If we had to guess who would be the SS15 face of Givenchy our money would have been on a Kardashian-Jenner. But Julia Roberts? That's not a casting we saw coming. For SS15 Riccardo Tisci wanted an "honest" campaign to celebrate strong women, using his iconic pieces. The result is a poker-faced Julia Roberts wearing an oversized tuxedo with no makeup. It's seriously fierce.
Riccardo Tisci said to Style.comof his new campaign star: "I’m literally shocked, happy shocked. Julia, she’s one of the few [stars] that you don’t know much about. She doesn’t do fashion shoots, she doesn’t do covers, she doesn’t do all of that. But still, she’s one of the most well-known people in the world. When I asked, I was very surprised that she said yes."
The Mert & Marcus campaign is a stronger look than we're used to from Julia - she purposely doesn't smile. Riccardo explained the concept to Style.com: "Sometimes you shoot someone who’s so popular, you try to make it glam, but I really wanted her the way she arrived: black jacket, men’s shirt, jeans, which is really what we have in common. No hair, no makeup. I said to her, “Because your smile is so beautiful and everybody knows you for that, I think it should be no smile,” and she was really cool. She said we should go for it."
Julia Roberts wearing Givenchy [Getty]
So how did Julia feel about wearing no makeup on set? Riccardo explained: "She’s very cool. Of course, she’s conscious of herself. When you’re a well-known designer, you’re paranoid about your looks, so imagine when you’re so well-loved by everybody. She saw the first picture and she liked it, she said because “I can see myself, my real self.” Which was the concept, not to try to make her glamorous. We wanted her more cool, more masculine, more real, more American, if I can say, more urban, more New Yorker."
He added: "And it was so easy, so fast. The fastest shoot I’ve done in my life. It was a really nice mood on the set, you know, because we’re family, we’re friends. She felt at home—that I think really helped."
Julia is very selective with her red carpet appearances, only attending awards shows and required premieres and junkets. As for brand work, she has been a brand ambassador for Lancome since 2010. She does have a relationship with Riccardo Tisci, as she wore Givenchy to the Oscars last year and a black Givenchy tuxedo to the premiere of August: Osage County.