M/M, A Retrospective

Balenciaga Advertising Campaign Fall/ Winter 2001-2002

“This image is the first photograph we ever drew within the context of a glossy magazine. Since we started to rebrand Balenciaga in 1998, when Nicolas Ghesquière was appointed designer of the house, we were always on-set during the production of the images used for the advertising campaigns. For that specific season, we could not be around Inez and Vinoodh in the studio when the image was shot. We art directed the image over the phone. This was not very successful, because when we received the images to be used in the campaign, we thought they were lacking intensity as if some kind of messages were locked in them. ‘The subconscious’ of the images was not accessible to the eye. So we made the decision to draw on the photograph itself to bring it out.”

CREDIT: M/M (Paris) Balenciaga Advertising Campaign Fall/ Winter 2001-2002. Artistic direction and illustration by M/M (Paris), photograph by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Courtesy mmparis.com