Catherine Martin Directs a 1920s Ghost Story for Miu Miu’s New Capsule

Martin makes her directorial debut with “Grande Envie,” a short film anchoring Miu Miu’s latest upcycled fashion collection.

Catherine Martin Directs a 1920s Ghost Story for Miu Miu’s New Capsule
Source: Miu Miu

Miu Miu is releasing a new Upcycled capsule collection in collaboration with Catherine Martin, a four-time Academy Award–winning costume and production designer. The special lineup of reimagined vintage garments is presented alongside Grande Envie, a short film marking Martin’s directorial debut with the brand.

Set in the late 1920s on the French Riviera, Grande Envie spins a ghostly love-triangle at an opulent chateau, where a widowed count is haunted by the spirit of his late countess amid a trio of enigmatic young guests. Martin’s cast includes Daisy Ridley, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Diana Silvers, Eliot Sumner and newcomer Callina Liang, with a special appearance by Willem Dafoe as the haunted Count. Martin directs her first film with cinematography by Mandy Walker and styling by Lotta Volkova.


Martin’s capsule revisits 1920s style through sustainable design, transforming pre-loved dresses, vintage denim and even gossamer lace from antique lingerie into contemporary statement pieces. The collection revels in deliberate contrasts—delicate slips layered over striped tees, denim reworked into eveningwear, and rowing blazers paired with boudoir silks—evoking the era’s mix of sporty ease and decadent glamour captured in Jacques Henri Lartigue’s period photography. Each look juxtaposes utilitarian and precious elements in a way that echoes the film’s theme of the past haunting the present, as forgotten garments are reborn with new life on screen.

Catherine Martin Directs a 1920s Ghost Story for Miu Miu’s New Capsule
Source: Miu Miu
Catherine Martin Directs a 1920s Ghost Story for Miu Miu’s New Capsule
Source: Miu Miu
Catherine Martin Directs a 1920s Ghost Story for Miu Miu’s New Capsule
Source: Miu Miu

Photographer Michella Bredahl and art director Edward Quarmby translate Martin’s vision into a series of campaign stills shot on location at the sun-dappled chateau. The images echo the short film’s languid, haunted mood, with cast members posing like wayward spirits drifting through grand stairwells and gardens in their upcycled finery. Miu Miu Upcycled by Catherine Martin will debut on June 7 at the brand’s New Bond Street store in London – available there exclusively for two weeks – before rolling out to select global boutiques from June 21.

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