With dozens of snapshots like a series of contact sheets, the Spring-Summer 2024 Eyewear campaign shot by photographer Karim Sadli features CHANEL ambassador Liu Wen and the models Alaato Jazyper Michael, América González and Loli-Bahia, all regulars at CHANEL shows.

Off-camera, the four muses discuss the importance of eyewear, which is, more than ever, proving to be a veritable fashion accessory. What emerges are four portraits imbued with energy, echoing the images and film directed by Karim Sadli.

“Before I say anything else, my favourite and the only sunglasses I wear at the moment are CHANEL sunglasses!” announces Loli-Bahia, who has been modelling for the House since 2020. For this campaign, the model wears an acetate shield adorned with a metal chain interlaced with leather: “I wear sunglasses in every season as soon as the sun shines. I do like wearing them indoors, but I feel a little ridiculous because it means I’m not in the same place as everyone else, so I tend not to!”

Between shots, Alaato Jazyper Michael, her face highlighted by two-tone acetate sunglasses, recalls her first visual memory of CHANEL: “The N°5 perfume campaign with Nicole Kidman, which I’d seen so many times on television, made me dream… Being on the runway for CHANEL has always been a dream of mine. A dream that finally came true in 2022!”

América González, who also first walked the runway for CHANEL that same year, remembers, “the advertisements I used to cut out of magazines to make collages, those incredible campaigns from the 1990s that we all know and love…” Facing Karim Sadli’s camera, the model wears two frames that play on CHANEL’s emblematic two-tone colour scheme. “I always saw all the women in my family and around me sporting their favourite sunnies to elevate their confidence and appearance. I wear them all the time, it’s the one accessory I’m never without.”

A sentiment shared by Liu Wen, a regular at the CHANEL shows since 2008 and also an ambassador for the House. “Sunglasses can definitely be like an actual suit of armour: they let me see without being seen. For me, they’re an essential fashion accessory in their own right”, she confides behind two pairs of metal frames, with temples emblazoned with the letters of “CHANEL”.