THROUGH PASTEL-COLORED DREAMSCAPES AND QUILTED TABBY LEATHER BAGS, COACH IS DEFINING THE ZEITGEIST OF THE TECH-ENHANCED MOMENT.
Whether we live in a dystopia or utopia depends entirely on your perspective. With seemingly infinite avenues to self-express and a new #aesthetic to follow each week, it's becoming almost impossible to keep up. But not for Coach, as evidenced in their latest campaign starring imma and Grammy award-winning artist Lil Nas X.
imma, a virtual influencer and brainchild of Tokyo-based creative studio, Aww, Inc., is yet another foray into fashion’s current love affair with AI. Her trademark pink bob and dance videos skirt the line between the obviously virtual and uncannily authentic. She’s collabed with the likes of Jaden Smith and Takashi Murakami, is lauded by AI-proponent slash cyberpop queen, Grimes, produces for fashion label Astral Body, and now has landed the starring role of Coach’s global Spring campaign, “Find Your Courage.” All of these accolades while being…well, not real.
But that’s just the gag. Who better to exemplify the Gen Z struggle to “be real” than a binary-coded bot? If there’s anyone who can best understand the challenge of authenticity, it’s a computer-simulated neo-human. Despite her lack of flesh and blood, imma is still so “me coded,” oozing with existentialism. Will I ever understand myself? What does it mean to be real? And most of all, how?
And so begins imma’s journey to realness. At the center of a larger-than-life chess board alongside Lil Nas X, imma learns how to turn challenge into opportunity. Whether in the real world or digital domains, Lil Nas X is not one to be curbed by expectations. As the chess pieces charge forward, he effortlessly dodges the attacks and flips the board on its head. From day one, the Georgia-born and bred musician has carved out his own chart-topping path to success through unabashed self-promo and sheer Gen Z “memery.”
In 2018, the then-19-year-old college dropout by the name of Montero Lamar Hill put his internet finesse and stan Twitter wit to work towards global stardom. His buzzy introduction via “Old Town Road'' under the Nas the rapper-dedicated stage name fused the spectrum between hip-hop and country and rewrote the rules of the music game in the process. Suddenly, a $30 instrumental download and a few self-produced viral Twitter memes were now all you needed for an award-winning track. But what really made Lil Nas X so easily embraceable by fans was his authenticity. He wasn’t just another music label darling with a carefully contrived multiweek promotion strategy and fine-tuned media training. He was one of us—a chronically online young artist with a predilection towards snappy clapbacks to critics. He was real. He was relatable. And my god, he was funny.
Now, the boundary-breaking musician leads imma by example: To unapologetically live by your own rules. And if others have an issue with it? Well, that’s on them. Cue the hair flip.
As imma delves into Lil Nas X’s cotton candy-colored world, this season’s most covetable Coach bags take on a new life virtually and IRL. imma and Lil Nas X rock Coach’s quilted Tabby 26 in Black and Chalk as they progress through the level. In case it was any question, imma may need some guidance on being real but she certainly has the whole fashion thing covered.
Ready, level one. Lil Nas X’s, “The Courage to Change the Game” is the first installment of Coach’s five-level multiverse series spotlighting imma’s venture to become her truest self. As she journeys from one CGI world to the next, imma picks up a few hot tips from Youngji Lee, Camila Mendes, Wu Jinyan and Kōki, on living boldly, rejecting labels and continuously evolving—AKA how to not be an NPC.
EACH WORLD PRESENTS ITS OWN CHALLENGES, LESSONS, AND OF COURSE, ITS OWN TABBY BAG, TOO! BUT JUST EXACTLY WHO IS IMMA? THAT ANSWER IS STILL BUFFERING.
