A fashion campaign came buzzing through our Instagram feed in truly meta style: Balenciaga’s one

 

Like Yeezy, which drew on a paparazzi-themed format to unveil its Kim Kardashian West clone–themed sixth season, Balenciaga borrowed from a celebrity milieu to set the scene for its Spring 2018 collection.

Well heeled models, including Stella Tennant, played the “no cameras, please!” role, hiding their faces behind bags (logo prominently in sight!), and stepping out of XL black cars.

It’s the classic move pulled by Insta-beloved personalities such as Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Kardashian West herself.

The campaign was photographed by actual French paparazzi and credited to the French wire, Best Image agency. (The Yeezy 6 campaign was released through the American wire, Splash News.) The finishing touch? The blurred-out faces of passersby.

It’s not the first time a concept like this has been executed in the name of fashion

Steven Meisel has applied that tongue-in-cheek point of view to his photographs on several occasions. For the Italian Vogue January 2005 issue, Meisel created an editorial riffing off of the tabloid press, featuring a high-low “stars—they’re just like us” aesthetic.

Later in September 1999, Tim Walker shot a story for Italian Voguein which all the models faces were obscured by their handbags.

And it’s also worth noting that Demna Gvasalia’s Balenciaga has worked from this hyper-literal angle in the past.

For the Spring 2018 menswear campaign, the brand tapped professional portraiture photographer Robbie Augspurger to capture a kitschy mall attitude.

As for this season, Balenciaga went the extra mile, and threw in a stellar accessory to make the concept all the more believable: everyone’s favorite new arm candy, the insanely handsome bodyguard.

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