After cutting his teeth as a co-founder of Hood By Air, designer Raul Lopez has gone on to further establish himself as one of New York’s most innovative creatives with his own label Luar. 

For his AW19 campaign though, the designer crossed over the Pacific and headed to the streets of Paris to capture a group of young creatives. “Everyone is too afraid to say anything in New York right now,” Lopez explains of the reason behind the move. “I need the spontaneous reactions that Paris provides! It’s what feeds my fire to be more creative.” 

Shot by upcoming Swiss photographer Marc Asekhame, the images see models wearing the AW19 collection among regular passersby on the streets of Paris. “We wanted to capture the beauty of their natural state, as opposed to the very curated posing and styling that dominates the internet right now,” the designer says. “Marc has this way of capturing not just the model but the whole mood of the moment in his photos. He finds and highlights the beauty all around him.”

Captured over three days, the images see four creatives – Ophelie, Dourane, Artur, and DJ and model Dustin Muchuvitz – among the general Parisian public, juxtaposed with images shot in the studio. “People were more concerned about the privacy of their physical space rather than being photographed which was good for us,” the photographer says on shooting unsuspecting members of the public. 

While Paris fuelled his soul for the campaign, Lopez will likely be returning to his home turf come September for the release of his SS20 collection – stay tuned.