
“I look out over London from our studio where the views are incredible and represent our home throughout history from St. Paul’s Cathedral to the London Eye. The sky against which those familiar monuments appear may be calm and restorative at times, and menacing at others. For me, the tension between the two is extremely inspiring,” she added.
Muller has produced hundreds of music and fashion videos in her four-decade-long career. Her work has won numerous awards, including a Grammy, a Brit Award and several MTV Awards. Her most notable collaborators include Maroon 5, Kylie Minogue, Gwen Stefani and Rihanna.
