Air France Fêtes 90 With a Catwalk of Its Own

Few things get us past the post-summer blues as assuredly as anticipation of the holidays ahead, which tease us with their harbingers: Cheesy music, nostalgic movies … and gussied-up store window displays.

In Paris, the department store Galeries Lafayette serves quite possibly the best such experience out there. The brand Jacquemus took over 16 of its windows this year, and it was practically a community event.

On this same stage, Air France has chosen to celebrate its 90-year anniversary. The airline was founded on October 7, 1933, and it’s decided to filter its perspective on fashion, travel, gastronomy, art, innovation and more through five unique dress designs by Xavier Ronze, who operates the costume workshops for the Paris Opera Ballet.

The final result makes for a nice cherry on the cake as Paris Fashion Week comes to a close. The video below, by TBWAParis, offers a sense of the vibe Air France is going for, but can also stand alone as a brand DNA manifesto.

The video, directed by Killian Lassablière, starts with some galvanizing plane and airport porn. (It’s shot at Charles de Gaulle as well as “previously unseen Air France Industries locations.”) As it progresses, flight attendants become the focus. Through history, they’ve acted as traveling ambassadors—not so much for tourism, but for the mystique of Frenchness, which the airline still likes to call “that je ne sais quoi.” For many major French designers—including Christian Dior, Carven and Nina Ricci—making your mark with an Air France uniform is a rite of passage. 

Footage of flight attendants intermingle with catwalk scenes, where the models are no less symbolically attired. Ronze’s designs are struttable showcases for Air France’s gastronomy (a hat doubles as a lobster dish), technical innovations (check out those earrings!), art and architectural inspirations.

The video ends, “Taking elegance to new heights, for 90 years.” An accompanying explainer, below, goes into the painstaking granularities of the design choices.

Air France will takie over 12 Galeries Lafayette windows in Paris through Oct. 10. A satellite experience will adorn Galeries Lafayette in Berlin and La Rinascente in Rome. It will also live online, where you can interact with the window displays:

There’ll also be a full 360° media and non-media campaign led by AURA by Omnicom, along with Auditoire, Else and Mogul, for the next 12 months. If this has put you in a nostalgic mood for airborne crème brulée, be sure to check out our archive of Air France ads on Ads of the World.

CREDITS

AIR FRANCE : Sylvie Tarbouriech, Virginie Deprost, Laurent Vermeil, Jumi Daviet

AURA by OMNICOM : Anne Vincent, Matthéo Pressmar, Adrien Marsaud, Loic Mercier
ECD : Benjamin Marchal et Faustin Claverie   
Artistics Directors & Copywriters : Philippe Taroux et Benoît Leroux

PRODUCTION FILM 
Production : Else    
CEO Else & Head of Creative Producers : Maxime Boiron  
Creative Producer : Anne Claire Girard  
Director : Killian Lassablière  
DOP : Elodie Tahtane  
Producer : Jennifer Bauche  
Head of production : Tristan Voisin  
Jurist : Carlos Serrano et Alexandra Sol-Griffel 
Post Production : Else  
Post Producer : Élise Gamboa   
Editor : Martin Pierret 
Grading artist : Nicolas Gautier 
Supervisor VFX : Franck Darnois 
Designer : Clément Choblet, Simon Tambui, Cédric Morellon 
Flamist : Julien Clary 
Sound Production : Else   
Head of Music and Sound : Olivier Lefebvre   
Sound Director  : Fanny Mithois   
Music Artistic Director :  Ferdinand Huet / Thomas Jacquet 
Sound Engineer :  Alexandre Robieux 
Business affairs : Marion Le Guluche   

Crédits Musique   
Title :  90 ans d’élégance 
Compositor : Axel Guenoun 
Éditor : 4GOOD 
Artist – Performer : Axel Guenoun 
Production : Else

PRINT PRODUCTION 
Photographer : Cédric Violet @ Mirror Mirror  
Art buyer : Feriel Simon 
Media agency :  Omnicom Media Group 

CONTENUS & ACTIVATION SOCIAL MEDIA : MOGUL 
Mogul Agency : Nicolas Delacroix, Lise Rosenthal, Victor Hermann  
Creative Director: Julien Gragnic 
Artistics Directors & Copywriters : Stéphane Faure, Jérôme Berthin & Carla Perret 
Exécutif Producer : Julien Averty 
Production Director : Anthony Mastronicola   
Post Production : Cyrus Bruns 
Editor: Tom Lavisse 
Social media manager : Théo Lafave 
Programmes Director : Paul Douard 
Stratégic planning : Marion Meyer