The Autumn/Winter 2021 Campaign

The autumn/winter 2021 campaign, titled (Reset) What Makes A Man, is representative of significant changes at Zegna—both as a brand and as a company.

- Asri Jasman

Far from it being just a marketing gimmick, Zegna’s What Makes A Man campaign—which started in 2019—has been part of an important evolving conversation. The debut began with a simple pointed question: What makes a man? It was a normalising of examining a man’s role in today’s context and an initiative to dispel notions of toxic masculinity by a brand that’s been clothing men for 110 years at the time.

From personal testimonies by noted figures (and for lack of a better term, traditionally masculine personas) like Nicholas Tse and Oscar winner Mahershala Ali, the campaign switched gears with mother-and-son duo Isabelle Adjani and Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis. It became a question of ‘What makes my man?’, a more reflective angle based on personal relationships for spring/ summer 2021.