Sabrina Carpenter slips on Biggie Smalls’ sunglasses for Versace

Sabrina Carpenter might have ditched Barry Keoghan, but she’s just scored a big campaign with Versace. The “Espresso” singer stars alongside NBA basketball player Alexandre Sarr in a new ad for the house’s iconic ‘Biggie’ sunglasses, as named after Biggie “The Notorious B.I.G” Smalls back in the early 90s. Photographed by Rosie Marks, Carpenter and Sarr are captured in a series of stripped-back images that let the sunglasses and their chunky gold Medusas do the work. 

The glasses themselves got their name after Smalls wore the style in the video for 1994 track “One More Chance”. At a time when fashion was largely shunning the hip-hop artists who wore their clothes, Gianni Versace embraced rappers like Biggie, and even invited Tupac Shakur to walk the runway back in 1995. With the ‘Biggie’ sunglasses, the house honours a music legend who brought its glasses to a whole new audience and helped cement its status in the pop culture canon. 

As for Carpenter’s new role as Versace muse, it makes total sense given Donatella has a history of casting peroxide-blonde doppelgangers in her campaigns |(remember those Lady Gaga and Xtina ads?). “I am thrilled to have Sabrina and Alexandre join our Versace family in their fabulous Biggie glasses,” she explains of the collab. “From Notorious B.I.G to the extraordinary talent of today, the Biggie community are rebels, groundbreakers and champions of the true Versace spirit.”

Click through the gallery above for a closer look at the campaign, and revisit all the times rappers ruled the runway in the gallery below.