Longchamp Campaign Spotlights Burgeoning Ready-to-Wear

CLOTHES CALL: Longchamp’s next campaign shines the spotlight on the leather goods house’s burgeoning women’s ready-to-wear line – along with those covetable bags. Shot in Los Angeles by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggot, the striking photo series features Kate Moss and Sasha Pivovarova against a retro green wall dressed in pieces from its 12-piece spring collection. Focused on outerwear, the line ranges from a silk and cotton blouse to a sporty linen trench in the house’s iconic LM horse print. “The ideas is to create key items you can mix with everything,” said Sophie Delafontaine, Longchamps’ artistic director. Codes from the house’s leather goods lines surface across the designs, distributed in Longchamp’s 100 doors worldwide, such as bamboo toggles and leather trims.
While some previous campaigns have shown Moss in her birthday suit, with only a large Longchamp bag for modesty, Longchamp’s spring take resembles classic fashion editorial. “Today, handbags have become so much a part of the fashion world,” said managing director Jean Cassegrain, “It’s important we have a line of ready-to-wear to express our fashion personality.” He noted, however, that clothing represents less than 5 percent of its business. The campaign breaks in a range of February glossies, with no change in budgets versus the first half of 2007. “We are lucky to be a fully family-owned business. When we talk of a timeline it’s not in terms of the next quarter, but [rather] a long-term view,” said Cassegrain. Coming in January is a “making of” movie about the campaign for the Longchamp Web site, which receives more than 300,000 monthly hits.