Since turning her back to modeling and becoming an actress, Emma Laird has limited her fashion show appearances to the front row.
Having attended several Louis Vuitton shows, the “Mayor of Kingstown” star agreed to step back in front of the lens for the French fashion house’s cruise 2024 campaign, lensed by Jamie Hawkesworth on the picturesque Italian island of Isola Bella.
Marking her first campaign for the brand, Laird — toting a GO-14 handbag — joins models Mica Argañaraz, Valentina Castro, Ida Heiner and Chu Wong in the ads, which capture the romantic mood of the small island located on Lake Maggiore.
Nicolas Ghesquière, Vuitton’s artistic director of women’s collections, staged his cruise show there in May against the backdrop of Palazzo Borromeo, a celebrated example of Italian Baroque architecture that has been owned by the Borromeo family for some four centuries.
Laird joined guests at the show including Alicia Vikander, Cate Blanchett, Gemma Chan, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Stone, Oprah Winfrey, Catherine Deneuve and Jaden Smith.
Scouted by Models 1 agency at the age of 18, Laird modeled for brands including Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and Benetton before pivoting toward acting during the coronavirus pandemic.
She first connected with Vuitton at the brand’s dinner for friends of the house at Nobu in Malibu two years ago. Since then she has racked up appearances at its shows, even as her film and television career has taken off.
Named one of Variety magazine’s Ten Brits to Watch for 2021, Laird appeared in Apple TV+’s “The Crowded Room” alongside Tom Holland, Amanda Seyfried and Sasha Lane and made her feature film debut this fall in Kenneth Branagh’s “A Haunting in Venice,” which also stars Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan and Tina Fey.
She has several indie movies in the works.
The Vuitton cruise campaign was set to break on the brand’s social channels on Friday, with global print to follow from Nov. 21.
