Taking a stylish and cinematic approach, DKNY‘s spring campaign features Lila Moss as the new global face of the brand.
In the campaign, the 22-year-old Moss appears in scenes that are inspired by legendary films that showcase New York City as a vibrant backdrop. Moss plays the main character and the campaign allows her to embody different roles.
Moss, who has modeled for Marc Jacobs Beauty, Victoria’s Secret, Pepe Jeans and Miu Miu among other brands, is a recent transplant to New York City.
For the past two seasons, Kaia Gerber, 23, was the face of DKNY. Last season’s DKNY ads injected New York literature into the world of DKNY, spotlighting passages from iconic books that take place in the city. Among the selection were quotes from “Just Kids” by Patti Smith, “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald and “Bright Lights, Big City” by Jay McInerney.
Moss representing DKNY takes on even more significance because her mother, Kate Moss, appears in the Donna Karan New York spring 2025 campaign, as reported. The mother-daughter connection between these two brands echoes DKNY’s story of origin, when Donna Karan herself drew inspiration from her daughter for the line’s cool, youthful attitude.
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“Lila as the next dynamic face of DKNY exudes energy that embodies our brand’s spirit, resonating with global consumers to create authentic brand connections,” said Jeff Goldfarb, executive vice president at G-III Apparel Group, parent company of DKNY. “This campaign further strengthens our commitment to expanding DKNY’s global presence.”
In the campaign, shot by Mikael Jansson, Moss gives off main character energy in looks that are youthful, yet elevated and feature the “DKNY est. 1989” collection, which revisits iconic pieces from the DKNY archive and reinterprets them in a contemporary way. The collection reveals how styling a boxy striped polo with denim shorts, a vibrant yellow parka over a black jersey dress, or pinstripe suiting worn informally create silhouettes that are sophisticated and streamlined.
Trey Laird was the campaign’s creative director. The ads were styled by Alastair McKimm, with hair by Mark Carasquillo and makeup by Anthony Turner.
In a telephone interview, Laird said he chose Lila Moss for the campaign for two reasons. “I really feel like she’s coming into her own as a young woman, a character, and as a personality as a model. She just moved to New York from London and so she’s a new New Yorker. Even though she’s an English girl, there’s something about a new New Yorker,” he said.
Last season Laird featured Cindy Crawford in the Donna Karan ads, and her daughter Kaia in the DKNY ads. “Even though we didn’t put it out there as a narrative, there’s the back story that Donna started DKNY for her daughter, Gabby. It was sort of this Easter egg, if you know you know, kind of thing. It wasn’t a strategic part of the campaign. It was something nice about that family connection,” said Laird.
He said that they started this “New York Stories” concept last season which focused on books. Gerber has her Library Science book club which has gotten a lot of traction. In that campaign, they celebrated authors inspired by New York. They had DKNY activations with the book club in different markets that were very successful, said Laird. “This season we thought, why not build on that and do it about the love of movies? That’s why you see this cinematic light, and in the video there are vintage clips of movies that have been filmed in New York,” said Laird.
Similar to last season, they have different quotes from filmmakers about how cinematic New York is, and how they’re always inspired to shoot in New York and how New York shows up in films. Jansson shot the video in a cinematic style as if he was making a movie in New York and lit it in a heightened reality way.
“It’s really like Lila is a character in New York,” said Laird. They tried not to literally create any film scenes, but took her to Cinema East in the Village and she was watching movies and eating popcorn. “We’re looking this summer to do some activations in major cities where they will have ‘New York Stories’ movie nights. Just bringing it to life in a way that has some engagement, emotion and storytelling which is so important for brands to have now,” he said.
Laird said it was a great time to shoot Moss because she’s only lived in New York City for about six months. “It’s still fresh to her and exploring new neighborhoods and all the iconic spots. You know when you have that wide-eyed fresh-off-the-bus spirit?” he said. In one scene, they shot down on Wall Street. “It was pouring rain that day, and she was such a great sport and said it would look so much more filmy-y,” and that she’d never been to Wall Street.
He said that Moss did such a great job “and was so fun to work with.”
He said Kate Moss was so excited to see Lila’s pictures, and called and said, ‘How’d she do?”
“She killed it,” responded Laird.
Laird said Lila brought a fresh, youthful image to the ads. “She loves the way you can style everything back to sneakers. Even in the shots where she has on a very tailored pinstripe suit, she wears it like she’s in jeans. It has a relaxed attitude and that was always at the heart of DKNY. DKNY always has something tailored with something denim. What was sweet when she showed up she didn’t look different from how we styled her. She had a leather biker jacket and oversized jeans. And look number two was a biker jacket over a slipdress. She’s like a cool Brit girl,” he said.
In fact, Moss loved the pinstripe suit so much she asked Laird’s team if she could wear it out that night, which she did.
Jacki Bouza, senior vice president of global marketing and communications at G-III Apparel Group, added, “The spring DKNY 2025 campaign represents a pivotal moment, highlighting the brand’s unwavering commitment to creativity, authenticity and accessibility. Launching today on @DKNY social channels, the campaign will debut globally through a diverse media mix, leading with impactful social, digital, premium outdoor, and influencer partnerships.”
The spring 2025 collection is available worldwide on DKNY.com and in select retailers.
