Dior is making the most of its appointment of a female designer of its womenswear for the first time in its history with its latest campaign starring Jennifer Lawrence in pieces from the pre-fall collection and discussing Maria Grazia Chiuri in a behind-the-scenes video.

With seasonal fashion campaigns now being as newsworthy as runway shows and other big brand events, the ‘back story’ is also increasingly being pushed forward so that by the time consumers see a big brand ad in a glossy magazine, the thinking behind that ad has been discussed and analysed at length.

For this new campaign we see Lawrence in Chiuri’s We Should All Be feminists T-shirt plus a choker, jeans, logo slingback shoes and carrying a J’ADior bag. It’s a world away from some of the brand’s advertising under some Chiuri’s male predecessors and is surprisingly casual compared to some earlier campaigns. It’s also very different from the aggressively sexual ads fronted by Charlize Theron for the brand’s J’Adore fragrance.

Brigitte Lacombe shot the pictures while Fabien Baron directed the video, called La Fille Américaine. In it, Lawrence is sat in a chair doing those things we all do every day such as texting, playing with a canary, deliberately knocking a flower vase onto the floor (what do you mean, you don’t text every day?)

In the behind the scenes video Lawrence tells us how fab it is to work with a female designer “who understands a woman’s body” (unlike all those male designers who have no idea how to make clothes fit), as well as with a female photographer, as there “aren’t very many”.

She doesn’t mention whether or not she thinks it’s crappy working with a male video director so we’ll draw out own conclusions there.

Sarcasm aside though, it may not be a masterwork, but it is a refreshing change and is an interesting pitch for the brand away from a couture focus and into a bit more of the real world (even with that canary and flower vase).