Martin Scorsese, (in)arguably the greatest living American director, stars in the new Kith & Armani campaign, and their accompanying promo video is just as Scorsesesque as you’d hope for, and then some.
Soon to be 82 years young, the rapid-fire-talking New Yorker, thankfully, doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, not just physically, but in his creative output, and this latest collaboration between himself and one of the most iconic fashion houses of all time gives a reassuring nod to those of us who hope for many more movies from Mr. Mean Streets.
The Kith & Giorgio Armani collection will then release November 13 at Kith and Giorgio Armani stores in the US and Canada, as well as Kith.com, CA.Kith.com and the Kith App.
When admiring this campaign, however, one is immediately reminded of the YSL campaign from 2023, titled ‘The Director’s Cut’, featuring Jim Jarmusch, David Cronenberg, and Pedro Almodovar, see below.
For the average person, assuming they’re not a total film geek, the three men above may not be as familiar as Scorsese, who even the uninformed bystander tends to recognise. But why this campaign stands out isn’t because they’re all featuring directors, but rather that they’re featuring old people, instead of your stereotypical youth-gushing beauty advert.
Tom Ford himself, just a few years ago, had a campaign titled ‘Forever Love’ which featured some rather suggestive photos of very old, albeit very attractive, men and women in the campaign.
“I am tired of the cult of youth. The cultural rejection of old age, the stigmatisation of wrinkles, grey hair, of bodies furrowed by the years,” said Tom Ford. “I am fascinated by Diana Vreeland, Georgia O’Keeffe and Louise Bourgeois, women who have let time embrace them without ever cheating. Society today condemns this, me, I celebrate it. For this session of fine jewellery, I imagined a man and a woman who had been together for a long time, faithful to each other and always incandescent with desire.”
This isn’t the first time Kith has preferred the older variety, as they’ve also featured Wesley Snipes, Bryan Cranston, and many other legends well over sixty years old, and proof is in the pudding: we, the audience, dig it. Because after all, who cares what an eighteen year old is wearing? What do they know? Someone like Scorsese, who was born before WWII even ended, has seen a thing or two in the everchanging current of trends. But trends come and go, and Scorsese is still here, and in 2024, he’s more relevant than ever, and he’s being written about by a writer over five decades younger than him.
That is someone whose opinion should be trusted.
“Youth is wasted on the young,” said George Bernard Shaw. Its ephemeral excitement lasts only as long as a ripe avocado. But age and some wrinkles, especially from some of the greatest artists of all time, make for a far more interesting campaign.
Can we get Paul McCartney in one soon?
Please keep this party going.
