Emporio Armani Fall 2026 Ad Campaign

Dress Code

Review of Emporio Armani Fall 2026 Ad Campaign by Photographer Alasdair McLellan with models Mia Armstrong, Jesephen Akuei, Xiru Yang, Morgan Sahadow, Alexander Kosi, Camero and Kai W

Emporio Armani heads back to school for Fall 2026, though the curriculum is decidedly more sophisticated than the average uniform. Photographed on film by Alasdair McLellan at Berlin’s historic Funkhaus, the campaign draws on the visual codes of colleges and conservatories to frame the collection’s exploration of tailoring, tradition, and youthful self-expression. Models Mia Armstrong, Jesephen Akuei, Xiru Yang, Morgan Sahadow, Alexander Kosi, Camero, and Kai W inhabit the institution as students of the Armani school of dressing.

The Funkhaus proves an especially effective setting. Its weathered brick, monumental concrete columns, parquet floors, wood paneling, and cavernous interiors bring a sense of history without dictating a specific narrative. McLellan moves freely between them, alternating sun-drenched outdoor portraits with warmer interior compositions and crisp black-and-white images. The film photography gives everything a tactile grain and richness, particularly in the moments where hard sunlight carves deep shadows across both architecture and clothes.

Emmanuelle Alt’s styling smartly picks up on the academic premise without reducing it to costume. Three-piece suits, pleated shorts, crisp shirting, ties, berets, loafers, and houndstooth checks suggest the wardrobe of an unusually chic conservatory, but familiar codes are destabilized through Armani’s relaxed proportions. Jackets broaden at the shoulder, trousers pool around the shoe, and traditionally formal pieces mingle with faded denim and textured workwear. Gender distinctions become similarly fluid: women inhabit expansive tailoring while menswear moves between strict suiting and softer, more casual combinations.

There is a pleasing tension between discipline and ease throughout, and the strongest photographs are those that allow that tension to become human. A pair of models collapse laughing together on the floor; elsewhere, formal eveningwear is treated with almost yearbook-like directness. These moments keep the campaign from becoming merely an elegant exercise in location and styling. If anything, the breadth of moods – architectural portraiture, collegiate narrative, black-and-white formality, and casual intimacy – occasionally makes the story feel more like a collection of related chapters than a single tightly defined idea, but McLellan’s warm, analogue sensibility holds them convincingly together.

It is ultimately an apt expression of Emporio Armani itself: respectful of established codes but much less interested in obeying them. The campaign makes a persuasive case that dressing for school need not mean following the uniform – sometimes the best students are the ones who know exactly which rules to bend.