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On Thursday night, the tailoring brand Zegna hosted a gathering to kick off its new masculinity-focused campaign—and what seemed like a hiccup was soon revealed to be a perfectly fitting start. The night’s centerpiece—a discussion between the campaign’s star Mahersala Ali and the brand’s artistic director Alessandro Sartori—was set to be moderated by the Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Only Ohanian couldn’t make it, as he explained in a video clip he sent along: “I feel like if there’s any reason for me to not be there, the reason I have, which is supporting my wife Serena [Williams] here at the semifinals of the U.S. Open, is a pretty good one,” he said. “Because I wholeheartedly embrace my role as a tennis husband.”
The intention of Zegna’s new ad campaign, rolling out this week, is to raise the question: “What does it mean to be a man today?” The point, of course, is that there is no single correct answer. Tennis Husband is one great possibility; Mahersala Ali, svelte-as-hell in a crimson suit with matching crimson shirt underneath, practices his own brand of jewel-suited masculinity, too.
It’s no secret that suits are among the most masculine-coded things we can buy—and during his discussion with Ali, Sartori didn’t even wait to be asked before exploring that idea in his delightful Italian accent. “It’s very interesting to talk about modern masculinity and why we did so,” he said. The time was right to explore different ideas of masculinity, he explained, because the discussion was already being had at Zegna tailoring appointments around the globe. “When you enter into a person’s apartment and you start speaking about clothes, [it’s about] how to measure garments, how to build an outfit, but more, ‘How do I reflect myself and my personality into the things I’m wearing?’ or even better, ‘How I am able to be my best out there?’”
As Ali pointed out in an interview after the discussion, “Clothes are the first thing that speak for you…it’s a more accurate expression of how you see the world and how you feel about yourself.” So count that as one takeaway from the campaign: finding clothes that enable you to embrace your individual expression is a good first step in finding an evolved form of masculinity. “To be macho is a broken image tied to tradition,” the press release for the campaign reads. “It takes courage to show vulnerability, strength, sensitivity toward others, to dare and show eccentricities.” That means emotionally, of course—but also sartorially.
Brands are increasingly interested in expanding our notions of masculinity: along with Zegna, grooming companies like Gillette and Harry’s are trying to speak to (and maybe even help shape) a more evolved man. Men’s fashion advertising, of course, has long drawn a sharp line from masculinity to stoic, macho poses, to sharp jaws and six-pack abs. As Zegna started to show on Thursday, there are many possible versions of the new masculinity—and plenty of them will involve ultra-cool suits.
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