Actresses Zoë Kravitz and Isabella Ferrari are featured in a series of new paintings created by Italian artist Francesco Clemente as part of Saint Laurent’s summer 2025 campaign. The portraits were commissioned by Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello. The Belgian fashion designer said of Clemente in a press statement, “I could perfectly imagine my collection being portrayed by his poetic use of colors.”
The Saint Laurent campaign features Clemente’s portraits of Kravitz and Ferrari, along with works featuring models Penelope Ternes and Ajus Samuel. Each painting portrays its subject wearing a runway look from the Spring/Summer 2025 collection, including brocade jackets, lace ruffled blouses, and sharply tailored suits. The works, typical of Clemente’s Neo-Expressionist style, focus on femininity. “There is only one language of form, and it is the same as the language of tenderness,” Clemente said in a press release.
Born in Naples in 1952, Clemente became known in the 1970s and ’80s for his ephemeral portraits and exploration of contemporary identity. After relocating to New York in 1981, he quickly became acquainted with the likes of Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, among others. His past collaborators include Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, American poet Allen Ginsberg, and filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, with whom he worked on the 1993 adaptation of Great Expectations. His most recent solo exhibition was mounted by Lévy Gorvy Dayan in New York in fall 2024.
For previous campaigns, Vaccarello has tapped British fashion photographer David Sims, German artist Juergen Teller, and New York–based photographer Gray Sorrenti. The French fashion label has frequently collaborated with artists. In 2023, Saint Laurent supported Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang’s fireworks piece When the Sky Blooms with Sakura (2023) as a tribute to the 2011 earthquake victims.
In recent years, fashion brands have increasingly partnered with artists and supported art programs around the world. Earlier this month, Loewe announced a show of artist-designed teapots in Milan, coinciding with Salone del Mobile 2025. Meanwhile, Dior staged a show for its spring/summer 2025 haute couture collection alongside artwork by Indian artist Rithika Merchant, an alum of The Artsy Vanguard.
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