Playing Dress-up
Is fashion styling the next creative frontier for striking non-fashion visuals?
Humor me for a second and imagine an Instagram feed of a homeware brand. I am guessing there are a couple of directions this can go: the elevated minimalist way with pleasant wood finishes and curated art books, the playful, Gustaf Westman-esque way with loud colors and funky shapes, or maybe the classic English countryside way with clashing patterns and playful raffles. The only thing I am fairly certain about is that no matter which direction you go, there will be a close-up of a vase, a couple of peaceful reading corners, and a photo or two of a creative director blending in perfectly among their fixtures.
Repeat this exercise long enough with beauty brands, luxury resorts, menswear, and canned drinks, and everything starts mushing together into one aesthetic content slop. Similar concepts, identical products, and familiar faces — I fear that by the time AI gets to creative jobs, we will have prematurely killed them. “I’m currently working on a big campaign for a global sports brand and I keep having to strip things back in the process in order for everyone across the board to say yes,”
, the creative behind , told me when I asked her why so many brands are playing it safe with campaign visuals. “There are so many restrictions from partners and retailers because they fear that something won’t sell.”In the sea of sameness, what makes a striking visual? Something that stands on its own without buzzy names and gimmicks and stimulates rather than smoothes the brain. For me, it’s thoughtful products that perfectly fit their purpose or border on conceptual art, some sort of visual conflict that shakes my perception of reality, or the depth of characters and the story being told. Lately though, I’ve been paying closer attention to styling, and how it can transform anything from minimalist garments and magazine covers to hotels, tableware, and instant coffee.
Styling is almost synonymous with luxury fashion, art, and editorial, but sometimes it seeps into much more functional places in a really delightful way. These images from Live The Process, for example, are like nothing else I’ve seen from women’s activewear brands before. The layering, the movement, and the colors remind me of dance and Bali but also Rick Owens and Galliano’s Margiela. It’s quite a contrast to the rest of the women’s activewear space that likes to throw an occasional blazer and a pair of heels over a matching black set to push casual wear and versatility.
“The styling of the campaigns is part of our DNA,” the founder of Live The Process Robyn Berkley told me. “We treat Live The Process as a luxury brand and put a lot of thought into art direction because so much of our inspiration for the collections comes from vintage, dance, and traditional fashion. The girl who wears Live The Process also wears Alaia, Dries, The Row, and Balenciaga. Each style has a true intention and how they are layered together makes a statement.”
Together with a brilliant creative consultant and stylist Natasha Royt, they pull styling references from the dancer-off-duty looks informed by their childhood experiences in dance and gymnastics, and the 90s grunge aesthetics that leans heavily into deconstruction and layering, to bring their vision to life. “Of course, many fashion designers found the same sources of inspiration, so we are also looking at certain collections from Dries Van Noten, Helmut Lang, and Phoebe Philo,” shared Natasha. “But mostly, the styling process for me is intuitive. It starts with a base layer of functional workout wear, and from there I add layers and textures to create a lived-in look. The vibe is definitely that, not too perfect or precious, it’s about actually wearing the clothes and making it look real and cool.”
Live The Process doesn’t try to be everything to everyone and is set to continue growing within their niche that appreciates the luxury fashion lens. “Our customers love the campaigns, and more and more of them are shopping the full looks rather than individual pieces,” said Robyn. “I think people feel it’s unexpected and clever, definitely a new approach to activewear and lifestyle.”
As fashion girls transition from being faces and partners of brands to running their own, the editorial art direction and styling goes even more mainstream. Emma Chamberlain put on a pair of safety goggles and a gorgeous Thom Browne coat dress to create a playful coffee scientist fantasy, Bella Hadid worked with Haley Wollens to dream up mystical creatures for Orebella, and Sydney Carlson cooked up a quirky 60s housewife daydream with her friend Drew MacDonald for her bright pink Lynnee frying pans. As luxury fashion brands go lo-fi and mass DTC brands get stuck in their UGC ways, these girls are spinning up expensive productions and their audiences can’t get enough of it. Perhaps the road to young people’s wallets lies not through iPhone footage and off-the-cuff concepts but contrast — as
put it for me, George Clooney isn’t sipping on Nespresso in an olympic leotard. But Emma Chamberlain certainly is.
If fashion can use everything from summer crops to competitive sports as a prop, why not use interesting styling to make visuals outside of editorial and fashion pop? Playing the fashion game, Brett Hayman turned recreational cannabis from taboo to chic at Edie Parker and created a whole line of playful smoker accessories. Sissi Pohlecan and Pat Scherzer of outofuseberlin used their taste and personal style to elevate something simple, like vintage cutlery, from dusty artifacts found at flea markets into a little everyday luxury. And Android made me question for the first time in a while whether my next phone should come from Apple by plopping a Samsung flip phone into Sandy Liang’s princess universe during this year’s NYFW.
While everyone else is trying to show you just how well their products fit into your world — inside your bag, on top of your bathroom sink, and on a weekend getaway — Gohar World and Chirstofle are using quirky styling and props to bring Mad Hatter-esque dinner parties and their kooky characters to life on your screen. Every visual is a Where’s Waldo? puzzle with lots of intricate, conflicting details. And even through the product is rarely the star, you want to keep looking until you find it. A personal care brand Predubezhdai does something similar by showing you the way their signature scents transport you in time and space by playing up the contrast between the tired office siren fashion trope and the freshness and fullness of nature rather than posting a bunch of shots of their bar soap over and over again.
Imagine if instead of the regular chef headshots or photos of them gazing deeply into a leaf they picked off on a scenic farm, the fine dining restaurants thew a video or two of their team showing you the restaurant and talking about their favorite dishes, dressed in outfits that play up their character and reference this Another Aspect Bar campaign. Or if a cookware brand played into the Chopova Lowena busy, whimsical fantasy with their signature skirt styled together with tiny metal whisk and ladle charms. If we were able to use graphic and brand design to breathe life into everything from mattresses and pillows to protein bars, maybe styling is the next creative frontier.
IN THE MARGINS:
I pulled a bunch of styling references that I think could elevate the stories of both fashion and non-fashion brands here. I am working on a more comprehensive styling reference guide, but for now they live in the Reference Bank. Also, Busy Corner is now much faster - no more waiting around for all the images to load :)
And a special thank you to
whose gorgeous piece on Georgia O’Keeffe’s wardrobe inspired an upgrade in this week’s visuals!
Love reading you Vik!! It's funny, I read this piece while I was wearing my ballet strap sweater haha!
“I fear that by the time AI gets to creative jobs, we will have prematurely killed them.” - lol/ weep
Re: visuals becoming more interesting, I think the rise of the movement director also has something to do with this! Yagamoto is is one to watch https://www.instagram.com/yagamoto/
In terms of world-building and ingenuity, makeup artist Isamaya Ffrench is a great example of this. All of her campaigns for her brand are really high concept and directional, and each is totally different to the last. https://isamaya.co.uk/pages/discover-wild-star-campaign
Re: “Perhaps the road to young people’s wallets lies not through iPhone footage and off-the-cuff concepts but contrast,” I feel like this is really exemplified by Marc Jacobs - who are obviously winning the game rn. If you look at their feed, it’s a mixture of traditionally glossy campaign imagery, juxtaposed with quirky, lo-fi content.