Balmain has done it again with a campaign that is worth talking about—for Spring 2019, the French house has model Cara Delevingne stripped down. That’s right, there’s not much else for the British beauty to work with, except perhaps an iconic pose, a couple of sculptures, and her own piercing gaze, which creative director and personal friend Olivier Rousteing acknowledges to be just as good as a piece of clothing.
The photos, done masterfully by photographer Dan Beleiu who is based in Berlin, emphasize Delevingne’s expressive eyes. It was just as Rousteing intended, because he wanted the campaign to be about authenticity. The choice to go naked is also justified by the designer’s desire to strip the Balmain woman down to her essential qualities, which are confidence, audacity and strength. Rousteing went noir et blanc, both in the photos and in skin tones, to show what he calls a reunion of the colors.
The standout of the set, however, is the photo that evokes one of the nineties’ most intriguing images. Rousteing joined Delevingne in recreating the famous Patrick Demarchelier photo starring Janet Jackson. As is with the 1993 shoot for the singer’s eponymous album and later on for the Rolling Stone, both personalities are topless, with Rousteing standing behind Delevingne and covering the latter’s breasts with his hands. The inspiration was confirmed by the creative director through his Instagram account, where he also said that he wanted to recreate iconic moments of his childhood through Balmain’s latest campaign.
Another photo leaves Delevingne on her own, while also revealing more of herself as she reclines in front of the relaunched Balmain logo. Besides her eyes, Delevingne lets her body speak for the maison.
The latest Spring campaign for Balmain isn’t a first for Delevingne. The model already starred in the house’s Fall 2014 collection alongside Jourdan Dunn, Kayla Scott, Binx Walton and Issa Lish, among others. Most recently, she opened the brand’s Spring-Summer 2019 fashion show, where she arrived while lip-syncing Prince’s song When Doves Cry. It was one of her few appearances on the runway that year since the model said that she would be focusing more on other endeavors.
Balmain had a busy year so far as Rousteing launched the house’s very first app and had the first couture collection in years. A new flagship on Rue Saint-Honoré is even on the horizon. Rousteing also hints on more partnerships with the British model in the future, so it’s safe to say that it we’ll be seeing more of the Balmain woman in Delevingne.
Image credits: Balmain, Dan Beleiu, Getty Images, Peter White, Pascal Le Segretain
