Gemma Ward Fall Campaign

Talk about "less is more." If you just list the ingredients in the Mert & Marcus-lensed campaign for Valentino's Fall/Winter 2006 Ready-to-Wear collection, they wouldn't seem to add up to much: A girl, a sofa, a few gowns, a few bags, a watch and a rose. But the details make all the difference. Take the girl, for instance. Model Gemma Ward is in the midst of a career-comeback, but in 2006 she was a newly minted fashion star, all endless legs and seductive cat-eyes. One of the standout shots in this series finds her unfurling those long legs in a high-slit Valentino gown in maison-signature red, lounging on a gorgeous blue deco-style sofa and directing a smoldering look at the camera. It' an image for the ages.

 

 

The same gown and the same smoldering stare appear in another shot, this one featuring one the pastel-toned gowns from the FW 2006 collection's Jean-Michel Basquiat homage. And they appear again as Ward shows off the lacy back of a classically soigné Valentino gown in black. Mert & Marcus' close-ups of Ward find her snuggling a leopard-print bag as lust-worthy today as when it was made, and showing off a Valentino watch and an oh-so-Valentino ruby rose. So simple. So enduring.