Lanvin goes real unveiling common people, rather than models in its fall and winter advertising campaign. Creative director of the French house Alber Elbaz has chosen women and men ranging in age from 18 to 80 to feature in a new photo series by photographer Steven Meisel in New York.

Photo: winter 2012 ad, from lanvin.com, clickable

The newly fledged models present various looks—from regal to punkish, WWD says. They are captured in a ‘homestyle’ setting sitting surrounded by shoes, handbags, clothes. Details like a small white mongrel make the ads even more real life like.

The idea was to “bring these clothes back to the street somehow, and seeing how they look on different ages, different sizes,” Elbaz told WWD. “It felt like a crazy family, and I like that.”

It seems that tapping real people for ad campaigns becomes trendy amidst fashion brands. American Apparel has recently kicked off a campaign featuring a 60-years old woman.

This is not the first attempt to bring the Lanvin designs to the street. In 2010, the French brand partnered with Swedish retailer H&M to launch an affordable collection. This time, Lanvin will target mass audience through picturesque images from pages of different magazines globally starting September. The countries includeFrance, the U.S., Italy, Great Britain, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Russia and Brazil, and women’s-only spots will be running in Germany, Spain, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and the Middle East.

Each ad has its individual’s story, character and mood. The eldest participant related that it was her dream at age 18 to come to Parisand be a model, “but she was a showgirl at the Apollo”.

Lanvin said that advertising budgets are significantly smaller than it was in previous fall season, though it will be increased in Asia. On August 21, the company is expected to roll out a viral video about the campaign.

Photo: winter 2012 ad, from lanvin.com, clickable

Photo: winter 2012 ad, from lanvin.com, clickable