Straightforward portraiture: the new LOEWE global campaign, shot by David Sims,is a blunt, crudely reductionist effort. Doing away with props and artifice,the photographic gaze focuses on the subjects, and what they are wearingas an extension of who they are and how they want to be perceived.

Actor Daniel Craig and LOEWE Global Brand Ambassador Greta Lee are pictured againsta white background, looking defiantly into the camera. Craig brings to life the work of artistRichard Hawkins, who inspired the collection, through a collage of personalities. He wearsthe knitted jumpers, the cargos, the leather blousons but also the boots, trainers andembroidered pants that are key, Americana-inflected pieces of the collection, with muchbravado and a confrontational stance.

Greta Lee, meanwhile, is captured sitting on a white stool, standing up, reclining on the floor.With unkempt hair and no make-up she looks like she came on set a few minutes beforethe pictures were being taken. Her presence is somehow enigmatic; her natural poseshighlight the billowy volumes, the tension between structure and fluidity of the items sheinterprets. Her naked beauty fits the masculine tailoring she dons, as the stark lightingbrings out the botanical andtrompe l’oeilprints as though they were alive.

The idea of blunt portraiture carries over in the still lives. The embroidered Squeeze bag,as well the Flamenco Purse in mellow nappa, and Campo biker boots are pictured fromabove, like they were being cataloged, in curated compositions in which items are placedover coloured prints by David Sims with surrounding objects - keys, a stone, a plant,a candle - adding layer of mystery. The men’s accessories, instead, look like they were shotin the bathroom of the character Daniel Craig interprets, adding another facet to thedepiction of his personality: the Puzzle Fold tote in vivid green is laid in the washbasin,the Pebble Bucket bag behind the door over the bathrobe, the Squeeze XL bag on the floor,and the Groove round sunglasses inside a glass.

With its crude directness, the campaign is a study on how characters and their clothes are intimately related. For more information on LOEWE FW24 campaign go to www.loewe.com