Diggin’ this surreal and totally retro spot for Matthew Williamson’s H&M line, which Jeremy Dante was kind enough to throw into our periphery.
It’s mod, loungey and aesthetic. Focus on the clothes while your eyes feast on imagery that feeds off ’80s decadence (the supermodel heyday), the nouvelle vague, The Shining (–unsettling triplets!), and possibly Puppet Master. (Seriously. That little puppet woman was creepy creepy.)
What’s neat is that the ad traverses the tightrope of kitsch without falling over. There’s this ridic Prince-meets-Thriller moment where Williamson rises out of the earth, like a self-righteous vampire king, and wins the fawning attention of all the defecting change-seeking femmes. (Compelling. Is it possible Williamson’s a Russian military vet?)
The ambient music, We Need a Change, was composed exclusively for the spot by Malcolm Pardon and Fredrik Rinman with lyricist Johan Renck.
