High-end fashion and hand-drawn animation are really coming together this holiday season.
After Prada unveiled their holiday campaign “Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand,” which featured work from legendary Disney animator John Pomeroy appearing alongside Sadie Sink, Maya Hawke, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chen Haoyu and Luther Ford, Christian Dior has unveiled its own holiday campaign via a fully animated short film, “Christian Dior’s Night in Color,” directed by the Academy Award-winning Sylvain Chomet and featuring voice work from Robert Pattinson, Josh O’Connor, Greta Lee, LaKeith Stanfield and Rihanna.
The delightful short film is set in 1949 and imagines the fabled designer (voiced by Louis Garrel) facing an impossible Christmas task – make a new dress for Marlene Dietrich (Camille Cottin). The production, you see, was set to film in black-and-white. And now it’s in color! Dior works through the night to create a new gown, inspired by the legendary Junon design. (The short is based in part on the real-life friendship between the couturier and the actress.) O’Connor plays a talking chair. Rihanna is a magic Christmas star (yes, she says, “Shine bright … like a Christmas tree!”)
The short features creative direction by Jonathan Anderson, who, beyond being the creative director of Dior, regularly collaborates with director Luca Guadagnino.
What’s fascinating about both the Prada and Dior campaigns is that it is reinforcing the idea that hand-made animation, created by actual artists, is as high-end as fashion. This is special art that requires all the love and attention that a beautiful gown does. AI slop, noticeable a mile away, is cheap and common, unworthy of refined taste or any attention, really.
Chomet’s last film was “A Magnificent Life,” a playful look at the life and art of French filmmaker and playwright Marcel Pagnol, which was released last year for Oscar consideration before getting a wider release earlier this year. He also contributed the animated prologue to Todd Phillips’ 2024 feature “Joker: Folie à Deux.” Currently, Chomet is working on a follow-up of sorts to “The Triplets of Belleville.”
