Designer Marc Jacobs announced this
week that his upcoming Spring/Summer ad campaign will feature
transgender director and producer Lana Wachowski.
In
an Instagram post, he captioned a photo of Wachowski modeling a
blue checkered dress and cardigan: “Lana Wachowski stars in the
Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign.”
Wachowski, along with her brother Andy
Wachowski, is best known for the Matrix film franchise. The
Wachowskis also are behind last year's Netflix supernatural drama
Sense8, which prominently featured several gay and transgender
characters.
(Related: Sense8's
Jamie Clayton: Lana Wachowski is a hero.)
“This season’s ad campaign
represents a series of connected events; a visual narrative,”
Jacobs
wrote of his upcoming campaign. “It is a personal diary of
people who have and continue to inspire me and open my mind to
different ways of seeing and thinking. The spectrum of individuals
photographed in our Spring/Summer 2016 ad campaign represent a
celebration of my America.”
He added that he was inspired by a
speech Wachowski delivered in accepting the Human Rights Campaign's
(HRC) 2012 Visibility Award.
“She expressed thoughts and ideas
that have filled my head and heart always but had never been so
eloquently captured in language that was so tangible, intelligent,
poignant and full of possibility,” he wrote. “I found myself
referencing Lana’s words in my daily life and sharing her speech
with close friends. In the days before our Spring/Summer ‘16
fashion show and through a fateful series of communications, much to
my incomprehensible delight, Lana accepted an invitation to our show
in New York City and thus I took her, 'fashion show virginity.'”