Set against the stark yet effervescent environs of Joshua Tree, model and musician Lucky Blue, his wife, Nara Aziza Pellman, and their daughter, Rumble Honey—settled into the organic attributes of the iconic Doolittle House for this year’s Oliver Peoples Spring 2022 campaign. With its distinct shape, the home radiates from the desert floor even though its neutral color palette aligns with the sands and towering rock formations.
Within the home and along its expansive outdoor terraces, photographer, Matthew Brookes, captured the Smith trio (soon to be a quartet) for their first-ever photo shoot as a family. It’s a real-life love story—sung in harmony with the home’s eye-catching architecture and photographed with a relaxed vibrance.
Lucky Blue has been a guiding force in fashion since he walked his first runway show. Along the way to global recognition, the cover star coupled his modeling with acting in films and drumming for his band, The Atomics. Always a grounded figure and dedicated to family, he’s prioritized marriage and fatherhood, too. As such, together, the entire Smith family has come to define the future of style.
For this shoot, the one-of-a-kind Doolittle House was an apt setting—not only because the geometries play against the architecture of Oliver Peoples frames, but also because it was designed by the visionary Kendrick Bangs Kellogg in the 1980s to represent an unmatched vision of the future. Even today, it upholds this grand mission. To walk through the flowing 4,643-square-foot space makes evident the fact that every single element is not only unique but uniquely handcrafted to coalesce into a rare, comprehensive creation. Nothing appears twice and every component correlates to the next.
There’s a sublime sense of structure between the sprawling sunken living room, the half-moon kitchen, the waterfall in the master bathroom and manifestations elsewhere. The contributions of the original interior designer John Vugrin
harmonize with the architecture. As with Oliver Peoples frames, each attribute required careful consideration and the utmost expertise to be crafted. Altogether, the home is a work of art in concert with its natural surroundings and the mystique of Joshua Tree further underscores its magic.
Throughout the textured campaign visuals, soaked in Southern California sun and sandy desert tones, observers will catch brand-new Oliver Peoples additions on the Smith family, from titanium frames that have been made in Japan to striking and glamorous shapes with unexpected colors. Underlying each item is the impressive attention to detail that Oliver Peoples has come to be known for, evidenced by creative new filigrees, arresting acetate finishes and more.
The campaign is a confluence of inspiration one finds only in the most sincere love songs: the characters are real; the stage is a masterpiece. Here, also, the accessories bring both even closer together. It took 20 years for Kellogg to complete the Doolittle House with Vugrin, but even a quick glimpse at the photos taken by Brookes—with all their shapes and shadows, frames and lenses, and the mastery of the distinct Oliver Peoples details—makes clear that a home should always be filled with the sound of love.
