The latest xx's music video is also an ad for Calvin Klein
Product placement in music videos has become a big business, and Raf Simons is well aware of this.
The Calvin Klein’s chief creative officer, Raf Simons, is continuing to work in the music industry, now collaborating with photographer and filmmaker Alasdair McLellan for The xx.
McLellan previously directed The xx’s videos for “On Hold” and “Say Something Loving”, now, he and Simons created the concept and directed the music video for The xx’s song “I Dare You”.
Calvin Klein said in a statement that Simons saw "a connection between the videos and his own work" at the fashion brand.
The new music video starring celebrities who have appeared in previous Calvin Klein campaigns, including Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown; Moonlight actor and men’s underwear ad campaign Ashton Sanders; and model and actress Paris Jackson.
They and others Calvin Klein models appear in the video, cutting school and riding through the sunny streets of Los Angeles.
They end up at Los Angeles architectural gems - Lord Wright’s Sowden house and John Lautner’s Rainbow House. Finally, the band appears, playing the song in cool Calvin Klein outfits like everybody else in the video.
The band told WWD, the video is a
“love letter to Los Angeles, a city close to our hearts, where we wrote and recorded parts of our album I See You. This is the third video our friend, the wonderful Alasdair McLellan, has directed for us. He collaborated with a hero of ours, Raf Simons, on the creative concept and direction. It was amazing to work with both of them and such a pleasure to meet and work with Millie, Paris, Ashton, Lulu and Ernesto.”
