Their only crime was serving looks
By: Dalal Daher
What do social media star Cindy Kimberly, rapper JT of the City Girls and model Alana Blake Champion have in common? Instagram users witnessed these three women get arrested in the streets of New York in September, strutting through the courtroom in latex and blocky platform heels, stylishly winning their cases. Their crimes involve serving avant-garde looks in Poster Girl’s innovative SS24 social media campaign.
Poster Girl, a London-based brand started by Central Saint Martins alums Francesca Capper and Natasha Somerville, exploded in popularity since its creation in 2017. The high-end brand embraces empowerment and femininity through bright colors, hardware, experimental textures– anything from custom lace patterns to suede to latex– and a love for rhinestones. Poster Girl garments are hard to miss and the brand has become a celebrity favorite with figures like Kylie Jenner and Dua Lipa sporting one of their most well-known pieces on Instagram, the Jetta jumpsuit.
Known for their lively brand ethos, Poster Girl teased their SS24 campaign by posting dramatized mugshots of Alana Champion, JT and Cindy Kimberly to their over 400,000 Instagram followers on September 1st.
Their first look from their SS24 collection dropped three days later: a fake news-style video of Kimberly, sporting a cropped, fitted suit jacket, stringy bikini bottoms, bright pink lacy tights and high heels strutting up the Supreme Court steps flanked by lawyers in oversized suits. The video was filmed as a breaking news report, cheekily captioned “Booty and the Beasts,” which became an instant hit with over 54,000 likes.
The rest of the campaign fit this same campy format, parodying live news, courtroom television, and paparazzi photos and videos. The campaign’s 25 looks follow three narratives: Kimberly, who dramatically gets arrested for public “c-indecency” while wearing feathers and a rhinestone micro mini skirt, Champion, who robs a jewelry store in pink lace and huge heels, comically making away with as many diamonds as she can carry, and JT, who is charged on “multiple counts of being flawless” due to her “criminally hot” mugshot.
The women are first filmed in the streets of New York in Poster Girl outfits, with fake paparazzi footage of Champion threatening a photographer and JT being ambushed by reporters as she makes her way to the courthouse. The campaign then follows the women at trial as they woefully battle their respectful allegations, eventually making their way out of the Supreme Court successfully.
The SS24 outfits exemplify Poster Girl’s signature use of experimental textiles, from Look 13’s dress emblazoned with a cutout logo pattern to the sage green latex dress Kimberly wears as she’s being sworn into court, to the frequent use of monochromatic lace outfits and rhinestones. The designs also play around with body-framing cutouts, notably in Look 16’s micro pinstripe suit set, as well as lace rompers and thigh-high socks.
Perhaps the best part of this campaign is not just the clothing itself but the intricate details of the styling and the dramatic narrative. Each look is complemented by flashy accessories, from chunky transparent platform heels emblazoned with a rhinestone buckle to exaggeratedly wide, sparkly duck nails, sparkly buckled bags and huge hoop earrings.
Furthermore, the campaign doesn’t take itself too seriously, leaning into its campiness through the models’ over the top acting and the videos’ witty “breaking news” captions. Notable moments include Champion’s tearful breakdown in court after getting caught “pink-handed,” ironically styled in a shirt that says “this is a big inconvenience for me,” and a video of JT captioned, “JT made the jury clap like they got the right answer” as she wipes away fake tears on trial, clasping a framed photo of boyfriend Lil Uzi Vert with her acrylic nails.
Rather than being on a sleek, curated set, Poster Girl leaned into creating an authentic, documentary-style campaign, with each video making the viewer feel like it could have genuinely happened in the streets of New York. This campaign was the antithesis of glossy fashion shoot, feeling more like a bingeable reality TV show than an ad campaign. While the three women were styled in bright, almost outlandish fashion, everyone else around them seems absurdly normal: the Karen who calls the cops on Kimberly in look 2 with frizzy hair and a wrinkled flannel, the men who stare at JT in appreciative awe in Look 8 and even the lawyers clad in unmarked gray suits.
The most beautiful element of this campaign is how seemingly unedited Poster Girl keeps the background of their shots, not shying away from showing the streets of New York juxtaposed against the lace and rhinestones of their world. Rather than showcase their outfits in the curated vacuum of a runway or studio, Poster Girl unabashedly leans into impracticality and glamor, playfully challenging the normalist mentality around decency and female respectability.
