RYAN MCGINLEY 'Birds of Prey' film for EDUN A/W12

Birds of prey’ movie by Ryan McGinley for EDUN AW12 campaign






EDUN was born when two passions collided — a love of beautiful clothes and a desire to create change.
This story of duality and transformation is the inspiration behind Ryan McGinley’s photographs for the EDUN autumn/winter campaign, an evolution of his stunning Beautiful Rebels debut for the brand in spring/summer 2012.

The campaign references McGinley’s The Animals series, which captures moments of spontaneous interaction between animals and people in a studio setting. Here five birds of prey – global symbols of wisdom and knowledge, all indigenous to Africa – swoop across the images, alighting on the young cast like human perches. Cast in a warm yellow light, calling to mind the African sun, these beautiful rebels are at one with the feathered hunters in transformative scenes of beauty, joy and contemplation.

There is a playful duality between the cast and the birds – a barn owl, an eagle owl, a spectacled owl, a scoop owl and a peregrine falcon. Movement binds the two together – a blurred sweep of hair mirroring the frozen beat of a wing. The plumage of the birds accentuates jungle-inspired prints on dresses or the weave of faire isle knitwear. The relaxed individuality of the cast and the styling – tartan shirts worn open to the navel, a knit coat with contrasting sleeves slung over a chair – creates a sense of carefree ease.

The transformation and duality at the heart of these beautiful images conveys the unconventional and uplifting attitude to fashion at the heart of EDUN’s brand communication for 2012. EDUN’s Autumn/Winter 2012 Beautiful Rebels are Grace Bol, Miles McMillan and Zen Sevastyanova. "In the Edun Fall/Winter campaign, we wanted to continue the idea of transformation and lightness. These birds are a perfect metaphor for the wild, carefree spirit of Edun. The beauty and the energy of Africa is inherent in these images and our brand - a perfect collision of flight and fashion." - Ali Hewson