That’s Fashion, Sweetie: Your Favorite TikToker Just Landed a Gucci Campaign


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It’s no surprise that TikTokers have taken the world by storm in the past two years. Originally deemed cringy and embarrassing, the collective boredom and need for a creative outlet over the past two years have meant a boom in the app’s usage. As a result, it launched many content creators into fame. The platform’s growth meant an inevitable bleed into other industries, evident by the new Netflix show “Hype House” and Addison Rae and Dixie D’Amelio’s attendance at the 2021 Met Gala.

Stars crossing into other industries, especially into fashion, isn’t a new concept either; Jeff Goldblum and Asa Butterfield just walked for Prada, Madonna for Jean Paul Gaultier, Jennifer Lopez for Versace, Lady Gaga for Mugler, and, while ironic as their Zoolander characters, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson strutted down Valentino’s runway. 

The flip side of fashion blending into film and entertainment is just as frequent, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Abbey Lee Kershaw starring in “Mad Max: Fury Road,” as well as Cara Delevingne in “Paper Towns.”

Unsurprisingly, one notable TikToker just landed a huge campaign, and no, it’s not Dixie D’Amelio for Valentino, and as much as I would love to gush about Clara Perlmutter — aka TinyJewishGirl — and her fabulous new Paper Magazine spread, it’s not her either.

We’re here to discuss Francis Bourgeois — real name Luke Nicholson — and his Gucci x North Face campaign. 

Bourgeois’s claim to fame on TikTok is his love of trains, dedicating his entire account to spotting, riding and celebrating trains as he gushes about each model he encounters. He recently posted two TikToks with Joe Jonas, even letting Jonas don his “GoPro duties” in one of the train spotting videos of the day. You might have seen Bourgeois pop up as a joke with some of the train names and his serious discussion about them, but he thrives on social media, his TikTok having 2.2 million followers and his Instagram 1.3 million. 

Despite the silly angle the GoPro gives Bourgeois’ face in some videos, I’m not surprised he landed a massive campaign. He has the obvious features of a model — sharp features, relaxed hair, tall, slim build — but his personality is to die for. 

He truly is a child at heart and was wise to take his niche content to TikTok, the land of niche content. While he faced some backlash after people discovered his true identity — people fearing that Bourgeois was a completely made-up persona while he kept his f-boy tendencies in real life, as seen through his old photos that were unlike his current flowy and bright personality. Addressing the backlash, Bourgeois explained in a video that before the pandemic, he traded up his love for trains for a gym membership and new clothes to fit in. However, with the lockdown in England, he grew out his hair and decided to take the quarantine period to return to his passion of train spotting. 

In his new one minute 15-second Gucci x North Face collection video campaign, presented by High Snobiety, you can easily spot Bourgeois in his train conductor’s outfit, making announcements, checking tickets, shoving fuel and having a grand old time inside the train. While not the main star of the campaign, Bourgeois had a lot of screen time and his presence warmed my heart.

While I am obviously excited about some collection pieces — personally, not big on fanny packs or major logo usage — Bourgeois’s cameo in the campaign gives us a gentle reminder that we don’t need to have everything figured out. Prepandemic, there has always been so much pressure to figure things out by the time we get to college, as if our 18-year-old selves in May versus our 18-year-old selves in August are light years apart in maturity and adultness. 

But, as Bourgeois has shown us, it’s okay to revert back to older dreams and passions, and, even if we feel lost now, we’ll find our way to what we are meant to be and do — just as Bourgeois did with trains after a period of feeling lost and confused. 

We can still be children and pursue our passions, and, especially now, we can make anything a career. So, whether it is statistics or train spotting, take time for yourself and nurture what your heart is attracted to. 

And, maybe one day, you’ll end up in a Gucci campaign.

Hadyn Phillips is a freshman whose column, “That’s Fashion, Sweetie” focuses on fashion in the 21st century, specifically spotlighting students and popular controversy.