Gisele for Vuitton (Bye Uma!)

Happy new year people! Barneys Girl and I have a wonderful and restful week away from blogging and did what we said we will: I went to Taiwan with family, and Barneys Girl got sick and spent the days relaxing. But alas, I can't believe the holidays are coming to an end. Barneys Girl is on the plane (with many fellow students from U of C and NW I hear) back to Chicago right now. And I'm in a panic to get all those 'must-dos' like getting a haircut and facial done before flying back to London this Friday. Anyways......

What a wonderful start to s new season of campaigns! To start off with, Marc Jacobs finally got rid of Uma Thurman (read: yuck yuck yuck to the last few years of boring, celeb Vuitton ads,) and replaced her with ubermodel Gisele (an actual working model!) It was kind of hard to believe at first, and I didn't actually believe the rumours until Gisele actually went to Hong Kong to open the Vuitton flagship store and I saw the new SS06 ads.

"I certainly feel Gisele is iconic and recognised all over the world as Gisele. Also, the clothes were hot and sexy and colourful, and we thought she would exaggerate the strength and the heat of the collection." -Marc Jacobs

From what I've been hearing on forums, people's opinions have been sort of mixed, although to be honest, mostly negative: Some complained about the colors and how it's a bit too 'neon'; Some complained that the style of these Gisele ads are just too similar to the Uma ads; Others blamed the Vuitton SS06 collection was just ugly to begin with, so even Gisele could not make it look beautiful.

Frankly, I'm still too happy it's a non-celeb ad to care how well-designed the ads are. I do think Gisele is the right model to give off that bright and strong vibe Vuitton is giving off this season though. And let's face it, nine out of ten of Vuitton bags become hits with the customers anyways. Here's a little preview to the upcoming campaign: yellow suede for February, perforated monogram for March, printed silk scarf bags for April, denim ones for May and a multicolored fringed number for June. Something for all Vuitton fans to look foward to!