New Stephen Webster and Rankin collaboration
By Claire Roberts.
Kate Moss. The Rolling Stones. Queen Elizabeth II. Tony Blair. A
seemingly random group of famous faces, united by the fact that
they've been "Rankined" - the not entirely technical term for
having your portrait taken by world-famous photographer Rankin.
Renowned for his ability to capture the essence of his subjects,
rather than simply photographing them, Rankin has shot major ad
campaigns for Nike, Longchamp and Rolls-Royce alongside his
extensive portfolio of portraiture. This month, however, news of an
especially exciting collaboration arrived in my inbox: Rankin's new
autumn/winter ad campaign for edgy jeweller Stephen
Webster, featuring the new Forget Me Knot fine jewellery collection. What
would happen when the Brit bad boy of photography and the Brit bad
boy of jewellery design got together for a session in the
studio?
Playing to Rankin's strength of exploring the possibilities of
photographing people, the result is sculptural and sensual,
contrasting the sinuous curves of the body with the striking lines
of Webster's jewellery. The black-and-white images are so detailed
that you can see the texture of the model's skin. Rather than
airbrushing the pores out, they have become an integral part of the
pictures.
The pieces from the Forget Me Knot collection appear in colour
and take centre stage, on first glance more traditionally elegant
than Webster's trademark designs but still bearing those two
elements that have become his trademark: beauty and danger. Fluid
Cascade earrings set with barbed diamonds; a band of white diamonds
wound seemingly at random around the finger, finished off with the
same barbed detailing; a dazzling cuff set with black and white
diamonds and Stephen Webster's signature turquoise Crystal Haze
stones. The campaign is going global, so watch out for this month's
hottest collaboration in all the top fashion magazines.
Forget Me Knot is available at Stephen Webster's flagship store in Mayfair and
the Stephen Webster concession in Harrods.