The Louvre has added another famous face to its walls and, unlike Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, you don’t need to queue to see it. In fact, you don’t even need a ticket. The supine figure of Cardi B, Balenciaga’s brand new campaign star for autumn/winter, is currently hung on the institution’s exterior wall for all of Paris. Announcing the collaboration yesterday, the singer posted on Instagram: ‘Ya lookin at the face of a @Balenciaga campaign! I remember how I felt seeing myself on a billboard in NYC Times Square but PARIS! Wish I was there to see it in person!’
The super-glam campaign shows her lying at the bottom of a plastic slide, wearing a slinky black gown and razor-sharp bob, surrounded by scattered children’s toys.
This is the first time that the brand, under the creative directorship of Demna Gvasalia, has chosen a celebrity to front one of its campaigns. Gvaslia’s last campaign showed models shot against a royal blue background - the very same hue, a nod to the European Union’s flag, that covered his show space for SS20 - with phrases such as ‘Love Is For Everyone’ and ‘Power Of Dreams’ stamped just above the block-lettered logo.