Miley Cyrus has consistently embraced risk-taking. Over the years, she has shed as many skins as she has albums, moving effortlessly from Disney star to rebellious pop provocateur, then to stripped-back country-rock storyteller. This instinct for reinvention has now carried her into the rarefied world of Maison Margiela, where she has been named the house’s first global ambassador and the face of its Autumn/Winter 2025 campaign.
The partnership is striking, not least because Margiela has traditionally kept celebrities at arm’s length. Known for its anonymity, its deconstruction, and it’s almost academic approach to design, the house rarely leans into star power. And yet, there is something about Cyrus that makes the fit feel inevitable. She is a shape-shifter, a performer who thrives on transformation—exactly the qualities that define Margiela’s aesthetic.
The campaign, shot by Paolo Roversi, is a study in raw intimacy. Cyrus appears nude; her body is covered in layers of white paint, and the only accessory is a pair of Margiela’s iconic painted Tabi boots. The look references the maison’s celebrated “bianchetto” technique, first seen in 1989, where white paint is used to obscure or reimagine garments. Here, it turns Cyrus herself into a Margiela object, a living embodiment of the house’s philosophy that clothing—and by extension identity—is never fixed, only ever in flux.
Roversi’s portraits are soft and dreamlike, almost painterly in their depth. The body paint blurs the line between flesh and fabric, while the stark presence of the Tabi grounds the images firmly in the brand’s codes. Cyrus, who is so often seen in full-throttle performance mode, is presented differently here: quieter, contemplative, yet no less powerful.
The choice of Cyrus as ambassador creates a deliberate tension. Margiela has always existed in its orbit, far removed from the celebrity-driven machine of modern fashion. Cyrus, by contrast, is one of the most recognizable figures in popular culture, and her life—professional and personal—has played out under a relentless spotlight. But it is precisely this visibility that gives the campaign its charge. By stripping her bare, Roversi and Margiela reclaim Cyrus from the noise, recasting her as something elemental, even timeless.
For Cyrus, the move also signals a new chapter. The wild theatrics of her “Bangerz” era may have defined her for a time, but recent years have seen her adopt a more nuanced, self-possessed image. Aligning with Margiela reinforces this evolution. It places her not as a pop star dabbling in fashion, but as a figure who can embody the maison’s layered, intellectual codes without diluting their meaning.
What makes the campaign particularly compelling is the way it folds Cyrus’s personal story into Margiela’s own history. Both are masters of reinvention. Both are unafraid of erasure and renewal. And both understand that identity is as much about what is concealed as what is revealed.
It is easy to imagine that Margiela’s founder, who famously avoided the limelight, would have relished the paradox of choosing Cyrus as ambassador: a star who thrives on exposure yet has made vulnerability her greatest strength.
As fashion houses race to secure celebrity ambassadors, the Margiela–Cyrus partnership feels different. It is not about mass recognition or quick sales, but about storytelling—about capturing a moment where art, performance, and fashion collide.
In a single campaign, Miley Cyrus has not only become the face of Margiela but also a chapter in its mythology. For the maison, it is a bold step towards the future. For Cyrus, it is another reinvention, one that strips her back to her essence and, paradoxically, makes her larger than ever.
