Review of Stone Island Fall 2025 Ad Campaign by Creative Director Ferdinando Verderi with Photographer David Sims with talent Carmelo Anthony, Don Johnson, Alessandro Borghi, Chokkan, Chy Cartier, & Oleksandr Usyk
Stone Island leans deeper into its signature visual lexicon for the Fall 25 season with the latest chapter of Community as a Form of Research—a campaign that forgoes seasonal spectacle in favor of something more lasting: curiosity, vulnerability, and human texture.
Conceived under the creative direction of Ferdinando Verderi—whose intellectual rigor and poetic clarity continue to shape both this project and the visual language of Prada—the campaign moves beyond standard casting and into collaborative anthropology. Verderi’s framework isn’t just aesthetic; it’s philosophical. At the center is a deceptively simple idea: that a community united by curiosity can become a form of research in itself.
Photographed once again by David Sims and styled by Max Pearmain, the campaign’s stark white backdrop has become a sort of Stone Island stage—familiar, elemental, even institutional. But it’s not minimalism for minimalism’s sake. Rather, the blank space allows the portraits to radiate intimacy. It’s a visual reset that strips away context so we can better meet the person in front of us, be they Hall of Fame basketball legend Carmelo Anthony or a Tokyo-based DIY’er named Chokkan.
As in past iterations, the cast spans creative disciplines, age, geography, and fame. Alessandro Borghi. Earl Sweatshirt. Charlotte Day Wilson. Bret Easton Ellis. Oleksandr Usyk. Clint 419. The net is deliberately wide. But it’s the questions—curated in collaboration with Serpentine Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist—that give this project its emotional and intellectual depth. Presented as “A Research Project in 100 Questions,” the responses sit beside the campaign portraits like footnotes from the soul: poetic, deflective, humorous, reflective, wounded.
“I wouldn’t give advice. I would say, you’re killing it.” – Chy Cartier, Musician
“Never expect anything.” – Chokkan, DIY’er
“I belong to nothing.” – Chokkan
Each quote reveals a flash of worldview. Some answers feel like performance art; others like diary entries left ajar. Together, they create a kind of ambient manifesto for modern identity—where style is inseparable from inner life.
And that’s where Stone Island’s formula feels particularly potent. The garments—signature layers of Ratteen wool, ripstop Prismatico, translucent covers—are still objects of obsession for those who collect (as one participant notes, “I own over 200 Massimo Osti pieces”). But here they become conversational tools. What you wear is no longer the final statement—it’s the first question.
The accompanying video brings further dimensionality to the format. Edited like a sensory flash, the film cuts between rapid answers, slow-motion portraits, and digital artifacts, creating a visual collage that feels almost like a research reel. It’s abstract, impressionistic, and intentionally fragmented—just like memory.
By now, the “Community as a Form of Research” platform is well-established, but it remains a standout in an era of cookie-cutter influencer campaigns. Its power lies in its refusal to simply sell. It reflects instead. And in an increasingly noisy world, reflection is quietly radical.
Ferdinando Verderi understands this deeply. In a time when most campaigns shout, his whisper carries.
But don’t mistake subtlety for softness. There’s something quietly defiant in asking a boxer what brings him peace, or a rapper about skincare routines. The questions dig where logos often don’t. In this world, character is the new clout, and a perfectly engineered ripstop jacket is just the opening line in a much longer conversation.
Stone Island isn’t just building a customer base—it’s assembling a thinking class. Call it fashion’s version of a brain trust, dressed in performance flannel and translucent moleskin. The result isn’t a moodboard; it’s a manifesto.
And for a brand obsessed with outer layers, it’s refreshing to see one campaign go all in on what’s underneath.
Creative Director | Ferdinando Verderi
Photographer/Director | David Sims
Talent | Carmelo Anthony, Don Johnson, Alessandro Borghi, Chokkan, Chy Cartier, & Oleksandr Usyk
Stylist | Max Pearmain
Questions Curated By | Hans Ulrich Obrist – Serpentine Gallery’s Artistic Director