Erykah Badu Is the New Face of Givenchy

Singer worked with Riccardo Tisci for the ads

Surprise!

When it came to picking a face for Givenchy's spring 2014 campaign, Riccardo Tisci had a lot of famous friends to choose from (including pals Kim Kardashian and Kanye West).

Yet it was singer Erykah Badu—a mere acquaintance of the designer—that landed the gig.

Why? Well, Tisci told Style.com: "She's one of the most stylish women I've met in my life. She's got such a good sense of proportion, of colors."

If that wasn't high enough praise he also calls the Grammy winner an "icon." And goes on to add that he had her Badu in mind as he was working for the line. That's almost muse status!

It is important to note that in addition to Badu, all the models in the new campaign are women of color, which is in stark contrast to what's been happening on the runways.

But diversity is something that Tisci has been pushing for for a long time. "I discovered a lot of black girls, and I've been always supporting them," he shared, adding: "At the end of the day, why are not so many black girls or Latin girls in shows? When you have an American president who is black! When I see this happening, it's quite sad, I think. People can be so avant-garde, so advanced, but actually not, because people are still making differences between skin color."

And he's not just stopping at race. He doesn't want to see the same supermodel on the every billboard either:

"What I want to do with my advertising campaign is spread the love. Already now it's been three seasons that I've been using people that express something—they are great artists, or beautiful women, or stylish women, or models that I really believe in. It's kind of a family portfolio."

And what a lovely family it is!