Gucci is ready to dance again.
For Gucci Primavera, the House brings together an extraordinary cast of personalities, generations and different expressions of contemporary beauty. At the center of it all is Kate Moss, starring in Johan Renck’s hypnotic campaign film And We Shall Dance Again. Surrounding that cinematic moment is a striking portrait series photographed by Michal Chelbin, featuring some particularly fascinating Gucci men: Tom Brady, Shawn Mendes, Jin, Xiao Zhan, Tarzzan and EsDeeKid.
It feels less like the introduction of a single “Gucci man” and more like six completely different answers to the question of what masculine style can look like today.
And We Shall Dance Again
The campaign film begins somewhere between a private gathering, an old social club and a half-forgotten dream.
Directed by Johan Renck, And We Shall Dance Again: Gucci Primavera places Kate Moss before a room of initially disconnected strangers. Moss lip-syncs to Chris Isaak’s unmistakably melancholic “Wicked Game,” while the people surrounding her slowly begin to acknowledge one another.
The tension gradually breaks.
Bodies move. People connect. And eventually, they dance.
There is something wonderfully familiar about the construction of the film, particularly for anyone who remembers Renck’s celebrated 2003 music video for The Knife’s “Pass This On.” That video similarly transformed an awkward social gathering through the presence of an unexpected performer until observation gave way to movement.
More than two decades later, Renck revisits some of those visual ideas for Gucci, but this time within Demna’s developing universe for the House.
The title says everything: we shall dance again.
There is optimism beneath the darkness. Primavera means spring—a season associated with renewal, awakening and beginning again. Gucci takes that idea and turns it into something physical. People who were isolated begin to look at each other. Distance becomes attraction. Stillness becomes movement.
And Kate Moss, one of fashion’s most enduring cultural figures, stands right in the middle of it.
The Gucci Man Is No Longer Just One Man
For Fashionably Male, however, the accompanying portraits give us another reason to pay attention.
Photographed by Michal Chelbin, the Primavera campaign references the composition and grandeur of classical portraiture. These aren’t straightforward celebrity advertisements. The rooms, furniture, poses and unusual combinations of clothing give the images the strange intimacy of paintings populated by contemporary celebrities.
And Gucci’s male casting is particularly good.
There is no attempt to make every man conform to the same template.
Instead, we get Tom Brady.
We get Shawn Mendes.
We get Jin.
We get Xiao Zhan.
We get Tarzzan.
And we get EsDeeKid.
Six men who could hardly represent more different corners of contemporary culture.
Tom Brady: The Mature Gucci Man
At 49, Tom Brady may be one of the most interesting choices in the entire cast.
For decades, Brady’s image has been inseparable from an extremely recognizable version of American masculinity: athlete, quarterback, discipline, competition and physical excellence.
Gucci takes that established image and shifts it into fashion.
Dressed in black leather, Brady appears mature, composed and completely comfortable occupying the frame. The result isn’t an attempt to make him look younger. That’s precisely why it works.
There is something very attractive about seeing luxury fashion embrace a man approaching 50 without disguising the authority that comes with age.
The athlete has become the Gucci gentleman.
Shawn Mendes Turns Up the Sensuality
Then there is Shawn Mendes, bringing an entirely different temperature to Primavera.
Mendes has spent years moving between musician, celebrity and fashion figure, but Gucci understands exactly what makes him compelling in an image: his physicality.
The close-fitting clothing, exposed arms, tattoos and leather accessories give his portrait an immediate sensual charge. It doesn’t require shirtlessness or obvious provocation. Instead, the styling allows the body underneath the clothing to remain present.
That distinction matters.
The best menswear photography has always understood that sometimes a dressed man can be considerably sexier than an undressed one.
Mendes looks grown, masculine and slightly dangerous—a Gucci transformation that feels particularly convincing.
Jin: Global Idol Meets Italian House
Jin of BTS brings another definition of male beauty entirely.
As a Gucci Global Brand Ambassador, Jin has already developed a relationship with the House, but Primavera places his immaculate star image against tougher fashion codes.
Racing-influenced leather, Gucci branding and GG monogram create an interesting contrast with the refinement audiences associate with him.
It also demonstrates just how international the Gucci man has become.
Italian luxury no longer communicates through a narrowly European ideal of masculine beauty. Jin’s enormous global audience and unmistakable presence make him central to a fashion conversation that exists simultaneously in Seoul, Milan, New York, Paris and everywhere a phone screen can reach.
Xiao Zhan in Gold
If Brady is restrained and Mendes is sensual, Xiao Zhan gets one of Primavera’s most deliciously luxurious propositions.
The Chinese actor and Gucci Global Brand Ambassador reclines in shimmering metallic gold trousers, surrounded by an interior whose old-world atmosphere makes the clothing appear even more surreal.
It’s a fantastic collision.
The posture feels relaxed, almost languid, while the trousers refuse to disappear quietly into the room.
This is masculine glamour without apology.
And perhaps that is one of Demna’s most interesting propositions at Gucci: men don’t have to choose between masculinity and decoration.
They can have both.
Tarzzan and the New Generation
Tarzzan introduces yet another energy.
The South Korean artist appears in a dramatically draped, asymmetric silhouette that moves the conversation away from conventional tailoring and toward something looser and more experimental.
His presence alongside globally established figures such as Brady and Moss is significant.
Gucci isn’t simply casting according to traditional celebrity hierarchy. The House is placing different generations, cultural references and audiences beside one another and allowing the contrast to become part of the campaign.
That makes Primavera feel alive rather than overly calculated.
EsDeeKid: Mystery in Gucci
And then comes EsDeeKid.
The masked British rapper might be the most unexpected male casting choice of the group—and therefore one of the most compelling.
His anonymity remains intact, but Gucci completely transforms the silhouette surrounding it. Leather, House stripes, dramatically wide metallic trousers and the balaclava create an image somewhere between underground music culture and exaggerated luxury.
Most importantly, Gucci doesn’t remove the mystery that made EsDeeKid interesting in the first place.
It amplifies it.
In a campaign filled with some of the most recognizable faces on the planet, having a man whose face remains deliberately hidden becomes strangely powerful.
Six Different Masculinities, One Gucci
Put the portraits together and something becomes obvious.
There isn’t a single Primavera man.
Tom Brady gives us maturity and athletic authority.
Shawn Mendes gives us sensuality and physical confidence.
Jin gives us polished global pop-star elegance.
Xiao Zhan gives us glamour and sophistication.
Tarzzan brings youthful experimentation.
EsDeeKid brings mystery and underground energy.
They don’t need to resemble one another.
That may be the entire point.
For years, luxury menswear campaigns often communicated a very specific fantasy of the ideal man. Gucci Primavera instead suggests that the modern male fashion fantasy can contain contradictions.
He can be 49 or twenty-something.
He can be an athlete, actor, idol, singer or rapper.
He can wear severe black leather or shimmering gold trousers.
He can expose his face to millions of people—or hide it completely.
He can be traditionally handsome, eccentric, sensual, elegant, mysterious or some combination of all of them.
Primavera Means Beginning Again
That brings us back to Kate Moss dancing.
There is a lovely symmetry between Johan Renck’s film and Michal Chelbin’s portraits.
Gucci Primavera @gucci
Creative Direction: Demna Gvasalia
Film: Johan Renck
Photography: Michal Chelbin
Featuring Kate Moss, Tom Brady, Shawn Mendes, Jin, Xiao Zhan, Tarzzan, EsDeeKid and the Gucci Primavera cast.
