Savage x Fenty Campaign
Savage x Fenty recently took over New York Fashion Week with an outdoor campaign installation spotted around Seventh Avenue and Fashion Avenue. The campaign used oversized lingerie to create oversized bra and underwear shadows on the road below, making the ad unforgettable and difficult to ignore for those walking below.
The brand promoted the viral visual with the phrase, "The only shade we're throwing is over NYC.” Fans of fashion and industry insiders have praised the brand's bold move of displaying the lingerie in a public space during New York Fashion Week.
Creators, fashion fans, and editors already see the streets of New York as an extension of the runway at Fashion Week. That gave the Savage X Fenty installation a built-in audience both on the street and across social media.
The Savage x Fenty line was launched by singer-songwriter, actress, and businesswoman Rihanna in 2018, with the lingerie line intended to focus on body positivity and inclusion and challenge the previously held status quo. The collection launch reflected demand for more diverse lingerie sizing, with available bra sizes ranging from 32A to 44DD and underwear sizes ranging from extra-small to 3X, per Vogue.
Savage x Fenty made it easy for their audience to engage, share, and talk about their Ad turning the physical placement into social content without requiring their audience to do more than look down. The Ad placement is also timely. Putting the installation in the middle of New York Fashion Week meant the brand wasn't simply buying attention; it was placing itself directly into an environment where fashion is already a part of the conversation. The campaign feels organic and natural in its surroundings rather than a disruption.
The campaign tagline, "The only shade we're throwing is over NYC”, is also an easy social hook; memorable, short, witty, and references the creative visual itself.
Where the campaign could have gone further was tying back to it’s roots and what the brand has historically stood for: inclusive and pro-body-positive lingerie. The installation is undeniably eye-catching, but without additional messaging, someone encountering it could walk away remembering the giant lingerie and the surprising shadow without necessarily remembering the brand's broader message around representation and inclusion.
Sometimes a campaign is meant to just get visibility on the brand or product, especially an installation. But for a brand that has challenged the idea of who lingerie is for, there was an opportunity to have the creative speak a stronger message.
What Savage x Fenty nailed with this campaign was the attention-grabbing creative visuals and the timing during Fashion Week. But the bigger opportunity would have been to use that attention to say something that only Savage X Fenty brand could say.
Written by Hannah Lacy
Hannah Lacy is a digital content strategist with over seven years of experience in marketing and social media, and more than a decade of experience as a freelance writer contributing to various publications. A working mother of two school-aged children, she writes at the intersection of ambition and parenthood, with a passion for storytelling, advocating for working moms, and partnering with mission-driven brands and organisations.
