How do you shoot the best and brightest of the new collections during a worldwide pandemic? By getting creative as never before. This month, Vogue joined forces with an army of photographers and models all around the globe—stable Zoom connections required, please!—and sent clothes via courier services everywhere from Beijing to Brazil, Lagos to Los Angeles. Our concept? Simple, glorious movement: After a year of stasis, immobility and lockdowns, we wanted to see spring fashion breaking free. These are the looks we love, shot by the photographers we adore, on the run and out for a walk, a swim, a dance. Style with a passport; poetry in motion. Let’s go.
Beijing, Photographed by Feng Li
“I didn’t tell Liu what to do,” says Li. “I just told her it was a stage and I needed a good and meaningful emotion. It’s not just about fashion; it’s about the yearning for a quiet life after an outbreak.”
New York City, Photographed by Paul Graham
Los Angeles, Photographed by Zoë Ghertner
Cape Town, Directed by Pieter Hugo
County Louth, Ireland, Photographed by Jackie Nickerson
“Shauna [Brennan, who served as Nickerson’s model] is actually a veterinary surgeon!” the photographer says. “She’s a strong, active, modern woman, and I wanted to capture that.”
Puerto Vallarta and Mexico City, Mexico, Photographed by Dorian Ulises López Macías
“The locations that I selected for these sessions were the sea and the city, the two apparently opposite—the city synonymous with chaos, the sea with balance—but for me, very similar,” López says. “In both places, life is in constant movement.”
Shanghai, Photographed by Leslie Zhang
“I wanted to capture Xiao Wen in her adopted home of Shanghai since she recently relocated from New York,” says Zhang, who is also based in the city. “It is so great to have her in the city, as I felt her vibrant energy would be a great fit for the theme of the shoot–moving forward! To me she exudes joy, positivity and beauty.”
Paris, Photographed by Théo de Gueltzl
“We shot in a workshop where they normally run clay sculpture classes, but due to COVID the course had to stop,” de Gueltzl explains. “Even though it was very cloudy outside, the space was still filled with light coming from a beautiful glass roof with an original structure by Gustave Eiffel.”
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Los Angeles, Directed by Kendall Jenner via drone
Paris, Photographed by Fabien Vilrus
“At the beginning, I had a hard time trying to find the perfect spot in Paris that could represent the city without being too cliché,” says Vilrus. “I remember one or two days before the shoot, a good friend of mine told me to just choose a place where I felt good personally, without thinking about the shoot. And that was it. I chose Île Saint-Louis, as it is one of my favorite places here. When I wanted to find a kind of peace in the city, this is where I used to go, and I think it helped the team to feel that way, too.”
New York City, Directed by Gordon von Steiner
“Human beings have expressed themselves through dance since the beginning of time. The pandemic has put a pause on us moving, and getting to photograph people expressing joy in motion is just an incredible release,” von Steiner says.
Dakar, Senegal, Photographed by Djibril Drame
“My team and I wanted to frame love in motion, mainly self-love. Our cast was very young, artistic and inclusive—two young women in their 20s,” says the Dakar-based Drame. “Grace is a young student and model from the Congo studying in Senegal. Binta Diaw is a prolific Senegalese and Italian contemporary visual artist. She lives and works in Milan. My goal was to pay homage to Miu Miu’s founder [Miuccia Prada] by casting talented, raw, and bold young women.”
Los Angeles, Photographed by Philip-Daniel Ducasse
“For me, creativity is a daily practice that’s rooted in optimism and an immersion in the magical experience of capturing inspirational moments in time,” Ducasse says.
Tokyo, Photographed by Takashi Homma
Byron Bay, Australia, Photographed by Derek Henderson
“I think the pandemic has been a lesson in going back to the basics and using smaller crews and what you have to create something wonderful,” the photographer says.
Jbilet, Morocco, Directed by Mous Lamrabat
London, Photographed by Nigel Shafran
Mumbai, Photographed by Ashish Shah
“I wanted to recreate the memory of an in-between scenario at an Indian wedding ceremony,” says Shah, who shot at a popular wedding venue in Mumbai’s Railway Colony neighborhood. “I like to call it the ‘beautiful Indian chaos’—it has a world of its own. Everyone is in a rush or running around, looking for something. ”
Lagos, Nigeria, Photographed by Daniel Obasi
“We shot at the old railway compound in Ebute Metta,” the photographer says. “I have always been drawn to old architecture—some of my time in university was spent visiting places like that. [Shooting there] made me reminisce on how effective rail transport was, especially in a city where people spend half the day stuck in traffic.”
Balneario Camboriu, Brazil, Photographed by Gabriela Schmidt
“The shoot had to be rescheduled and postponed because of the logistics involved,” says Schmidt. “When we arrived, not only did the weather seem to be awfully against us, but we had troublesome news regarding the health of family members of the staff. At the end, it was like we had only one shot to make it right. And we did!”
London, Photographed by Jack Day
Shanghai, Photographed by Xiangyu Liu
“When a lot of people found themselves physically isolated, felt lost, and were kept still during this pandemic, I wanted to put an ‘exit’ in their heads,” Liu says, “where they could be reunited, free their imaginations and just have fun.”
New York City, Photographed by Daniel Arnold
London, Directed by Bibi Borthwick
For more see Vogue s Ultimate 2021 Guide to Spring Fashion