Skims spring menswear 2026 Ad Campaign

The actor brings his fictional golfer Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins into a character-led campaign that uses comedy to expand SKIMS’ vision of masculine confidence.

Review of Skims spring menswear 2026 Ad Campaign with Photographer Nadia Lee Cohen with talent Will Ferrell

SKIMS has tapped Will Ferrell for its latest menswear campaign, placing the actor in character as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, the fading professional golfer at the center of his upcoming Netflix comedy series The Hawk. Photographed by Nadia Lee Cohen, the campaign features Ferrell modeling SKIMS Men’s underwear across a series of golf-inspired images and a companion film narrated by SKIMS cofounder Kim Kardashian. The collaboration arrives ahead of the series’ July 16 premiere, turning the campaign into both a product story and an extension of the fictional athlete’s attempted comeback.

Ferrell appears in powder-blue briefs, a white ribbed tank, tube socks, and sneakers, while a white “HAWK” visor and puka shell necklace complete the character’s deliberately dated image. Golf clubs, branded balls, sports drinks, and a sharply defined farmer’s tan reinforce the visual mythology of a former champion still performing the version of masculinity that once made him famous. In one image, Hawkins poses sternly beside a golf ball; in another, he sends blue liquid spraying from a SKIMS bottle. The photographs maintain the composed sensuality of an underwear campaign, but Ferrell’s commitment to the character prevents the images from becoming conventionally seductive.

That tension is the campaign’s strongest device. Lonnie Hawkins is presented as both ridiculous and entirely convinced of his own appeal. Ferrell does not wink at the camera from outside the role. He inhabits the golfer’s self-belief completely, allowing the humor to come from the distance between Hawkins’ confidence and the carefully exaggerated evidence of his decline. SKIMS becomes part of that characterization: the underwear does not transform him into a younger or more idealized figure. It supports the confidence he already believes he possesses.

The campaign film develops that idea through Kardashian’s deadpan narration: “His body says retire. His SKIMS say one more round.” As Hawkins prepares to tee off wearing little more than briefs, socks, sneakers, and golf gloves, the familiar language of a sports comeback is redirected toward underwear. The line “Built for men who still know they’ve got it” operates as both a joke about the character and a clear articulation of the campaign’s consumer message. Confidence is separated from age, athletic dominance, or a conventionally sculpted physique and positioned instead as a mindset.

Ferrell’s casting is therefore more strategic than its initial surprise suggests. At 58, he expands the visual territory of SKIMS Mens beyond a narrowly defined image of youth and physical perfection. His body is neither hidden nor treated as the campaign’s punch line. The comedy comes from Hawkins’ theatrical self-image, not from the fact that an older man is wearing briefs. That distinction allows the campaign to remain playful without undermining the product or the person wearing it.

It also gives SKIMS access to Ferrell’s particular cultural authority. Over a career shaped by characters whose confidence routinely exceeds their competence, the actor has developed a recognizable approach to American masculinity: loud, competitive, emotionally fragile, and strangely resilient. Lonnie Hawkins belongs naturally within that lineage. A former top-ranked golfer seeking one final major, he embodies the kind of inflated self-belief Ferrell has repeatedly turned into both comedy and affection. By casting the character rather than simply the actor, SKIMS gains a complete personality, history, and visual world rather than a standard celebrity endorsement.

The collaboration extends beyond the campaign images. Kardashian previously appeared with Hawkins in a social-media video teaching him how to take a flattering selfie, while the fictional golfer has been given his own Instagram presence and is appearing across promotional activations tied to the Netflix release. This cross-platform approach allows the SKIMS partnership to function inside the entertainment narrative. Hawkins does not pause being a character in order to advertise underwear; wearing SKIMS becomes part of the character’s public comeback.

That integration is what makes the campaign particularly effective. Product placement can often feel attached to entertainment from the outside, but here the brand participates in the fiction. SKIMS provides Hawkins with the uniform for his return, while The Hawk supplies SKIMS with a fully developed comic protagonist. Both sides preserve their identities: the series promotes its central character, and the brand communicates comfort and confidence through a figure audiences can immediately understand.

The visual direction strengthens that balance. Cohen’s controlled, highly stylized photography treats Hawkins with the seriousness he believes he deserves. The framing, saturated details, and exaggerated golf codes create a world that feels carefully constructed rather than casually comedic. That restraint is essential. Had the images pushed too aggressively toward parody, the product might have disappeared behind the joke. Instead, the campaign allows humor, character, and underwear to occupy the same frame.

With Will Ferrell, SKIMS Mens is not simply using an unexpected celebrity to generate attention. It is experimenting with a more narrative form of brand casting, one in which a fictional identity can carry a campaign as convincingly as the person performing it. Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins may be struggling to reclaim his former glory, but his certainty remains intact. SKIMS understands that confidence does not always need to be credible to be compelling.