July 16, 2019 |
Every Londoner loves a good trip to the Barbican every now and then. With its brutalist architecture and scenic water features, it makes the perfect location for an afternoon stroll with a loved one, a time-killer when you’ve got nothing to do with your mates or a perfect opportunity to spruce up your Instagram feed. Dame Viv and her partner Andreas Kronthaler are Barbican fanatics themselves, so much so the duo decided it would be the backdrop for their AW19 campaign. Their ongoing collaborator, Juergen Teller, made his way from the North Kensington studio and east-bound, bringing a stellar cast of models on the way. The campaign features the new super Duckie Thot in a morning workout routine, Andreas himself looking bridal in a floor-length veil and Dame Viv channeling Grant Wood’s American Gothic. A pitchfork firmly gripped in her hand, with a windswept beehive only she could pull off. “We love the Barbican, we go there on a regular basis over all these years, mostly to listen to concerts,” explains the pair. “It’s a place which always surprises you – the building is exciting, there’s always something new to discover.”
The AW19 collection signalled a more commercial twist on some of the brand’s most experimental shapes – ripping jackets apart and distorting them back together again and calculatingly clashing prints and brocade fabrics. The only dilemma we have now is what to do first: head to the Barbican for a quick day out or run to the store to spend, spend, spend?
