What happens when a style icon and a legendary photographer join forces and collaborate on a project? A creative masterpiece. Alexa Chung and Peter Lindbergh have come together for Longchamp’s 2016 spring ad campaign to present a gorgeous and unique endeavor. With Paris, the city of love, as its background, the campaign is the ultimate representation of femininity and emotion.

Longchamp’s new collection features timeless bags, beautifully depicted behind the lens of the famed photographer. Why Lindbergh? Simply because he has an uncanny ability to capture the true personality of his model. Suzy Menkes would describe his work as looking into “each person’s unvarnished soul, however familiar or famous the sitter”. Not only do his images perfectly seize Chung’s natural sparkle and finesse, but they also discover new realms of deep-rooted emotions and undying passion.

Here stands Alexa, tall and majestic, bearing the tile of the sensual “Parisienne”, her silence deafening and eloquent under the arcades of the Palais Royal. She tastefully dons a belted trench in soft beige lambskin, one of the season’s ready-to-wear pieces, and of course the symbolic Longchamp bag of the season, Pénélope. And here she goes again in the Tuileries garden, but this time she slips into a colour-block shift dress paired with an electric blue and black version of the Pénélope bag. A third visual pictures her in a Longchamp fluid silk blouse with Le Pliage Héritage Tricolore combining the contrasting colors of pink, black and white in a graphic interpretation.

Longchamp’s creative director Sophie Delafontaine justified the featuring of Paris as the background by linking it to the brand’s heritage and origins. Illustrating so adamantly the Longchamp woman, who is considered to be active and dynamic, always walking through the city’s hectic streets in a most graceful manner, all day, every day, much like Alexa Chung in the campaign’s mini-film, which was released on social media and www.longchamp.com.

Cindy Menassa