Jacob Elordi Stars in Bottega Veneta’s New Dreamy Campaign
Bottega Veneta has launched “What Are Dreams,” a new campaign featuring Jacob Elordi, photographed and directed by renowned artist Duane Michals. The shoot, captured in black and white at Michals’s New York residence, merges reality with imagination, inspired by surrealism—the artist’s long-time passion.
Concept and Visual Style
The campaign includes twelve striking images and a short film showcasing Elordi in mysterious, dreamlike environments. He is framed by elements like a flowing curtain, a convex mirror, or a floating feather, all echoing Michals’s distinctive style. Handwritten lines from Michals’s 2001 poem “What Are Dreams,” used as the campaign’s namesake, add a reflective layer to the visuals.
“I’m very much interested in the realm of the invisible. My problem is, ‘how do I make the invisible visible?’ Of course movie making is also a dream, and Frankenstein is a scary dream. Jacob understood exactly what I was trying to do with the project. He was right there for the magic and the mystery of it.” — Duane Michals
Poetic Reflection
In the campaign film, Elordi recites Michals’s poem reflecting on the “midnight movies of the mind... where things look familiar, but not at all the same,” deepening the surreal and introspective tone of the project.
Behind-the-Scenes Insight
Before the campaign, Elordi shared with CR a candid glimpse of preparing for the Oscars alongside Dsquared2's designers Dean and Dan Caten, anchoring the campaign in a real-world context.
Artistic Collaboration
Michals, recognized for intertwining text and photography to reveal unseen worlds, described the project as a collective quest for “magic and mystery,” fully embraced by Elordi’s participation.
Author's summary: Jacob Elordi and Duane Michals merge surrealism and poetry in Bottega Veneta’s evocative “What Are Dreams” campaign, exploring invisible realms through dreamlike imagery and profound reflection.