FRAME STEPS OUTSIDE THE BOARDERS IN THEIR CREATIVE COLLABORATION WITH BRUCE WEBER
BY KENNETH RICHARD
There is an art in letting go.
Fashion loves collaboration: celebrities team with design houses, brands team with brands, and more often than not these collaborations result in extended product lines with the goal of drawing lines outside stores. One can look at the recent Louis Vuitton x Supreme or Coach x Selena Gomez as recent examples.
But what one never sees is a house allowing another creative director, artist, or photographer to reinterpret their communication messaging in their own voice and hand. They never give away control of the brands most valuable asset, it’s messaging. Leave it to artisans, founders, and creative directors Erik Torstensson and Jens Grede to do just that in their latest Frame collaboration with Bruce Weber that is all about letting go.
Having grown up on Weber’s images of the 80s and 90s the pair sent Weber a box of denim asking nothing of him except to “send back his own interpretation and point of view on denim today.” Their only agenda was to work with a personal hero, who helped to forge their ideals of imagery and lifestyle.
In essence they let go of the one item in which every house seeks to control, their image. (It should be noted that Erik Torstensson has personally lensed every campaign until now). Starting with an admiration that fostered into a friendship, the duo set out to team with Weber on a project that was never going to be a conventional commercial arrangement; with no season, no deadline, no perimeters in mind. They unlocked all the handcuffs and Weber took it from there.
The result is a testament of creative trust on both parties and a hint of marketing genius on the side of the Frame owners. Obviously they partnered with experience in Weber and simply didn’t hand their brand over to just anybody. But they did indeed hand it over. And that is about understanding the real asset of the brand is in its messaging, and the power of collaboration is about more than product and Instagram followers. So if you love your brand, it is worth considering the power in the saying “If you love something set it free. If it comes back it’s yours. If not, it was never meant to be.” This freedom came back 10 fold and with Elaine Irwin no less.
Photographer | Bruce Weber
Models | Elaine Irwin, Maia Rivero, Audrey Harrelson, Charlotte Manhire, Garrett Taber, Jacob Dooley, Tristian Thevenot, Dusty Lachowicz
Stylist | Ana Brillembourg
Location | Miami, Florida
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