Just weeks before the fashion house’s AW16 menswear show, Louis Vuitton have unveiled the star of their SS16 women’s ad campaign: Jaden Smith. Nicolas Ghesquière, the house’s artistic director, announced the news on Instagram last night, posting an image from the campaign. In this image, Smith poses in a moto jacket and metal embroidered skirt from the SS16 women’s collection, along with leather gauntlets.
It’s not the first time the rapper, who released This Is The Album last year, has been photographed in clothes generally considered women’s apparel. In May of last year, he accompanied Hunger Games actress and former Dazed cover star Amandla Stenberg to her prom wearing a black tuxedo jacket with a white skirt. Once again, Smith is blurring the gender lines in fashion.
This comes just days after Louis Vuitton revealed the star of their Series 4 ad campaign: the character and protagonist of role-playing video game Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning. In these images, made in collaboration with Square Enix artist and designer Tetsuya Nomura, Lightning (like Smith) poses in the SS16 women’s collection – perfectly encapsulating Ghesquière’s cyberpunk vision in the process.