russell athletic

shooting nostalgia for a brand that invented the sweatshirt.

problem

Russell Athletic's Heritage Collection needed campaign photography that could do capture two feelings at once: nostalgic and current. And the images had a real job beyond the mood... they were headed for the campaign's blog content, website, and social, so they needed to hold up across all of it.

solution

The retro direction was a through line across the entire shoot, but it lived in the clothes and the edit, not the locations. We shot in minimal, modern city settings and pulled the nostalgia through everything else... classic styling, and a grainy, film-like treatment in post. The contrast is what made it feel both nostalgic and current.

Most of this project happened well before the cameras came out.

Finding models, booking the locations, building the schedule around the light. The locations we chose were minimal and modern...city landscapes, clean backdrops... which sounds backwards for a heritage campaign. But that was the move: let the setting stay current, and pull the retro through the clothing and the edit. Grain, warmth, that film-like quality, applied with a light enough hand that the images still read as now.

role

fashion, apparel

industry

photographer, creative director

collaboration

investis digital