Cover Here are five luxury brands that put human craftsmanship at the heart of their holiday campaigns, proving why tactile materials and slow artistry still create the most memorable luxury holiday campaigns (Photo: Prada/Youtube)
Here are five luxury brands that put human craftsmanship at the heart of their holiday campaigns, proving why tactile materials and slow artistry still create the most memorable luxury holiday campaigns (Photo: Prada/Youtube)
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Five houses prove that luxury holiday campaigns gain prestige from clay, miniature woodwork and hand-drawn line work
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly common in fashion and beauty advertising, some of the world’s leading luxury houses are taking a different approach to their holiday campaigns. For 2026, Prada, Hermès, Diptyque, Barbour and Byredo have turned to traditional craftsmanship, hands-on techniques and human creativity to bring their seasonal stories to life.
From hand-drawn animation and miniature wooden architecture to stop-motion clay characters and documentary photography, these luxury holiday campaigns celebrate the creative processes that cannot easily be replicated by a prompt. Each brand has enlisted artists, animators and craftspeople to create imagery with a distinctly physical quality, allowing the materials, textures and imperfections of handmade work to become part of the storytelling. These luxury holiday campaigns find their appeal in the details: a brushstroke, a carved wooden surface or the movement of a clay figure captured one frame at a time.
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Prada brings hand-drawn nostalgia alongside Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke
For its seasonal project, “Drawing Prada: Animated by Hand”, Prada looks to the charm of traditional animation. Directed by veteran animator John Pomeroy, the campaign uses classical hand-drawn techniques to create a winter world that feels reminiscent of illustrated storybooks from the mid-20th century.
The production combines hand-inked, cell-style animation with live-action photography by Glen Luchford. Actor Maya Hawke appears alongside other talent, including Sadie Sink, within an illustrated landscape populated by woodland creatures. A mischievous fox and small mice add a playful element to the scenes, giving the campaign the warmth of an animated winter tale.
The visual approach also gives Prada’s seasonal wardrobe room to stand out. Winter layers, knitwear, striped scarves and embellished accessories appear against the illustrated surroundings, with the contrast between drawn elements and photographed garments bringing attention to their textures.
Diptyque creates an enchanted forest with Jean-Simon Roch
For Diptyque, the holiday season takes shape as an imaginative woodland populated by handcrafted objects. The French fragrance house partnered with artist and designer Jean-Simon Roch to create an organic, folk-inspired setting that brings together woodwork, sculptural design and traditional decorative techniques.
The resulting collection of objects includes wooden owls, rabbits on skis, sculpted candle lids and an acorn-shaped spinning top. The latter introduces an element of movement, dispersing fragrance through its kinetic design. Blown glass, turned wood and bespoke decorative pieces give the installation a varied material palette, with each object contributing to the atmosphere of the enchanted forest.
The campaign also draws on Diptyque’s seasonal fragrance identity, particularly its signature resinous Sapin winter scent. The forest-inspired visuals complement the house’s holiday offerings, including Advent calendars and hand-decorated ceramic vessels. Roch’s work gives the campaign a playful quality while keeping traditional craftsmanship at its centre.
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Anthropologie celebrates artistic expression through a series featuring their collaborators
Anthropologie approaches its 2026 holiday season by highlighting its creative partnerships. For its two-pronged ‘On My Way’ campaign, the retailer has commissioned collaborators for various aspects of its in-store holiday displays, from its windows to its shopping totes.
On the other hand, the campaign also features short films that capture the spirit of “coming home for the holidays”, bringing to life the anticipatory feelings that build as the Christmas season approaches.
Rather than centring its seasonal identity on a single visual technique, Anthropologie gives its collaborators room to bring their own creative signatures to the campaign. The result is a holiday offering shaped by personal expression, original design and objects intended to become part of celebrations at home.
Barbour reunites with Wallace & Gromit for a handmade Christmas
Few creative partnerships feel as naturally suited to traditional craftsmanship as Barbour and Aardman Animations. The British heritage label continues its collaboration with the animation studio for an original holiday film featuring Wallace and Gromit, directed by Steve Harding-Hill.
Created through frame-by-frame stop-motion animation, the film uses hand-sculpted plasticine characters and physical miniature sets rather than digital character doubles. Its storyline centres on one of Wallace’s latest inventions, the ‘Walk-o-matic’, an armchair fitted with enormous wellington boots. As expected, the contraption does not go entirely to plan, leaving Wallace stranded in a snowbank and Gromit to come to his rescue.
The familiar humour of the animated duo provides a light-hearted setting for Barbour’s seasonal collection. Waxed jackets, knitwear and cold-weather accessories for dogs are woven into the story, with clothing becoming part of the characters’ winter preparations and gift-giving.
The collaboration works on several levels. Aardman’s distinctive stop-motion aesthetic complements Barbour’s British heritage, while the physical process behind the animation reinforces the campaign’s emphasis on traditional making. The result is a Christmas story that feels personal, playful and unmistakably handmade.
Byredo tells a Swedish winter story through film
Byredo takes a more intimate approach to its 2026 holiday campaign with ‘A Midwinter's Tale’, a film inspired by the winter traditions of Dalarna, a region in central Sweden known for its folk art and craftsmanship. Rather than creating a fantastical festive setting, the fragrance house turns its attention to the everyday life of a local family, following artist Pernilla Norén, musician Gustav Norén and their five children.
The film offers a glimpse into the family's creative world, capturing the rhythms of domestic life, music-making and artistic expression inside their rural home and studio. Their surroundings provide the visual inspiration for a campaign rooted in the Swedish concept of julmys, which evokes the warmth, comfort and togetherness associated with winter.
Byredo's approach gives its holiday campaign a distinctly human perspective. Through moving images and the everyday rituals of a Swedish family, the brand explores the relationship between creativity, cultural heritage and the objects that make a home feel personal. It is a quieter interpretation of festive storytelling, grounded in real people and their surroundings.
Why luxury brands are returning to traditional craftsmanship
The creative direction behind these five campaigns points to a growing appreciation for the human processes involved in making images and objects. Each brand takes a different route, whether through animation, woodworking, sculpture or photography, but they share an interest in the qualities that come from working with physical materials.
As audiences encounter more digitally generated imagery, the appeal of something visibly made by human hands becomes easier to appreciate. Wood grain, clay textures, inked lines and analogue film imperfections give these seasonal stories a sense of physical presence. For brands whose identities have long depended on craftsmanship, that may be one of the most compelling ways to tell a holiday story.
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Chonx Tibajia is a senior editor at Tatler Asia’s T-Labs team, where she writes widely on lifestyle subjects including beauty, style, entertainment and travel. She has a long career in journalism, including roles as a columnist at The Philippine Star, and is the founder of the creative platform Pineappleversed. Beyond Tatler, her bylines appear in regional lifestyle and business publications, showcasing a broad portfolio that spans beauty trends, travel guides and culture pieces.
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