Upscale French fashion house has taken the typical snobbish haute couture campaign and turned it on its head for its latest ad campaign.
A cheesy new YouTube video depicts sullen dancing queens – models Raquel Zimmerman and Karen Elson – dancing along to the famous Pitbull 2009 rap song I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho), now a wedding party staple.
The beautifully-cut fashions look sophisticated and elegant as expressionless models dance poorly to the catchy tune.
Eventually they are joined by two male models, Lowell Tautchin and Milo Spijkers, also dancing like no one’s watching.
At the end of the video, Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz makes a cameo appearance wearing a hat and fluttering scarf, pushing the male models out of the way to take center stage.
Directed by Steven Meisel, with creative direction by House and Holme, the new autumn-winter 2011-2012 campaign brings a fresh breath of humorous air to the typically self-important industry.
The winter campaign incorporates stills from the video, using the same elegant set and capturing the same silly dance moves – which appear more dramatic as a single photograph.
His previous campaign for summer was along a similar theme, with a strobe-like start-stop video of models lounging around on velvet sofas and dancing to Rick James’ Super Freak.