Ethel Cain Is Fashion's New Cult Favorite
Ethel Cain, the singer songwriter whom The New York Times dubbed "the most famous girl at the Waffle House," is on the brink of blowing up way beyond her base in rural Alabama.
The 24-year-old, who once proclaimed that she will "never be caught dead" living in New York or Los Angeles, is now the face of Givenchy, a house synonymous with another elite city: Paris.
Lensed by Nick Knight, the Fall/Winter 2022 campaign builds on the buzz that Cain's latest album, Preacher's Daughter, generated upon its release in May.
An alt-pop exercise in the Southern Gothic genre, the album toys with the separation between the art and artist. Off-stage, Cain is known as Hayden Silas Anhedönia — on Preacher's Daughter, Anhedönia sings the story of a character named Ethel Cain, who runs away from home and is murdered by a cannibal.
Hailed as an "astonishing accomplishment," a work that's both beautiful and cruel, Preacher's Daughter introduced Cain to a swath of new fans and bolstered her influence over her pre-existing devotees.
Givenchy's Matthew Williams is right on the nose in casting Cain, along with Playboi Carti, Liya Kebede, and Vittoria Ceretti. "Each model is an icon in their own right," Williams said in a press release.
Cain is on the brink of global alt-pop stardom and clearly, fashion is catching on. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see her make a front row appearance at Paris Fashion Week in September.
