Bally Fall 2023 Ad Campaign

Review of Bally Fall 2023 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Simone Bellotti and Photographer Alasdair McLellan with models Joshua Adesope, Joseph Glasser, Nazarit Machin, Lydia Reid, and Will Woodward

Bally rededicates itself to artistry and its Swiss roots with a new Fall 2023 campaign lensed by photographer Alasdair McLellan.

A historic building on Switzerland’s Lake Lugano that has played many roles since it was built in the 1930s, the Villa Heleneum has most recently become the home of the Bally Foundation. With a mission to support contemporary art and culture, the Foundation’s new permanent home held its first exhibition in April of this year, a special feature that blended the work of historical and contemporary artists.

The campaign leans into this spirit of trans-historical artistry and the location’s gorgeous architecture and landscape. McLellan alternately captures his models alone in moments of dreamy introspection, or in pairs in moments of interpersonal connection – all of which take on deep psychic connotations in their connection to the sweeping setting. We feel as if we have just stepped into one of the novels of Proust or Mann, encountering eccentric but sophisticated members of bourgeois society who are in the process of losing or discovering themselves.

The campaign is the first from Bally since the internal appointment of new creative director Simone Bellotti, and we can detect the seeds of a strong new direction. It’s a smart choice to use the transitional period to emphasize the house’s history, leaning into its Swiss heritage and opting for a timelessly alluring aesthetic of literary sophistication.