Marc Jacobs has a sixth sense for picking campaign stars who are completely new to the fashion-ad roundelay. (Think of his past ads featuring artist Rachel Feinstein, makeup artist Dick Page, and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.) To kick off his spring 2016 campaign, Jacobs chose another unexpected face: director and trans woman Lana Wachowski, who’s best known for co-helming the Matrix trilogy. The designer revealed the photo on Instagram last night with a lengthy statement explaining the backstory (and suggesting that Wachowski is the first of several faces in an ongoing campaign). “This season’s ad campaign represents a series of connected events; a visual narrative,” Jacobs wrote. “It is a personal diary of people who have and continue to inspire me and open my mind to different ways of seeing and thinking.”
The spectrum of individuals photographed in our Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign represent a celebration of my America. In collaboration with photographer David Sims and stylist Katie Grand, the people featured in our campaign personify this collection of fashion through their individuality. Collectively, they embody and celebrate the spirit and beauty of equality.
It is with an overwhelmingly full heart that I share this first portrait of our Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign. Lana Wachowski.
I was first introduced to Lana via YouTube in December 2012. The speech Lana gave to accept the Human Rights Campaign, Visibility Award, (October 20, 2012) was utterly profound in its script and her articulate, brilliant and timeless delivery.
She expressed thoughts and ideas that have filled my head and heart always but had never been so eloquently captured in language that was so tangible, intelligent, poignant and full of possibility. I found myself referencing Lana’s words in my daily life and sharing her speech with close friends.
In the days before our Spring/Summer ‘16 fashion show and through a fateful series of communications, much to my incomprehensible delight, Lana accepted an invitation to our show in New York City and thus I took her “fashion show virginity.” Lana’s ineffable beauty captured by David in this portrait reminds me of the personal sentiment she shared with me about, “learning you can make important friends at anytime in your life.”
