Welcome back to Culture Talk where this volume is all about power pairings and unlikely partnerships that are rewriting the playbook. From The Gstaad Guy teaming up with One&Only Resorts to celeb salad collabs and superheroes hanging from skyscrapers (yes, really) – every drop, stunt, and surprise appearance is engineered to start conversations.
Gstaad Guy x One & Only Resorts
The Gstaad Guy – Instagram’s favourite parody of chalet-rich absurdity — has officially checked in at One&Only Resorts. What started as a spoof of Euro-elite privilege is now fronting a luxury travel campaign, lounging poolside and complaining about “common people” in caftans.
It’s satire meets soft sell: a champagne-soaked wink at wealth, curated for those who want irony with their infinity pool. For One&Only, the collab is a clever twist – showing they’re not just exclusive, they’re in on the joke. And in 2025, that’s what sells: luxury that doesn’t take itself too seriously (but still flies private).
META sponsored a Dior SS25 watch party in a bar hosted by influencer @Ly.as for those that didn’t score a ticket to Jonathan Anderson’s debut Dior Show.
The party positioned Lyas as a boundary-pushing digital-native tapping into fashion’s post-physical era. By decentralizing the “front row,” they democratized access while cultivating exclusivity via token-gated viewing.
This moment marked a deeper shift in how we experience fashion – not as passive consumers, but as participants, enabled by social media and boundary pushing creativity. Lyas has become a master of selling a vibe, an enfant terrible of the fashion world that is changing the landscape of fashion and how we experience it.
What can’t Jamie Laing do? Jamie Laing, podcast host, ultramarathon runner, Candy King… has teamed up with the Salad Project to build a salad inspired by his very own sour watermelon candy, a best seller from his Candy Kittens brand.
Jamie is a master at diversifying his reach, making a salad relevant to his brand image and career. By merging Jamie’s identity and his brand with a salad of all things, what should appear random, actually is a match made in heaven. It’s even made us want to try it…
Justin Bieber Lookalike
The incredible team of 1000.Global teamed up with WELife.Design and clothing brand Beautiful Struggles to fool almost everyone at Paris Fashion Week. This collab is not only an example of great marketing, and free vitality, but also shows off how desperate we all were to believe it was him. In an age of screens and parasocial relationships, the physical sighting of a celeb (real or not) still holds huge currency. Nothing beats the real thing!
Now, the real Justin Bieber has been busy launching a new joint-holding phone case as part of his new apparel brand Skylrk, after months of teasing. The case is a play on Hailey Bieber’s wildly popular Rhode case, which includes a lip gloss holder, and became a viral staple of Hayley’s brand identity.
What’s set the internet alight is not the phonecase itself, but the back and forth between Justin and Hailey in the comment section, after Justin revealed Hailey had patented the tech behind the case – so needed her permission to launch!
Celebrities launching phone cases is a smart move. When consumers buy them, we’re essentially paying to promote that person through an item we have with us at all times.
Not only does this break the ‘celeb 4th wall’ it is another smart way to market both products, diversifying both consumer markets by just being husband and wife.
This unexpected collaboration between Cavalli (known for maximalist, animal-print hedonism) and Skims (minimalist, shapewear-driven basics) was a masterclass in brand contrast synergy. By bridging glamour with function, the drop positioned itself as a redefinition of sensuality in the 2020s.
Cavalli gained access to Skims’ massive DTC pipeline and social-native audience, while Skims leveraged Cavalli’s archival edge to elevate its fashion credibility.
It merged nostalgia (Y2K Cavalli) with modular design. The campaign pushed cinematic visuals: desert heat, mirror landscapes, femme pack energy – strategically shared via micro-influencers before celebrity wearers revealed their looks.
Superman Movie x Shard
Yes, a superhero just casually became London’s most unexpected art installation.
To launch James Gunn’s Superman Warner Bros. suspended a hyper-realistic, 11-foot Superman sculpture over 300m above the city, inside the spire of The Shard —
For a single day only, Superman “watched over” London — no logos, no billboard, just an unmissable skyline intervention that blurred the lines between promo and public art. Two Daily Planet-branded helicopters flew overhead, and the piece was only visible to those who looked up. It gave people an experience, not an ad.
A marketing masterclass in doing more with less—and letting the public do the talking.
