Jamaica’s tropical allure and the captivating beauty of SAINT International models come into sharp focus for Burberry’s just-launched Spring/Summer 2024 global advertising campaign. 

The British luxury fashion house’s new collection drop, with its accompanying visuals shot on the island’s northeast coastline, sees SAINT supermodel Kai Newman, the agency’s 2023 Female Fashion Face winner; Dru Campbell, fresh from her stunning debut at the European Fall/Winter 2024 designer collections; and the agency’s rising stars Selah McHail and Abigail Lloyd among the global cast of faces presenting Burberry’s artistic take on seasonal wardrobe must-haves. 

Integrally involved in the Jamaica-set ad campaign was SAINT chief executive Deiwght Peters.

He shared with Our Today that he was contacted last October and subsequently recruited by the team from the iconic English label to assist in their visioning process.  

The celebrated modelmaker was tasked with scouting local faces, including pitching those from his agency’s model roster. Peters conducted a series of open castings that saw hundreds of hopefuls packing into the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel back in November in response to his social media broadcast ‘seeking models, musicians, influencers, skaters, and surfers’.

“To say I was surprised when Burberry reached out, would be an understatement,” Peters recalled. “I was truly honoured of how knowledgeable they were of my decades of work, and for entrusting their confidence in me to join the buildout.  It was a fantastic opportunity to collaborate in finding the specific aesthetic they were keen to capture.” 

The SAINT CEO added: “Having the island chosen by a luxury fashion house as the backdrop to their campaign, and Jamaicans being part of the narrative is a positive depiction on film. It also reinforces that glamour and fantastic locations can be associated with Brand Jamaica.” 

Peters’ contribution was a crucial complement to an overseas shortlist of British, African, Asian, and other Caribbean faces that was winnowed down by the project’s casting directors Finlay Macaulay and Anita Bitton. 

In addition to his four SAINT models who made the final cut, Peters disclosed that actor and musician Sheldon Shepherd also made the final cut as the fifth Jamaican featured in the new campaign currently enjoying traction across multiple media platforms worldwide.

Team Burberry jetted onto the island back in December with the brand’s chief creative officer Daniel Lee in tow as team lead in both oversight and styling capacities. They decamped at GoldenEye Resort in St. Mary which serves as the scenic backdrop of the campaign.   
 
Lensed by English photographer Tyrone Lebon, who was also behind the camera for Burberry’s Fall/Winter 2023 campaign shot in the Isle of Skye in Scotland last year, the warmer climes of the Caribbean paradise sets the tone for the latest Burberry collection taking the brand’s heritage elements in a fresh direction. 

Designer Lee makes such traditional brand elements as the knight clip, shield, and ‘b’ buckles which make a significant appearance and integrate them across garments and accessories. Adding flourishes to the seasonal theme, prints and embroideries of English garden flowers and summer fruits also decorate the pieces.

Canopied motifs of lush fauna, natural textures and freshwater vistas recur throughout the campaign visuals, a striking contrast to the brand’s traditional knight clip and shield and ‘b’ buckle iconography which pepper the English garden and fruit-themed wardrobe. 

SAINT’s Newman, who incidentally also shot Diotima’s Spring 2024 ad campaign as its solo face at GoldenEye two months ago for which is the sole featured face, working on the Burberry campaign on home turf felt like kismet. “I feel elated and blessed to have been part of it,” she shared with Our Today. “It was amazing shooting in Jamaica with my SAINT family as well my international model friends like Mayowa Nicholas. There was so much fun and laughter during the shoot and the after party, food and vibes were immaculate, everyone connected, so it was so special.

Meanwhile Bob Marley: One Love co-star Shepherd expressed deep pride with his Burberry get. “I have always enjoyed creativity in fashion. To be given the opportunity to be featured in this campaign is more for my mother than for me. She always wants me to do more with fashion and modelling and loves this kind of thing more than I do. In fact, she would love to be a model.”

“Burberry is a trendsetter and an original in the fashion game. For me to be aligned with such a well known and loved brand in this capacity is new for me and a welcome addition to my resume,” added Shepherd, no stranger to global advertising campaigns, having starred alongside his No Maddz bandmates and track icon Usain Bolt in a 2011 PUMA campaign.

Recalling a now treasured memory from the GoldenEye shoot, the multi-hyphenate star said: “It would have been watching Sister Nancy (who was also cast for the Burberry campaign) strike poses for the camera. She is a legendary raggamuffin goddess.” 

Elsewhere, SAINT’s fast-rising star McHail reminisced that his Burberry shoot experience was an exceptional one. “GoldenEye is such a beautiful property, there’s such a natural mystic to it, I could totally understand why Bob Marley would’ve spent so much time there. Everyone was in sort of a cheerful flow state, I could tell great art was being made but at the same time we were all having so much fun,” he said. 

For the 20-year-old model, he disclosed that “my most memorable moment was actually off-set when I was having lunch with Deiwght. I was expressing my immense joy being part of the production, to which he replied, “Son, this is only the beginning.”