Where Christy Turlington tho? Not to take this iconic moment for granted—the OG supes who were the first to turn modeling into its own brand of outsize celebrity reuniting in a campaign that has nothing to do with 1991 Georges Marciano is a big look. It’s also in sharp contrast to some of the current batch of models people are calling “supes,” who can’t express but one dead look in the eye but have a trillion Instagram followers—sorry, Kendall (herself a face of Balmain) and Gigi.
When people grouse that modeling takes no skill—which they still do, despite Tyra Banks’s years-long corrective ANTM—just look back to these women, who took the profession beyond their blesséd genes and made it more about their—SHOCKER!!!—personalities.
In the Balmain advert, you can see that: these gyals know what it means to SERVE, Crawford and Schiffer soaking up the sun as though it was invented purely for them, and Campbell administering one of her withering, mysterious boss looks with a graceful pose and utter bod murkage (always and forever). It is fortunate, perhaps, that they are taking up all the brain space in the image, because they can distract from the brain diarrhea that are the clothes, a scrambled mess of ruffles and lattice.
But who am I to shit upon Olivier Rousteing’s joy, a designer who conceptually I think is very cool, even though I am finding his work exhausting of late. “Balmain has a deep soul, and it’s not only about followers,” he told Vogue. “It’s about dreams and love, and I think with this campaign I’m going to show that and go back to its roots. This campaign is about what makes me love fashion, and these three women are exactly that. These three women are what made me love fashion yesterday, make me love fashion today, and are going to make me love fashion in the future.”
Very much the same!
Contact the author at julianne@jezebel.com.
Image via Balmain