When then-16-year old dancer-turned-pop-singer Billie Eilish spoke to Female two years ago, she was on the cusp of megastardom. Fresh off of the extreme success of her EP, dont smile at me (yes, still lower caps and no apostrophe) and a star-studded line-up at St Jerome’s Laneway Festival, the young American singer-songwriter was dubbed pop’s next big name.
Eilish’s burgeoning interest in fashion was also rearing its head. Chanel had just invited her to perform at the launch party of the Boy.Friend watch in New York and the idea of a namesake clothing line seemed to be on her mind. Looming fame aside, Eilish was also experimenting with her personal sense of style – just like most teenagers. “I’ll buy from a designer label if I’m getting something huge, like a jacket or a one-off piece, but if it’s normal stuff, why spend a ton of money when you could just as well not, you know? Thrift stores have really nice stuff that’s cooler than most designer stores. That’s not a diss on designers. That’s just a fact: If it looks cool, it looks cool.”
Two years on and Eilish is of the same ethos. Things have changed exponentially on all other fronts – Eilish’s dark blue tresses being one of them – and the now almost-18-year-old has announced the dates for touring her debut album, collaborated with her childhood idol Justin Bieber and fronted her very first major fashion campaign with German luxury label, MCM. Shot by South African photographer Lea Colombo, MCM’s Autumn/Winter 2019 campaign toys with the idea of ‘being in flux’ and is fronted by Gen Z’s biggest stars – like Eilish and Atlanta’s rapper-producer Childish Major.
The genderless collection is a pick’n’mix of personalities as much as it is of looks and features versatile pieces from leather belt bags and bucket hats to cloth beanies and turtlenecks. The result is one that still retains MCM’s logo-driven DNA but in silhouettes that most certainly get the Gen Z stamp of approval. In other words, the campaign champions the idea of self-expression and also technically supports this through the easily interchangeable designs of each piece. In the true spirit of Gen Z, where’s the fun in being boxed in?
Browse the collection above.
