Luxury Brands Ignite Autumn Winter 2025 Campaigns with Immersive Storytelling and Innovative Shopping

The Autumn/Winter 2025 campaign season is unfolding rapidly, with high-end brands taking centre stage and many actively forging strong thematic connections between their catwalk shows and their promotional campaigns. Among these, Stella McCartney is not only launching her new campaign but also unveiling an innovative streaming shopping initiative as an integral part of her seasonal offering.

Stella McCartney's campaign, titled ‘Laptop to Lapdance’, features Eva Mendes and aims to encapsulate the brand’s day-to-night house codes. First presented during Paris Fashion Week, it is envisioned as a "wardrobe for the working woman – celebrating her at all stages of her life." The campaign is set within ‘StellaCorp’, an "imagined material innovation company pioneering the next generation of cruelty-free alternatives," highlighting the brand's commitment to sustainable practices. Eva Mendes will also lead the immersive, interactive digital shopping session, ‘Shop With Stella: Winter 2025’, set to stream via the brand’s website from September 15th. This marks "the first in a new series for the British designer," aiming to pioneer "an innovative experience for global audiences to engage and shop." Complementing Mendes, the campaign also showcases an array of talent including Natalia Vodianova, Amelia Gray, Karolina Spakowski, Haojie Qi, Song Ah Woo, Angelina Kendall, Yilan Hua, Agel Akol, Caitlin Soetendal, Claire Marie, Victoria Fawole, and Hanna Leszek, all of whom graced the Winter 2025 fashion show in March.

For Burberry, the new season’s campaign is a deep dive into the rich fabrics and grand interiors that served as the primary inspiration for Daniel Lee’s collection for the Burberry Winter 2025 show. Daniel Lee stated, “We wanted to bring the collection to life and to tell the story behind all those incredible textiles.” The campaign, masterfully shot by Sam Rock, transports viewers to the drawing rooms and grounds of Thomas Ripley’s Palladian masterpiece, Wolterton Hall, allowing the imagery to directly recall the architectural and textural inspirations behind the collection. The cast includes notable British actor Rupert Everett, model and artist Jeny Howorth, and Luther Ford, known for his portrayal of Prince Harry in ‘The Crown’. They are joined by models Lina Zhang, Assa Baradji, Tristan Watkins, Leon Keenan, and Iris Lasnet, who made her runway debut in the show. In line with Burberry’s refreshed focus, outerwear plays a starring role, featuring raincoats, quilted jackets, a classic car coat, and an abundance of knitwear, all subtly referencing historic tapestries.

Dsquared2’s new campaign, in stark contrast, channels the energy of a "wild night out." The visual narrative conjures images of "a bare leg stepping from a black limousine. A stolen kiss on the dance floor. A blur of red neon lights in a graffitied bathroom. A flash of crystals and denim." This dynamic vision was directed by Mert & Marcus, with creative direction by Dean and Dan Caten in partnership with their long-time collaborator Giovanni Bianco. The campaign is designed to "extend the epic scale and nightlife narrative of the runway show," celebrating "30 iconic years of Dsquared2’s one-of-a-kind vision." It imagines a "convergence of the personalities and provocateurs who populate the Dsquared2 archive, brought to life by both longtime muses and fierce new faces." The imagery adopts a "starkly stylish visual direction," utilizing a direct, black-and-white photographic perspective to capture "moments of connection and celebration amid the ecstatic chaos of an all-night rager." Leading the eclectic cast are Irina Shayk, Alex Consani, and Victor Perez, alongside a collection of "style mavericks who aren’t afraid to get sweaty in their nice clothes." The campaign powerfully conveys that "the whirlwind energy of this unforgettable night radiates in many directions, but it all comes back to Dsquared2: the name that says it all."

Valentino’s Alessandro Michele has revisited the profound topics explored in the AW25 show, ‘Le Méta Théâtre Des Intimités’, continuing to question the intricate relationship between identity and robing practices. Shot by Glen Luchford, Michele elaborated on the campaign's setting: “Here comes the public bathroom again: a counter-place where private and relational dimension mingle, where the visible challenges the invisible, where decency collides with guilty pleasure and exposure flirts with occultation. It’s a liminal space that, in this campaign, becomes enriched with new bodies, gazes and encounters, becoming an unfailing scene of possibilities.” He mused, “It was like imagining a life after the show: how many other existences could that uncanny and choral space host? How many other unspoken desires could take shape there? And which different intimacies would be reflected in its corridors?” The campaign thus serves as a compelling continuation of the show's philosophical exploration.