I love when the internet becomes a rabbit hole and one delightful discovery leads to another and another. That’s what happened last week when I saw the Man About Town skateboarding video of Kilian Martin that I posted on Editor’s Chair (it’s still floating around in my daydreams, by the way). I loved the video and paused at the credits to see who was behind it, which led me to Franck Durand, who art directed the video.

First thing I noticed is that I love his logo and font! Then from snooping around in his portfolio, I found out he also art directed the Kate Moss for Isabel Marant print ads I love (and posted on Editor’s Chair a while ago)! He has also art directed tons of ads for brands like Celine, Balmain, and Et Vous, and I’m crazy about their style. The photos have a wonderful combination of intensity and personality with a heavy dose of cool, and the layouts are so wonderfully clean.

Isn’t it interesting to see these brands’ ads all together, where you see the commonalities, and hence the perspective of the independent art director, rather than just the brand?

PS- Franck Durand is also the husband of Emmanuelle Alt! (Thanks to Kellina for commenting to let me know.) Very interesting. Totally makes sense. I feel like the same kind of cool that Emmanuelle simply oozes can be found in these photos. The man’s got a type (of cool).

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