True to their style, Poster Girl’s SS24 campaign dares women to embrace confidence and femininity, with clothes that look so good– it should be a crime.
Poster Girl, a London-based brand started by Central Saint Martins alums Francesca Capper and Natasha Somerville, exploded in popularity since its creation in 2017. The high-end brand embraces empowerment and femininity through bright colors, hardware, experimental textures– anything from custom lace patterns to suede to latex– and a love for rhinestones. Poster Girl garments are hard to miss and the brand has become a celebrity favorite with figures like Kylie Jenner and Dua Lipa sporting one of their most well-known pieces on Instagram, the Jetta jumpsuit.
Known for their lively brand ethos, Poster Girl teased their SS24 campaign by posting dramatized mugshots of Alana Champion, JT and Cindy Kimberly to their over 400,000 Instagram followers on September 1st.
Their first look from their SS24 collection dropped three days later: a fake news-style video of Kimberly, sporting a cropped, fitted suit jacket, stringy bikini bottoms, bright pink lacy tights and high heels strutting up the Supreme Court steps flanked by lawyers in oversized suits. The video was filmed as a breaking news report, cheekily captioned “Booty and the Beasts,” which became an instant hit with over 54,000 likes.
The rest of the campaign fit this same campy format, parodying live news, courtroom television, and paparazzi photos and videos. The campaign’s 25 looks follow three narratives: Kimberly, who dramatically gets arrested for public “c-indecency” while wearing feathers and a rhinestone micro mini skirt, Champion, who robs a jewelry store in pink lace and huge heels, comically making away with as many diamonds as she can carry, and JT, who is charged on “multiple counts of being flawless” due to her “criminally hot” mugshot.
The women are first filmed in the streets of New York in Poster Girl outfits, with fake paparazzi footage of Champion threatening a photographer and JT being ambushed by reporters as she makes her way to the courthouse. The campaign then follows the women at trial as they woefully battle their respectful allegations, eventually making their way out of the Supreme Court successfully.
The SS24 outfits exemplify Poster Girl’s signature use of experimental textiles, from Look 13’s dress emblazoned with a cutout logo pattern to the sage green latex dress Kimberly wears as she’s being sworn into court, to the frequent use of monochromatic lace outfits and rhinestones. The designs also play around with body-framing cutouts, notably in Look 16’s micro pinstripe suit set, as well as lace rompers and thigh-high socks.
Perhaps the best part of this campaign is not just the clothing itself but the intricate details of the styling and the dramatic narrative. Each look is complemented by flashy accessories, from chunky transparent platform heels emblazoned with a rhinestone buckle to exaggeratedly wide, sparkly duck nails, sparkly buckled bags and huge hoop earrings.
Furthermore, the campaign doesn’t take itself too seriously, leaning into its campiness through the models’ over the top acting and the videos’ witty “breaking news” captions. Notable moments include Champion’s tearful breakdown in court after getting caught “pink-handed,” ironically styled in a shirt that says “this is a big inconvenience for me,” and a video of JT captioned, “JT made the jury clap like they got the right answer” as she wipes away fake tears on trial, clasping a framed photo of boyfriend Lil Uzi Vert with her acrylic nails.
Rather than being on a sleek, curated set, Poster Girl leaned into creating an authentic, documentary-style campaign, with each video making the viewer feel like it could have genuinely happened in the streets of New York. This campaign was the antithesis of glossy fashion shoot, feeling more like a bingeable reality TV show than an ad campaign. While the three women were styled in bright, almost outlandish fashion, everyone else around them seems absurdly normal: the Karen who calls the cops on Kimberly in look 2 with frizzy hair and a wrinkled flannel, the men who stare at JT in appreciative awe in Look 8 and even the lawyers clad in unmarked gray suits.
The most beautiful element of this campaign is how seemingly unedited Poster Girl keeps the background of their shots, not shying away from showing the streets of New York juxtaposed against the lace and rhinestones of their world. Rather than showcase their outfits in the curated vacuum of a runway or studio, Poster Girl unabashedly leans into impracticality and glamor, playfully challenging the normalist mentality around decency and female respectability.
True to their style, Poster Girl’s SS24 campaign dares women to embrace confidence and femininity, with clothes that look so good– it should be a crime.