Riccardo Tisci Unveils His First Campaign for Burberry—See Behind-the-Scenes Photos Exclusively Here
Riccardo Tisci’s Burberry debut in September was one of the most watched shows of the Spring 2019 season. Everybody wanted to know what the Italian designer with the goth streak would do for this British heritage brand. Inclusivity was his big message then—the collection was 113 looks strong. And it’s the message of his debut advertising campaign for the label, which launches today.
“This country gave me a lot of opportunity,” Tisci said in a phone call from London. “I came because I wanted to have a chance in life, to become a designer. When I got the call from Burberry, one of the many reasons—the most important—that I joined is because this is a company that’s very inclusive.”
In the case of this ad campaign, inclusive means six photographers, some of whom you’re not likely to have heard of before, and an equally multigenerational group of models that includes faces familiar and new from Russia, Korea, Nigeria, Italy, and, of course, Great Britain. “Burberry is a big umbrella talking to many different people,” Tisci said. “That’s my way to think as well. Let’s try to make a strong identity, talking to different people—from age to culture to different ways of life. And that’s represented in the campaign. All the models we cast are what I want the new era of Burberry to be.”
The photographers are Nick Knight, Danko Steiner, Hugo Comte, Colin Dodgson, Peter Langer, and Letty Schmiterlow. Tisci knew only Knight and Steiner beforehand; the other four he met on set. None of them have shot a Burberry campaign until now. Nevertheless, Tisci described the atmosphere of the shoots as dynamic. “There wasn’t an art director involved, the, you know, ‘let’s do this, it’s the best seller . . .’ It was teamwork. Like the collection, the campaign was all about not forgetting anybody out.”
Also like the collection, the loose concept of the shoots was “all the different ways to see beige.” Within that framework, though, there’s significant range. Tisci describes Schmiterlow’s work as “raw” and “reportage-style” and Knight’s as “dreamy.” The designer was pleased he could introduce Steiner to the model Irina Shayk. “Until the day he met her, she wasn’t really his ‘type’ of girl. Now that he met her and he’s seen the result of the pictures, he’s obsessed with her,” Tisci reflects. “It pushed him to do something different, which is great. Because everything has been done before in history. It’s the way you do the recipe.”
With fewer than four weeks until his Fall 2019 show, there’s not much time for reflection for Tisci and his team. “I can’t wait until it’s done,” he laughs. “You know, the second collection is always more difficult than the first one. The first one is about putting down letters, your vocabulary, but the second one is writing the book.”
Riccardo Tisci Unveils First Campaign for Burberry—See Behind-the-Scenes Pics Exclusively Here
