Fashion has a long history of bringing together unlikely couples. There have been plenty – both in terms of designers, models, all-round icons, even fictional characters – and despite their curious coupling, they always seem to work – and marvelously so. The latest odd (but very interesting) couple is Marc Jacobs and Charlotte Rampling brought to you by the house of Givenchy.

Coming together for Givenchy’s Spring-Summer 2020 campaign, the timeless icons unite in a fashionable matrimony both beguiling and brilliant, hilarious and heroic.

While it may seem peculiar for a designer to promote another designer’s brand, Marc Jacobs is an icon in his own right, transcending his own brand and orchestrating a kind of personal mythology. Rampling, a fellow icon, was a pin-up of the swinging sixties and chief proponent of art-house film, proving the perfect dichotomy to build a campaign upon.

The visual series honors the “Givenchy sitting” style of black and white portraiture, a celebration of strength, wit and an innate sense of elegance. Evoking the memories of Paris and New York in the nineties (Rampling is Paris-based, while Jacobs is a proud New York native), photographer Craig McDean lenses the icons under the artistic guidance of the House’s Creative Director, the exceptional Clare Waight Keller.

As striking as the portraits are, perhaps most exciting (and entertaining) are the videos accompanying them. Rampling – dressed in her signature androgynous style – offers Marc Jacobs a master class in what she does best: acting. With her cool air and ineffable nonchalance, she plays foil to Jacobs’ extravagant, tongue-in-cheek take on femininity using the Meisner technique (an acting style whereby repetition is employed to reveal inner dialogues and feelings). At one point, however, she loses her “cool,” slapping him, making for a highly amusing few minutes of cinema.

 

This season’s footwear also plays surreal cameo roles, as a telephone, for example. Rampling answers a sculptural Givenchy heel before handing it to Jacobs who says into the heel-phone, “I can’t talk right now darling. I’m having an acting lesson,” before tossing it onto the floor.

A brilliant and humorous montage tapping the individualism and iconoclasm of the House, Marc Jacobs and Charlotte Rampling do a wonderful job forming “the iconic Givenchy couple.”