Actress Hachi shares her love for comics in her video for JNBY
Chinese fashion label JNBY released a trio of short films profiling three young women in creative fields to promote its forward-looking Fall/Winter 2019 collection. The documentary-style series, “Chat: The Future” (对话未来) features actress Hachi (Wang Yueyi), model/university student Cici (Xiang Yejing) and vlogger Zhuzi (Shao Jingzhu) as they go about their daily lives, discussing their interests and aspirations. The subjects share their thoughts on careers, independence and the passage of time in a manner that appeals to JNBY’s core audience of young and intelligent (知性) women.
The Hangzhou-based JNBY stands for “Just Naturally Be Yourself” in English, and the brand has from its inception in 1994 promoted a casual, modern aesthetic based on comfort and choice, with pieces that could be converted according to the wearer’s needs. JNBY has more than 2,000 stores, including nearly 50 outside mainland China.
Though JNBY has long resisted the trend of marketing through influencers, the films received far more attention via the Weibo accounts of their protagonists compared to JNBY’s. For example, Hachi’s post of her video garnered more than 1.1 million views and 13,000 likes, while JNBY’s post of the film had around 184,000 views and 1,000 likes.
The Shanghai-based creative studio Le Passage oversaw the campaign, with Chen Li as its executive director. In its themes and visual qualities, the set of films builds on JNBY’s previous work such as the 2016 collaboration with Vice and German photographer Amira Fritz to produce a documentary-style lookbook featuring creative women in ten major cities around the world, from Paris to Shanghai.
