#BTS New Look

Feel it, it is here: our July campaign drops this Thursday! And while some would like to think that there’s a team of Elves that makes this stuff happen while they’re asleep, the truth is that a lot of work goes into these campaigns. Take this last one for example, which featured make-ups, break ups, births, robberies and a bunch of other drama that made up the story…  

The Photographer

Our Style Director, Tammy Tinker, had bumped into photographer Ulrich Knoblauch while taking her dogs for their morning stroll. Later that day when she asked him to confirm the shoot, he politely declined, saying that his wife had gone into labour. Which wasn’t a disaster – in fact, we’re really happy for Ulrich – kudos to you, man! Tammy simply pushed out her dates, and the shoot finally did happen.

The last time that we shot with Ulrich Knoblauch was our first campaign with our new team. The Inbetweeners was shot on location in Kalk Bay, and Ulrich was high off of the fact that he had just finished his book, which is all naked innocence, rivers and beaches. We asked how his wife feels about his work and Ulrich told us that she’s been there since day one. That most of the time she’s on set with him, sitting on the beach and reading her New Yorker or whatever. Now these two are paging feverishly through What To Expect When You’re Expecting… a belated happy Father’s Day to Ulrich!

The Location

Tammy was running around scouting numerous locations, which proved tougher than you’d think. She needed something that was international looking and wouldn’t be tied to one location, like, “Hey, that’s Llandudno!” After the shoot got delayed she went on a road trip and found a lamb, which she quickly fell in love with. Unfortunately by the time Ulrich was ready to shoot the lamb had grown into a sheep and so they had to go back to the beach. We won’t tell you which beach, take a look for yourself and tell us in the comment box below. Winner gets one million internet points!

The Crew

There was no makeup artist.  She didn’t show up. But Ulrich doesn’t like shooting models with a lot of makeup anyway, and the models were such natural beauties that it didn’t make a difference. Look at those pics. Flawless. Gorgeous.

The Models

“We started our day with no male model and were getting desperate, not knowing where this young guy was,” says Tammy. “When he finally showed up he told us that he had been mugged. His Nokia phone and his cigarettes were stolen. Two guys ambushed him, one from the front and other guy from the back. He was quite relaxed about it though. He just came in and asked if he could use our landline. Very chilled.” The irony is that we’d just left our gritty Woodstock address for our new swish corporate tower on the Foreshore, a building under such tight security that you need to sign in, input a Captcha code and say the secret password every time you step outside for a cigarette. Go figure.

The Intern

Shout out to our intern, Sthembile Ntshangasa, who was a superstar. She helped with driving around, did all the behind-the-scenes photographs – and just delivered. Having completed her studies at the Design Academy of Fashion in Woodstock, Sthem graduated last year and decided to join us because “I feel like I can grow here. There’s so much to do here.” This was Sthem’s first time on a shoot, where she was pretty much a glorified babysitter – making sure everyone had their meals, that all the clothes were in order, shooting behind the scenes pics… “Everyone was so busy,” says Sthem, “so I just stood at the back and tried to capture everything. Keeping things simple.”

The Brand

Established in 1969, New Look has become the number one selling brand in the UK online and boasts 1000 stores worldwide. High trend, small spend, and as an icon of the British high street you can find everything here from prints and pattern to collaboration pieces. You can find out more, here.