French Collection is the high street’s solution for many a sartorial conundrum, but in recent seasons it’s also become known for its challenging and edgy fashion advertising campaigns. For the new Autumn/Winter 2013 collection, the brand has followed a similar vein, tapping the talents of iconic photographer Rankin. The new campaign, 'From Sketch to Store', was the brainchild of his in-house creative content agency The Full Service.
In order to create the images Rankin first photographed models, two female and one male, in their natural (ie naked) form in his studio. Then once the pictures were printed the clothing designs were sketched on top by illustrator Jo Bird. The final results show the models wearing the actual pieces from French Connection's AW13 collection. This is FC's first campaign in black and white, but still manages to capture the brand's sense of humour.
Rankin revealed: “As our first 360 degree fashion campaign as an agency, The Full Service was incredibly excited when French Connection approached us to realise their AW13 campaign. I’ve always admired the brand for striving to push boundaries, and for their fearless approach to captivating campaign concepts. I hope the ‘From Sketch to Store’ execution by The Full Service continues their history of stand out campaigns.”
The thought-provoking campaign fits well into the cannon of seasonal advertising that we’ve seen in recent years from FC. Some of our favourites so far include the Spring/Summer 2011 shots of hispters- all found on French Connection’s worldwide hunt to find the coolest man and woman to be their ambassador for the season. We were also enamoured of the Spring/Summer 2010 campaign which showcased both a gorgeous femme fatale from behind and a grizzly but sexy gent. And who could forget Suki Waterhouse’s look book for the label last season? Bradley Cooper’s plus one sizzled in white for the photos, looking every inch the top model.