St. Laurent Taps Joni Mitchell To Head New Ad Campaign

As part of their new music project, St. Laurent has tapped aging rocker Joni Mitchell to be the face of their new ad campaign. She joins other women musicians including Courtney Love.

She Wired reports that, "What it means to be beautiful is splashed across television and print each and every day. So many times, everyone is getting it wrong. But sometimes they get it right. Sometimes, they send the message that cool sophistication never goes out of style. That the older we get, the better we get. And that may be why St. Laurent has chosen Joni Mitchell to head up its latest ad campaign."

Dazed Digital notes that the move isn't happening in a vacuum, either. They report that Celine just announced literary hero Joan Didion as the new face of SS15. Both women are over 70 years old, and still luminaries in their field.

Mitchell was photographer in her Bel Air, California home by Hedi Slimane as part of the designer's Saint Laurent Music Project. Slimane has photographed other musicians for the series, including Airel Pink, Kim Gordon and Marilyn Manson.

In the photos, Mitchell wears a Saint Laurent folk tunic and fedora, plus a leather cape custom-made for her by Slimane. They believe Mitchell is a perfect fit for the brand.

Forbes.com adds that "with the likes of Helen Mirren and Diane Keaton, both 69, fronting campaigns for L'Or�al; Jessica Lange, 64, for Marc Jacobs Beauty; Charlotte Rampling, 68, for NARS; and a pack of fashion-forward Italian grandmothers in Gucci's Spring 2015 campaign, brands are proving that style is truly timeless."

They note that Nancy Brenner, who heads her own communications company in New York City and has worked in corporate communications for more than a decade, writes that this so-called "gray dollar" is driving advertisers and marketers to ditch long-held views about the demographics buying their products.

"Who are the customers at Fifth Avenue retailers like Saks or Bergdorf Goodman? Well-turned out women who are in the C-suite and have the means to buy luxury and can carry it off," says Brenner. "It's time retailers realize their customers... are captains of industry, tech start-ups and are servicing the social needs of their communities and roles as caregivers, but we can all aspire to look just as fashionable as Joan and Joni, no matter what age or stage."