Zara Men's Spring 2020 Ad Campaign By Craig McDean & Fabien Baron

What might be the best campaign film of the season is also it’s most original.

Zara’s Spring 2020 Man campaign feels less like a fashion film and more like an experimental theater production. Directed by Fabien Baron, the film features a minimalist set and a large cast of men. It is divided into three acts, which each, in turn, consist of three scenes. Each scene features a simple prop – a chair, a mirror, a door – which becomes a tool of expression for this group of characters.

Traditional narrative structures and marketing techniques are eschewed in favor of more raw and physical freedom of self-expression. There is no dialogue or obvious storyline, but each scene conveys a strong sense of character and progression. Stories emerge through body language, conversations happen through facial expressions. The models are not mere mannequins but feel like real characters, real people, each with a strong and individual personality. Elements of contemporary dance, mime, and stage combat seamlessly combine as these men both celebrate and struggle with an understanding of self through their interactions with objects and each other.

Baron reflects on the inspiration for this unique approach to the campaign and its vision of masculinity:

When we created these campaigns it was pre-Covid 19. I guess our minds were already set with something that felt more personal and intimate. Instead of models presenting the clothes, we strongly aimed for their personalities. We wanted a more heartfelt and creative approach to the campaigns, real performances about human nature, rather than a typical fashion film.
– Fabien Baron

A series of still images by iconic photographer Craig McDean deploys similar motifs and furthers this vision of human nature. Using subtle shifts of angle and relying on the strong character of his subjects, he creates simply beautiful photographs that ooze personality. Objects like chairs and ladders become loaded with meaning through the human context in which they are situated. Even the images with no people feel full of life and humanity.

With a rousing and honestly artistic celebration of humanity and a sensitive portrayal of masculinity, this project feels truly special. Rising above the tropes of traditional fashion marketing, it finds a unique voice with the strength to cut through the noise and access something deep within each of us. The objects and people I see in the world before me can be intimidating: I am myself, and these things are not. But to be able to recognize some part of myself in an object, to be able to know that another person is somehow like me – that is freedom, and that is my power as a human being. Zara has brilliantly and beautifully reminded us of that power.