Mahershala Ali just won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in ‘Moonlight’, but don’t expect him to start resting on his laurels, he has already embraced a revealing new role - that of underwear model.
Ali posed in his Calvins, along with his ‘Moonlight’ co-stars, for a shoot by Willy Vanderperre, which captured the strength in openness and vulnerability.
“Merely showing oneself, unguarded, can be heroic,” stated the fashion house.
The shoot celebrates the “radical act” of “revealing oneself to another so candidly, so clearly, that it strikes a nerve,” - something Ali and his co-stars had to do during filming and he has found himself continuing to do.
“I’ll be in a coffee shop and someone will come up to me and just open a vein… telling me how this struck a nerve for them, what their experience was,” Ali explained.
“And I really try to be present for that. I’m really thankful for that.”
Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders and Alex Hibbert, who all played the same character, Chiron, at different points in his life, also star in the series of nine photos.
This is designer Raf Simons’ second major Calvin Klein campaign since he joined the fashion house as creative director last August.
Sanders, who has been a fan of Simons work since he was “in the 10th grade”, admitted he almost fainted upon meeting the designer.
But it was 12-year-old Alex Hibbert who stole the show with his strong yet vulnerable poses.
When asked who among his castmates is the most stylish, Alex replied simply: “I am.”
