What’s a day like in Dakota Johnson’s life? In Gucci’s new Jackie 1961 campaign, celebrating the handbag ubiquitously named after the former first lady and original style savant Jackie Kennedy, we don’t have to imagine.
The brand new campaign, which marks the first for the luxury Italian maison since the departure of their former creative director Alessandro Michele, sees our favourite outspoken nepo baby and certified style star reimagined as an icon on the rise.
Reminiscent of early 2000s reality shows, complete with a very Laguna Beach-esque soundtrack, Dakota and her best friend Jackie, take us through an average day in their life as a style star traversing the glitterati-laden Los Angeles terrain.
A quintessential Y2K alternative rock melody plays in the background as we see Dakota go about her daily errands while being trailed by a paparazzi style voyeur.
Captured on a camcorder, we see Dakota and Jackie head from Gucci’s Rodeo Drive boutique with a plethora hands in tow—evoking a sense of nostalgia for the ‘bimbocore’ days of Paris Hilton schlepping her designer bags down Beverly Hills—to saunter down Sunset Boulevard strapped with a Starbucks.
Later, Dakota makes a trip to what we can only guess is one of LA’s many organic farmers markets (perhaps she’s stopping for a Hailey Bieber smoothie from Erewhon?) before heading to a yoga class.
Of course, as almost everything is in tinseltown, Dakota’s yoga class wouldn’t be complete without Jackie, matching GG jacquard athleisure and oversized eyewear—to block out the flashing camera lights, naturally.
After their day about town, Jackie and Dakota find themselves stumbling out of the Sunset Strip’s iconic Viper Room nightclub. Jackie is dressed out for a night on the town, designed in a two-tone python skin and oversized shoulder strap, making her the perfect dancing partner or carry-all. Which ever your heart desires.
It’s clear in this campaign Gucci and Johnson are flexing their sartorial repertoire by poking fun at the burgeoning reality starlets who frequented the front cover of tabloids in the hopes of landing a lucrative brand deal.
In Jackie 1961, Dakota is the embodiment of who Alexis Neiers of the ‘Bling Ring’ aspired to be when she was ransacking celebrity homes in the Hollywood Hills to partaking in shopping sprees along Rodeo Drive. It’s what The Hills producers wish they caught Lauren Conrad doing on her days off from her Teen Vogue internship.
And while the golden age of reality television is certainty long gone, we can’t help but thank Gucci for making us remember the chokehold this mode of entertainment had on us.
The only thing that would make this ‘LA local influencer’ to ‘bona fide global sensation’ pipeline complete is if Gucci gave us a Gucci 1961 podcast. We love to hear it.
