W-D Man. Artistic direction and visual communication

In 2011 W-D MAN assigned the artistic direction and visual communications for its brand to AR.CH.IT Luca Cipelletti.

Since the founding of the brand, this close-knit collaboration has positioned it in a well-defined and endorsed narrative.

A Clean Well-Lighted Place: the essential need to carve out a clean and well lighted place, a place to experience with dignity and in harmony with the surrounding environment.

The short story by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1926, defines the idea around which W-D MAN was founded and built, a sartorial project that has the objective of creating a forgotten style, comfortable but also disciplined. A life style where the product is elevated to an ideal standard, a space in which the present is experienced while learning from the past.

The preliminary advertising campaign for the launch of the first collection, a revisiting of the classic sport jacket in six different models, includes illustrations, as opposed to photographs, by Liselotte Watkinsin perfect harmony with the product’s informal versatility. In fact, the six jackets were illustrated and inserted into six settings familiar to the Clean Well Dressed Man: the rooms of his home and his favorite place.

The teasers were followed by Thomas Klementsson photographic shoots set in the intimate spaces of a private Milanese apartment.

The second collection was presented in a temporary showroom that studio AR.CH.IT designed in line with the essential identity of the brand. The space was designed as a contemporary yet multi-layered environment. Some opportunely selected objects (the tables for fabrics by Guglielmo Ulrich, the Cicognino by Franco Albini, the lamps by the BBPR studio and Gino Sarfatti), create a ‘40s and ‘50s style that communicates the idea of the inherent elegance of time and fashion. A place to pause and take a pleasant rest, a clean well-lighted place.