With its latest campaign Acne Studios celebrates the beauty of a contemporary family: as the first high fashion European clothing brand Acne Studios features a black LGBT couple with their children. The Swedish label has chosen Atlanta’s daddies Kordale Lewis and Kaleb Anthony, and their four children, Desmiray (10 years old), Maliyah (9), Kordale Junior (8), and Kaleb Junior (8 months), to exemplify the vision of the line.
Through the photographs they post on Instagram, Kaleb and Kordale have become role models for other same-sex parents, and one of the most followed families on social media. More than 170,000 people watching the couple’s everyday life: getting the girls ready for school, holidaying in Florida, or baby Kaleb playing in his playpen.The family was photographed by Dutch duo Inez and Vinoodh in a New York City hotel room. All of them are wearing Acne’s new unisex pieces: striped polo shirts.
Behind this project is Acne Studios’ creative director Jonny Johansson whose then 11 year old son, Frasse, modeled the brand’s 2015 Autumn/Winter womenswear campaign. When asked about his idea to depict homoparentality, he merely replied: “Since Acne Studios started as a collective, we would see each other as a family back in the days. I therefore wanted to portray households of today, in all constellations.”
The campaign is more than a basic fashion advertizing but elevates itself to a reflection about what family means in the 21st century. “A modern family is 2017. A modern family can be an interracial couple, a family can be a heterosexual couple. A modern family is one that loves their children and loves to be together as one, despite their sexual preferences or the color of their skin,” says Kaleb. A today’s family is “a couple that is willing to provide for their kids,” adds Kordale in an interview for ID Magazine.
The Acne Studios collection is available here from August the 17.
Header image via Instagram.
