At the beginning of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s new music video, we trace the journey of a vintage Chevrolet Impala convertible, bathed in the honey-colored light of a California sunset. Gainsbourg sits at the wheel of the car, languidly turning the wheel in a green velvet Saint Laurent jacket and a pair of shades, before climbing up onto the seats to let the breeze fly through her hair.
Accompanying it all? Moody, waltzing synths by the legendary French producer Sebastian that nod to the dreamlike (and ever-so-slightly sinister) scores created by Angelo Badalamenti for the films of David Lynch. “I was feeling very inspired by Lynch after he died,” Gainsbourg tells me. “It was the mood I was in, and I made it as an homage.”
But there was another towering creative figure who had a hand in the music video’s production: Anthony Vaccarello. The fashion designer and longtime creative director of Saint Laurent decided to celebrate the song—which originated as the soundtrack for the French fashion house’s fall 2025 menswear collection—by directing the video himself, marking his first time stepping into the director’s seat. (It’s not, however, the first time he’s involved himself in the world of filmmaking: through Saint Laurent Productions, he’s helped bring films by auteurs like Jacques Audiard, David Cronenberg, and Jim Jarmusch to the silver screen.)
“The idea to direct the music video emerged quite organically,” says Vaccarello. “I wanted to explore new creative formats with an artist who shares my vision. So the conversation started with Charlotte, and we both felt it was the perfect opportunity to merge my aesthetic with the rhythm and emotion of the music.”
It isn’t hard to see why Vaccarello and Gainsbourg might be drawn to one another, given their boundless creative interests and shared fascination with the darker side of human nature. “I met Charlotte in 2013, as she wanted to wear something from my Anthony Vaccarello collections for the César Awards,” Vaccarello remembers. “At first, it sounded crazy, so I didn’t respond immediately. Then the request came through someone else, and that’s when I realized it was serious. I remember being really impressed. For a young designer like me, getting the chance to dress her was just amazing.” For Gainsbourg, that fateful meeting is equally memorable: “He was extremely shy, and I was too, but we connected! He put me in a much sexier look than what I was used to at the time, and I was happy and willing to go there.”
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