Fashion brands have long used celebrities as part of their marketing strategy. By now, it’s hardly surprising to see Hollywood A-listers fronting the campaign for a new collection, walking a seasonal runway show, or even taking the reins as a maison’s creative director (see: Pharrell Williams’ recent appointment at Louis Vuitton).
The celebrity-fashion-industrial-complex is only deepening. When Bottega Veneta unveiled its Pre-Spring 2024 collection last week, onlookers quickly realized: They’d seen the collection before. Bottega had quietly seeded looks from the range to A$AP Rocky and Kendall Jenner in the months leading up to its debut. Inevitably, the two were photographed — jogging, making a pit stop at the gas station — in the previously unseen ensembles, building hype for their release before shoppers even knew what was going on.
Gucci took a similar approach to the launch of creative director Sabato De Sarno’s first eveningwear collection for the label. On Saturday, De Sarno attended the LACMA Art+Film Gala with a posse of celebs wearing pieces from the new range, “Ancora Notte”: Andrew Garfield, Pedro Pascal, and A$AP Rocky (fashion’s favorite rapper, it seems) donned the designer’s first foray into formal menswear while models Mariacarla Boscono, Vittoria Ceretti, and Kirsty Hume debuted his gala-appropriate gowns.
Bottega Veneta and Gucci’s approaches differed slightly, but both brands eschewed runway shows and traditional lookbooks in favor of celebrity, a phenomenon that, without fail, gets people buzzing.
It’s a strategy that Balenciaga has employed for years with Kim Kardashian and, at one point, Kanye West. In September, Kardashian donned a jacket from Balenciaga’s Alpinestars collaboration the day before the French maison officially confirmed the team-up at its SS24 runway show at Paris Fashion Week. And the year prior, West attended Balenciaga’s SS23 show in New York City in a pair of big, hulking boots that would appear on the runway.
Photos of both Kim and Kanye in Balenciaga’s new garms spread across social media at light speed, reaching people faster and generating more buzz than a traditional rollout could — indicative of the far-reaching appeal of celebrity news versus, say, a fashion week show, out-of-reach for the average onlooker.
It’s unclear whether Bottega Veneta paid A$AP Rocky and Kendall Jenner to make public appearances in its SS24 wares — and even if money were exchanged, seemingly candid shots of Rocky jogging in Bottega’s leather sweatsuit certainly strike as more “organic” than an official ad campaign or fashion week activation. As brands and consumers reconsider the relevancy — and expense — of runway shows, it’s worth considering: Will celebrity paparazzi photos eventually replace the catwalk?
