The Triumph of "Big Pants": How Jude Bellingham’s Calvin Klein ad stopped New York traffic and brought comfort back into fashion

A new Calvin Klein brand campaign featuring the 23-year-old world football star and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham has gone far beyond the bounds of a typical fashion release. A huge billboard in Manhattan is causing traffic jams, and press commentators are discussing not so much the athlete's sporting form as the unexpected return of fashion to classic, roomy men's briefs.

At the intersection of Houston and Lafayette streets in New York, an unexpected center of urban attraction has emerged. According to Page Six, citing local residents, a new large-scale Calvin Klein underwear ad featuring England player Jude Bellingham has caused noticeable disruptions to traffic.

Drivers of passing cars keep honking, and pedestrians and car owners get out to film a video or take a photo in front of the giant banner.

"All day long, people are honking and getting out of their cars to take video," a resident of the neighboring building told the outlet. Another local said: "Now it's a real tourist attraction. He's just gorgeous."

In just a few days, the advertising installation turned into a popular spot, forcing passersby and drivers to literally put the city's usual rhythm on pause.

Minimalism, comfort, and the underwear empire: the "Icon Cotton Stretch" campaign

As part of his debut for Calvin Klein, the footballer presented the "Icon Cotton Stretch" underwear collection. According to fashion trade publication WWD, the campaign's core philosophy is summed up as "The Icon Underneath" — a concept that says true confidence begins with basic physical comfort and a feeling of ease in your own body.

The visual concept of the shoot is deliberately minimalist:

Jude Bellingham is pictured against a clean neutral backdrop that puts his athletic build front and center. The line includes classic boxer briefs, low-rise trunks, hip briefs, and slim boxers.

For 23-year-old Bellingham, the campaign was another step in strengthening his status as one of the most sought-after ambassadors off the football pitch. The Real Madrid midfielder had previously taken part in advertising campaigns for fashion giants such as Louis Vuitton and Kim Kardashian’s Skims brand, where he also showcased the men’s underwear line.

“Real men don’t wear mini briefs”: the British press reacts

While New Yorkers are looking at the billboard in Manhattan, in British journalism the campaign has sparked a wave of ironic reflection on men’s underwear standards. The publication’s columnist The Guardian Adrian Chiles dedicated a separate essay to Bellingham, expressing genuine delight at the return of classic full-coverage cuts to fashion.

Chiles, by his own admission, has never been a fan of designer brands. His only experience of this kind of collaboration was with the Björn Borg brand: the brand gave him briefs, but, to the journalist’s ironic surprise, showed no interest in his photos wearing them. After wearing them out, Chiles happily returned to his usual Marks & Spencer underwear.

Even so, the journalist closely follows Calvin Klein ambassadors and assesses the evolution of male imagery in the brand’s advertising:

• Freddie Ljungberg was once remembered for his excessive amount of body oil, which made him seem like a “slippery fish”.
• David Beckham, despite a widespread misconception, never modeled for Calvin Klein (he has appeared in ads for Armani, H&M and Hugo Boss).
• Jeremy Allen White (the star of the series “The Bear”), whom Chiles had previously described as “a bit stocky and like ordinary people,” unexpectedly appeared on billboards with a sculpted torso, as hard as his cast-iron skillets.

Against this backdrop, Bellingham’s appearance in roomy, well-fitting briefs (which Chiles jokingly called “apple catchers”) looks like a triumph of common sense. Despite the fact that Chiles’s colleagues at the Guardian editorial team openly objectified the footballer’s athletic figure (one of his colleagues wrote to him directly: “Adrian, I assure you, absolutely no one is thinking about briefs when they look at these photos!”), сам журналист призвал обратить внимание на главное: большой, удобный крой вернулся в моду.

Интересно и то, что Чайлз учился с Беллингемом в одной и той же начальной школе, хотя и шутит, что учитель физкультуры у будущего футболиста явно был более требовательным.

Конец эпохи «томного глянца»: почему естественность Беллингема убеждает

Главное достоинство фотосессии Беллингема — отказ от искусственной сексуальности и пафоса, характерных для рекламных кампаний прошлых десятилетий.

Обозреватели выделяют отсутствие «томных поглядываний» и вымученных поз. В одном из наиболее характерных кадров футболист держится большим пальцем за край резинки трусов. В классической бельевой фотографии этот жест обычно имитирует намерение снять белье. Однако в исполнении Беллингема кадр выглядит совершенно иначе: кажется, будто спортсмен просто демонстрирует эластичность пояса или показывает, насколько похудел.

Убедительность, естественность и отсутствие претенциозности делают эту рекламную кампанию Calvin Klein одной из самых заметных в сезоне — как с точки зрения визуальной культуры, так и с точки зрения коммерческого эффекта.