# Character Study: How Modern Menswear Remakes the Classics
The latest men's fashion editorial from WWD arrives not as static imagery but as cinema. Director Erik Tanner and cinematographer Jared Taylor Christiansen transform a character-driven menswear shoot into a film trailer, with stylist Alex Badia orchestrating the wardrobe narrative. The project signals a broader shift in how luxury and contemporary brands present men's collections: through storytelling that extends beyond the photograph into motion, personality, and visual intrigue.
The shoot explores a central thesis that defines current menswear strategy across the industry. Classic silhouettes and heritage codes persist, but they arrive with deliberate subversions. Tailored blazers pair with unexpected textures. Crisp button-ups layer under oversized knits. Traditional trousers meet contemporary proportions. This formula has dominated menswear for three seasons running, yet Badia's approach here strips away the academic feel often attached to "updated classics." Instead, the editorial grounds these pieces in character and intention.
The decision to frame menswear through narrative film rather than still photography reflects a hard truth in contemporary fashion media. Static editorials saturate social feeds. Campaigns dissolve into noise. Video demands presence. It holds attention. A film trailer format specifically borrows momentum from entertainment, positioning designer menswear within the cultural vocabulary of cinema rather than commerce. This tactic appeared in Gucci's recent campaign work and Rick Owens' directorial experiments, but it remains uncommon enough to register as deliberate choice rather than default.
Tanner's involvement carries weight. The director has built a portfolio moving between commercial production and art direction, often exploring tension between refinement and rawness. Paired with Christiansen's cinematography, which tends toward muted palettes and dramatic lighting, the collaboration promises visual language that respects the garments without fetishizing them. Badia's styling typically leans toward proportion play and unexpected juxtaposition, so the pairing suggests menswear that breathes rather than postures.
The implicit message matters for the broader menswear landscape. Designers from Brunello Cucinelli to Craig Green have signaled that men's fashion in 2024 and beyond resists the novelty chase. The customer base skews older, more established, less prone to trend whiplash. Yet that same customer demands evolution. The answer across houses: respect the codes, corrupt them slightly, anchor everything in subtle craftsmanship and narrative depth. Badia's selection likely follows this rubric. A vintage Hermès belt worn with a contemporary oversized shirt. A heritage trench cut short. A sports coat in unexpected linen.
The video format also democratizes luxury menswear in a specific way. Film allows texture, drape, and movement to communicate what still photography often flattens. Suiting behaves differently in motion. Weight becomes apparent. Fabric reveals itself through how it responds to the body and light. For menswear, where construction often matters more than color or pattern, this format unlocks communication that photography struggles to achieve.
WWD's investment in this narrative-first approach to menswear editorial signals industry confidence in a particular audience: men who consume fashion as cultural text rather than product list. These readers engage with the why before the what. They understand that a character-driven menswear film says something about both the clothes and the person selecting them. That distinction matters as menswear continues its slow pivot toward storytelling over spectacle.