Dru does Dior, again!
SAINT breakout star in new global ad campaign for Parisian luxury house
Published:Sunday | April 27, 2025 | 12:05 AM
Scoring a major get in the world of high fashion, SAINT International’s breakout star Dru Campbell cuts glamorous silhouettes in the just-out advertising campaign for Dior’s pre-fall 2025 womenswear collection.
The luxury house campaign’s mirrored dreamscape visuals, shot by Japanese photographer Yuriko Takagi in Paris weeks ago, spotlights Dior creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri’s reverential fusion of Japanese textile workmanship with French couture for her latest design output.
Still in the throes of exhilaration, having seen the finished results of her Dior assignment only a day earlier, a humble but effusive Campbell raved: “I feel very happy and appreciative that I got to experience my first global ad campaign for such a big luxury brand.”
Giving a peek of the behind-the-scenes work involved, the 19-year-old emergent Jamaican model informed The Sunday Gleaner on a call from The City of Lights that “we started the campaign shoot on February 17, and it lasted two days, the first day for photos and the second for videos. The atmosphere on-set was very calm as everyone was very professional and executed their jobs well.”
Co-starring alongside Campbell in Dior’s latest reveal, chicly styled by fashion editor Elin Svahn, is the quartet of Japanese duo of Hanaka Hori and Rinno Ogahara, Italian Claudia Campana and French Mika Schneider.
All five models were among a global cast of their peers gliding down the cherry blossom tree-lined runway for Dior’s Fall 2025 show, staged on April 15 at the To-Ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. It was a most apropos event given that the fashion house’s founder, Christian Dior, had a longstanding fascination with Japan and its history. He was the first couturier to show a collection in the country in 1953.
Continuing Monsieur Dior’s work, the current leading lady Chiuri’s collection for next season’s must-wear garments pays homage to traditional kimono shapes, which anchor the collection.
She partnered with the Tatsumara Textile atelier, which the founder had collaborated with in the 1950s. Chiuri’s pre-fall wardrobe for the Dior woman is an elegant mix of silk fringed column skirts, off-the-shoulder knits, tunic dresses, and wide leg pants with hand-painted botanicals and garden scenes.
“My experience doing the show in Japan was amazing and fun,” recounted Campbell.”What I enjoyed about visiting Japan for the first time [was] that I got to explore the streets of Kyoto. I was there for four days and had only a day off from work. I went shopping with agent Lili and my model friends Berni and Ester. We also visited a traditional shrine and rang the bell outside.”
For this young adult, whose auspicious beginning in the modelling industry started with an exclusive booking for Prada’s Fall/Winter 2024 show in Milan last February, what delights her most is the exposure that she’s been gifted in her yearlong career.
“I get the opportunity to build my confidence with every job I do, and experience amazing things I never previously imagined I could have and lastly, get to meet new people and make great friends,” the SAINT top model shared with The Sunday Gleaner.
Campbell’s boss and SAINT head honcho Deiwght Peters is, of course, proud of the ascendancy of the then-teenager who secured the title of his agency’s Female Fashion Face of the Caribbean competition just two years ago.
“I remember when Dru’s mom brought her to enter the competition. She had travelled from Clarendon to Kingston one Saturday when training for the competition was weeks along, but I immediately saw the special qualities and natural beauty Dru possessed and told her mother she needed to enrol,” recalled the model-maker whose agency is celebrating its 25th anniversary. “Dru has had an incredible trajectory in a relatively short time, working with the best casting directors, photographers, stylists, brands and labels in the business. She has a drive and passion that’s admirable for one so young, and the future holds much promise for her.”
Campbell’s Dior connection was birthed in Paris for the house’s Spring/Summer 2025 ready-to-wear show back in September. She returned to the runway last month for the multinational luxury goods company’s recent Paris Fashion Week show.
The House of Dior was founded in December 1946 by Christian Dior, who launched his debut “new look” collection the following year, which is credited with reviving the fashion industry of France at the time.
Today, Dior is owned by billionaire French businessman Bernard Arnault, and is part of the conglomerate LVMH. According to a January-published financial review by Vogue Business, the LVMH Group reported €84.7 billion in annual turnover in 2024, down 1 per cent from 2023.
Campbell follows in the footsteps of SAINT star Romaine Dixon, who co-starred in the Spring 2019 global advertising campaign for Dior’s menswear line.