Edie Campbell in a shot by Mario Testino and illustration by Edward Hall

Burberry has launched a new ad campaign. Tell me something new I hear you say. Well this is something new actually because the luxury brand is hitting a new trail by combining Mario Testino portraits of its star models alongside matching model and still-life illustrations by interior designer-turned-Next Big Thing British artist Edward Hall.

The result is a campaign that looks good but is more than yet another series of luxury ads with glossy pictures of attractive models/celebs in unaffordable clothes. Ok, you’ve guessed it, I LIKE this campaign.

Edie Campbell in a shot by Mario Testino and illustration by Edward Hall

The aim, apart from the obvious one of selling more product, is to promote British art and given that the burberry link will see the illustrations more widely viewed and shared than such things usually are, it succeeds.

Hall’s work is also being shown at the Regent Street, London, Burberry store from June 11 until the end of the month.

Callum Turner in a shot by Mario Testino and illustration by Edward Hall

So what about the product? Let’s face it, that’s the main aim for Burberry. One key feature of the campaign is that this is the first to promote Burberry as a single brand rather than the Prorsum, London and Brit collections it offered previously.

Despite the fact that Edie Campbell and actor Callum Turner are returning for the campaign, the product is more important than the celebrity models. For instance, the trench coat is one star and the luxe patchwork bag is another. In the case of the latter, that’s rightly so given that each bag is unique and even gets it own individual name (they’re named after UK streets or towns). Not sure if there’s a Sidcup in there but they’d probably make me one if I had the cash.

Callum Turner in a shot by Mario Testino and illustration by Edward Hall