Cars, chicks and money have hardly been at the forefront of our minds when the words of recession ring fervently like an unwanted mantra. But if the luxury goods market is anything to go by, the economic barometer just notched up a few levels to read 'the good ol' days'. Surrealist director and photographer, David LaChapelle commented on our broken aspirations (and cars) at Art Basel Miami last year with his exhibition, Cars and Money - his new collaboration may be in the same vein but speaks a very different message. Behold the Maybach Zeppelin, a half a million pound sedan born from the automotive dynasty Daimler that was rumoured to have considered killing the brand due to slow sales in 2008. But with its concept launch at the Geneva Motor Show last year, Maybach has launched the Zeppelin's advertising campaigns, shot by LaChapelle, which features another dynastic icon - and conveniently haute-lifestyle-connoisseur - Daphne Guinness. The two-part campaign features the original 1931 Zeppelin DS 8, set in a gatsby-esque tableaux, and the new mammoth sedan in the other, that centres Guinness in both time frames as a symbol of bridging the past with the present, as she is well known for doing with her own style. But is it too soon to return to our unashamedly ostentatious ways? Could we be seeing the Zeppelin seductively placed in the music videos of young rappers again? If the Maybach is back, then maybe the good times are not as far away as we thought...
