After making its runway models dance to the most mainstream of hits last winter, Lanvin took to the street to find new ambassadors. For the brand's upcoming campaign Fall-Winter 2012/2013, it looked for “ordinary” people from 18 to 81 and staged the shoot in a New York hotel room under the creative eye of Steven Meisel, the author of the brand's last coup.

A film is set to release on the web in late August with these model-for-a-day heroes

Shown here in an exclusive preview, the photos will appear in September issues of the international fashion press, and a viral film on these same real people will circulate on the Internet starting August 21. “I was interested to bring these clothes back to the street,” Alber Elbaz told Women's Wear Daily, who says that the model-for-a-day group includes a waiter, a milliner and a former New York cabaret dancer now 80 years old (above).

The campaign by Steven Meisel also has a menswear version (photo: Lanvin)

Alber Elbaz has always been iconoclastic and radical in his vision of woman, this time wanting to reveal “the character, personality, authenticity of women and men who wear Lanvin.” But this winter's Lanvin family is in no way lacking in the stylishness or craziness that now characterizes the Parisian house.