Role Models Not Top Models: Fashion Brand Camaieu Reinvents Itself with Daring Ad Campaign

French ready-to-wear fashion brand Camaieu has relaunched with a TV and cinema campaign that doesn’t show a single item of its clothes. The shock tactics are part of a complete reinvention of the brand created by Paris agency Buzzman. The TV and cinema spot shot by Birth director Jan Gleie features real women wearing their uniforms - obstetrician, mechanic, pilot, lawyer, chef, beekeeper, firewoman - rather than Camaieu fashion. 

Following three weeks of casting in Marseilles, the women were filmed at work with particular care that they were not objectified but rather seen as powerful and charismatic. The point being they are represented in their daily actions and essence rather than by their appearance. The Camaieu spot’s powerful soundtrack is Easy by indie band Son Lux. 

For Jan Gleie, it was important that the women were not filmed alone to demonstrate that they play an important role both at work and in their personal environment.  

The award-winning director said: “We represent them in a way that makes it clear that they are part of a larger picture, relating to those around them. They are of course hardworking, dedicated to their profession, but they can also be a girlfriend, a lover, a mother, a colleague, a best friend, a wife, a sister. They are special women in the work they do, but also and above all they are women we can relate to.”

Camaieu’s rebranding project includes updating its logo and graphic identity, introducing new fashion-forward clothes lines, and modernising its 512 shops by retail design studio Carré Noir. 

The film for the French market concludes with the line "A la ville, cette femme porte du Camaieu" (In town, this woman wears Camaieu). 60”, 45”, 30” and 15” TV spots are accompanied by poster, digital and social campaigns.