The 5 Best Fashion Campaigns of Spring/Summer 2023
Image Courtesy: Loewe
The 2023 fashion season is in full swing; clothing trends from grunge to denim have flooded fashion campaigns and runways, many becoming the talk across social media platforms and within the fashion community. Though there are many contenders, these are the five fashion campaigns that have undeniably stood out for Spring and Summer 2023.
Heaven by Marc Jacobs
Heaven is notable for their 90s-aesthetic advertisements and branding consisting of a bright color palette, quirky lettering, and fisheye photography. The Marc Jacobs SS23 campaign included multiple eye-catching stars as the center of the advertisement: Ice Spice, Lil Uzi Vert, and Liv Tyler. Each star is depicted separately in the campaign; Ice Spice poses wearing a crop top and jeans, a beam of light emerging from underneath her. Lil Uzi is photographed straight on with a cooler color scheme, and so is Liv Tyler.
Heaven’s use of celebrities in their SS23 campaign, in addition to their familiar style, is a strategic way to reach their target audience of teens and young adults. Heaven is a popular brand amongst Gen-Z, having garnered attention across social media for their vintage, grunge looks aesthetic. While Heaven doesn’t reveal their revenue proportion, holding company LVMH CFO Jean Jacques Guiony reported that Marc Jacobs was profitable in 2020 for the first time in five years, and their strong campaign this season is certainly a reason for that success.
Image Courtesy: Heaven
Ferragamo
Ferragamo is an Italian fashion brand known for their production of luxury shoes, clothing, and leather. Ferragamo’s SS23 campaign was coined as “a new vision” reflected by Ferragamo Creative Director Maximillian Davis’ demonstration of cohesive colors and a sleek style. In the campaign, models stare into the camera clothed in Ferragamo’s new ready-to-wear collection. The luxurious clothing contrasts with the deep red background, exuding a sense of sophistication. After a loss of value in 2020, Ferragamo’s revenue rose over 10% in 2022. This highlights part of the brand’s new direction of targeting younger consumers, which is also reflected by their partnership with FarFetch, the luxury retail goods website, in 2022.
Image Courtesy: Ferragamo
Skims
Skims, a lounge and shapewear clothing brand founded by Kim Kardashian, released a Valentine’s Day campaign this year starring Simona Tabasco and Bea Granno from White Lotus. Tabasco and Granno stand hip to hip in the campaign clothed in Skims Valentine’s Day lingerie. A video was also released as part of the campaign, ending with Granno stating: “everybody’s wearing Skims.”
With White Lotus’ popularity this year–which obtained a record high number of viewers on HBO–this campaign took advantage of the trending show to garner attention over social media. The advertising strategy behind this campaign was simple yet effective; the casting, which utilized a trending and popular TV show, was aimed directly at the show’s young adult target audience and initiated talk about the campaign. While this isn’t the first time that Skims has casted notable people for their campaign that caused talk and created attention (see Skims “Fits Everybody” campaign), this one definitely stood out for SS23.
Image Courtesy: Skims
Loewe
Loewe, a Spanish luxury brand and one of the world’s major luxury houses, released a campaign starring Bones and All actress Taylor Russell for Spring 2023. The campaign was uniquely shot, portraying whimsical angels, colors, and tones that all convey Loewe’s unique aesthetic. Russell is shown wearing a pixelated sweater while holding a Loewe bag in one of the campaign images. In another photo, Russell is lounging on a bed, wearing rectangular sunglasses and a pink striped dress. Loewe’s SS23 campaign embodies springtime, with light colors and angular tailoring. Making Russell a brand ambassador, who starred in the 2022 film Bones and All alongside Timothee Chalamet, was a strong advertising strategy to garner attention and attract Loewe’s target consumers of younger individuals who are likely to buy from the hip yet sleek collection.
Image Courtesy: Loewe
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta released a campaign starring Kate Moss for their Summer 2023 advertisement. Moss wears a plaid top paired with denim jeans in the campaign, looking off to the side of the frame. While simple, casting the iconic 90s supermodel Moss strategically grasps people’s attention, specifically those who are part of Moss’ generation. Bottega’s Summer 2023 campaign also includes other models wearing the new collection in a simplistic yet timeless fashion, highlighting the brand's versatility and luxurious aesthetic.
Bottega Veneta has been highly successful over the last couple of years, with previous Creative Director Daniel Lee introducing the eye-catching lime green color that is now a largely identifiable aspect of Bottega bags and clothing. Despite the impact that COVID-19 had on many businesses in 2020, Bottega generated over 1 billion dollars in revenue, the majority of it coming from the leather goods also released in their SS23 collection.
Image Courtesy: Fashion Gone Rogue
SS23 is a strong example of the creativity that comes along with fashion advertising campaigns. From unique color combinations to the use of high profile individuals, fashion campaigns are a primary way that companies can advertise their collections and persuade consumers to buy their products.
Kerry O’Gara-Donovan