Bad boy pop-star, Justin Bieber is the new face and body of Calvin Klein underwear and jeans. The global ad campaign was shot by the uber-hip photography team of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott in New York City and launched yesterday through social media outlets. Bieber’s 21 million instagram followers gawked at the striped down Bieber on his feed which he tagged ” Officially part of the legacy.” His completely inked arms and worked out physique were revealed to pretty much all of human-kind. The legacy which he is referring is obviously the 1990 face for the Calvin Klein brand, Mark Walberg whose half naked body was plastered across massive billboards from Times Square to Los Angeles. No ink with “Marky Mark” though, whose tanned body was absent of tattoos almost a quarter century ago. That campaign marked a pivotal moment in the culture, which boasted that the male body was equally as provocative as the female. The images were photographed by Herb Ritts and ran in black and white just as the Bieber images are currently. The current campaign seems more aggressive with strongly contrasting black and white images whereas the Marky Mark images were lighter overall and in a sense more beautiful.
“Justine joins a long line of musicians, models, celebrities and fashion icons that have been featured in our ad campaigns” said a Calvin Klein representative. Other past ambassadors are Iggie Azalea, Joe Jonus, Sam Smith, Taylor Swift among others. No doubt Justin’s followers on social media factored into the decision to partner with him on this strategy. Bieber’s female cohort in the ads is super-model, Lara Stone who writhes around with Bieber wearing only her Calvins. Its a beautiful campaign with strong, strident images that align with the iconic brand that changed the course of fashion, jeans and of course underwear. #mycalvins.
Check out the steamy video: