There is a particular kind of confidence that does not announce itself. It arrives quietly, through a grounded stance, a flexed arm, a woman seated wide-legged in a tailored suit — and by the time you notice it, it has already reshaped the room. That is precisely the confidence Sarah Burton brings to Givenchy’s Summer 2026 campaign, a body of work that dares to treat women as authors of their own image rather than its subjects.
A Campaign Built on Collaboration, Not Spectacle
Working alongside creative director Ferdinando Verderi and lens photographer Collier Schorr, Burton has delivered something that extends the foundational spirit of her first chapter at Givenchy and sharpens it into a fully realized point of view. The campaign is participatory by design. Its logic is not built around spectacle or aspiration in the traditional sense, but around something more durable: the shared intelligence of women who have gathered not to be seen, but to make something together.
The talent roster is its own statement. Kaia Gerber, Isabelle Albuquerque, Selena Forest, and Liu Wen are joined by Annie Leibovitz — one of the most consequential photographers of the twentieth century — who appears not as an honorary presence but as a full participant in the visual ecosystem. Her posture, her age, and the clear gravity of her experience receive the same photographic attention as any other woman in the frame. The line between who is looking and who is being looked at dissolves entirely. That deliberate blurring is the campaign’s most radical move, and Burton makes it feel completely natural.
Stance, Composition, and the Architecture of Agency
Schorr’s images give women literal space. The compositions are direct and unhurried. There is humor in the flash of red heels, and a structural softness in the exaggerated volumes, yet nothing tips into caricature or self-parody. The women here do not pose for approval. They occupy space with ease, with intelligence, and in several frames, with an unmistakable edge of wit. Glamour, where it appears, carries self-possession as its primary quality.
The setting reinforces this reading at every turn. Clean walls, spare furniture, a functional table — it reads as a working studio rather than a fantasy interior. The environment situates its women in a context of thinking, creating, and moving through the world with intention. The Givenchy clothes support that narrative without overwhelming it. Sharp shirting, sculptural skirts, and bold evening pieces cycle through the images, moving fluidly between the registers of power and play. Neither dominates. Strength and adornment coexist on equal terms.
The Full Creative Team Behind the Vision
The campaign’s coherence extends through every layer of its production. Stylist Camilla Nickerson shaped the wardrobe narrative, while hair by Olivier Schawalder, makeup by Diane Kendal, and nail work by Maki Sakamoto rounded out the considered aesthetic. Casting director Jess Hallett assembled a group of women whose differences in background, age, and discipline are precisely the point, and set designer Gideon Ponte built the spare, studio-like environment that anchors the images in a spirit of creative work rather than fantasy.
Givenchy Summer 2026 Campaign Credits
- Givenchy Creative Director: Sarah Burton
- Creative Director: Ferdinando Verderi
- Photographer: Collier Schorr
- Talent: Isabelle Albuquerque, Selena Forest, Kaia Gerber, Annie Leibovitz, Liu Wen
- Stylist: Camilla Nickerson
- Hair: Olivier Schawalder
- Makeup: Diane Kendal
- Manicurist: Maki Sakamoto
- Casting Director: Jess Hallett
- Set Designer: Gideon Ponte
Images Courtesy of Givenchy
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