Lil Nas X’s Coach Film and Campaign Encourages ‘Courage to Be Real’ – Rolling Stone

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Lil Nas X has solidified his position in vogue. He has change into the “provocateur,” a title that was by no means self-prescribed however imbued along with his character by his works. The notorious “Devil sneakers” that induced an uproar within the Spring of 2021 pushed boundaries in a means that solely the good Alexander Lee McQueen would perceive, reportedly containing a drop of human blood within the sole of each shoe. His back-to-back appearances, on the Met Gala gilded in Versace armor, opulent Balmain pearls, and victorian Andrea Grossi robes have positioned him as a drive to be reckoned with on the crimson carpet. And now, in a brand new movie by Petra Collins for Coach, Nas finds himself reflecting on a legacy that though simply starting, has the potential to mark him as certainly one of historical past’s best vogue and music legacies.  

To be expressive and unrestricted from company bullshit isn’t a straightforward feat, but Nas finds himself in that lane with each intricate element of his universe.

Titled “Braveness to Be Actual,” the movie finds the brand new Coach world ambassador in a dream-like state that follows his life and cascades by his moments in time. 

“This marketing campaign represents every part I’ve overcome to date,” Nas notes within the model’s press launch. “It’s about strolling into new chapters of life, new experiences, and new variations of myself, and it’s rooted in authenticity and self-expression—two issues I actually care about.”

The movie opens with an aerial shot of Atlanta’s suburbs, a well-known web site and residential to Nas. His current single ‘STAR WALKIN’ calmly fades into the background whereas his phrases, which encapsulate every part he’s and represents in his work, flash throughout the display screen. “My entire profession has been about breaking down doorways” his assertion reads, earlier than he fairly cheekily steps by the door-shaped gateway, wearing a white tank and drop-crotch denim, emblematic of the fashion and tendencies surrounding him throughout these early days in his life.

Because the scene cuts and he opens a brand new door to a band room, acquainted to those that perceive the ideogrammic structure of public colleges, we see his fashion take a shift, now wearing a standard varsity jacket with an outsized silhouette, and the letter “C” emblazoned on the entrance breast. It feels extra trendy, combining tendencies derived from New York styling of the Ninties; the shoulders dropped additional and the waist a bit longer than the normal jacket. 

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In some ways, that is what the gathering represents, mixing Nas’ world and ethos into the historical past and iconography of Coach. 

“My imaginative and prescient for Coach has at all times been to create a vogue world the place individuals be at liberty to specific themselves as they’re,” notes Coach Inventive Director Stuart Vevers. “To carry this imaginative and prescient to life, I used to be thrilled to carry Lil Nas X and Petra Collins along with Coach for the primary time—two artists who’ve modified the world round them by being themselves.”

In the previous few scenes, we see Nas step into the individual the world at the moment is aware of him as—assured, sturdy, and unabashed. “At Coach, we need to encourage individuals to have the boldness to specific themselves and discover all of who they’re—to have the braveness to be actual,” states Sandeep Seth, International CMO and North America President of Coach, and mirrored within the movie, as Nas arms his doppelganger a leather-based jacket as if to instigate a self-aware turning level. His ego is now stronger and extra self-aware than ever earlier than. 

As a last act, he lands on stage in a pale peony pink swimsuit and floor-length fur coat, a crowd of a whole lot of hundreds set earlier than him, a declaration of his current and his future.

“The marketing campaign we’re introducing right this moment is the primary chapter of our Braveness To Be Actual mission, and the embodiment of the values Coach has championed for generations,” Seth closes within the press launch. “Created with Lil Nas X, an artist who has courageously paved new paths for others, the movie tells the story of the challenges many people face in our journeys of self-discovery, and the way perception in your self and a willingness to take dangers can encourage others to do the identical.”