The men of Moonlight have had a pretty crazy 24 hours. Last night, their black gay coming-of-age film won an Oscar under the most jaw-dropping circumstances in the ceremony’s 89-year history. This morning Ashton Sanders, Mahershala Ali, Trevante Rhodes, and Alex Hibbert announced an exciting new side hustle: Calvin Klein models. The actors — who play Chiron and Juan in what’s now literally the year’s best picture — were shot by Willy Vanderperre for the brand’s spring/summer 17 men’s underwear campaign. Vanderperre is a longtime friend and collaborator of Raf Simons, recently shooting the designer’s first campaign for Calvin Klein.
“Since the beginning, Calvin Klein’s underwear imagery has always made big statements about masculinity; the performances of these actors in Moonlight affected us deeply and made big statements about masculinity in a different way. Somehow we wanted to bring the two together,” said Calvin Klein creative director Pieter Mulier. Simons added that partnership was “an acknowledgement of remarkable actors who are revealing something important of being a man today in what they do.” Simons was also responsible for the suits Sanders, Rhodes, and Hibbert wore in last night’s most fun red carpet photos. After Moonlight‘s historic success, there should be plenty more modeling opportunities — both fully clothed and otherwise — for its leading boys.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Photography Willy Vanderperre