Erykah Badu Named New Face of Givenchy [Photos]

Erykah Badu is the new face of Givenchy.

The label’s creative director Riccardo Tisci said that, though unexpected, Badu’s casting in the campaign makes perfect sense since she was one of the inspirations behind the collection it features.

“Erykah, she’s an icon—come on!” Tisci said by phone from Paris. “What I want to do with my advertising campaign is spread the love. Already now it’s been three seasons that I’ve been using people that express something—they are great artists, or beautiful women, or stylish women, or models that I really believe in. It’s kind of a family portfolio.”

He went on to say:

“She’s one of the most stylish women I’ve met in my life,” he said. “She’s got such a good sense of proportion, of colors.”

The exciting decision follows a fashion season with a noticeable uptick in the use of models of color on the runway.

“There was a lot of talk this season in fashion,” Tisci said. “Me, I was one of the persons who ended up not being touched by this. I discovered Joan Smalls, I discovered Maria [Borges]. I discovered a lot of black girls, and I’ve been always supporting them. For me, I grew up in a family and I grew up in a culture, an education, that we all are the same.” 

He hopes that other designers will take note and include more women of color in their campaign.

“I hope so,” he said. “It’s 2013. Everybody’s being so cool about Instagram, about Facebook, any media—everybody’s being so open. At the end of the day, why are not so many black girls or Latin girls in shows? When you have an American president who is black! When I see this happening, it’s quite sad, I think. People can be so avant-garde, so advanced, but actually not, because people are still making differences between skin color.”

We couldn’t be more thrilled with their decision! Congrats, Erykah!

via Style