At first glance, the Paco Rabanne Fall 2021 ad campaign evokes an enigmatic film trailer with fleeting glimpses of a plotline. The camera shifts between vast vistas of the French countryside, the grounds of a grand estate, and moving portraits of Adèle at close range. Starring in every scene: Adèle Exarchopoulos, whose spectrum of emotion invites limitless interpretation.

If Time Out has the markings of an auteur, it represents the combined vision of director Albert Moya; Paco Rabanne creative director Julien Dossena; and stylist Marie-Amélie Sauvé. Adèle embodies an alluring protagonist – alone except for our gaze. Her dress signals a certain hedonism; quotidian glamour and opulent evenings. From one moment to the next, she appears captive, then free – as though escaping from an intense and lavish love story. Deliberately placed and draped in her midst are iconic XL Link jewellery and 1969 bags. Could it be that these gleaming links and dazzling assemblages signify her ornamental armour?

Euphoria, wonder, reflection, release; the feelings that Adèle emits throughout this voyage are transient states that once again revisit the Paco Rabanne leitmotif of inner and outer worlds. They are like the streaks of light that glint from the surface of metal, or pierce through the trees.

The FW21 collection is available at the Paco Rabanne store, 12 rue Cambon 75001, and on pacorabanne.com