Aries and Lee Jeans Collaborate To Create An Italian Fantasy

Looking to the Italian 1980s fascination with the American West as a starting point for their self-proclaimed ‘fertile pastiche’ campaign, the Italian streetwear brand Aries has partnered with Lee Jeans to create a 10 SKU capsule collection of classic denim workwear, reinterpreting Lee’s Rider denim, 191-1 Jacket and different workwear styles.

With many historical references woven through the collection, the campaign is an Italian dream; denim weave patterns were inspired by classical and neoclassical sculptures and the traditional Italian hand weave 'Pardi' was adopted as a design focal point. Prints inspired by western films are seen on matching jackets and jeans, creating two-piece sets, while graphics are also imprinted onto overalls, creating a relaxed, casual look.

Shot by photographer Roberto Timperi, the images seen in the campaign have a sense of voyeurism about them. After all, they are intimate portraits of ordinary people, yet these people are confident; rather than shying away from the lens to hide their gaze, they’re attacking Timperi’s camera head-on (note the marvellous Italian man showing off his very brown chest). The images don’t stop at the campaign either; Timperi has included them in a small book titled VUOI, which will be available for free with purchases from Lee, Aries and select stockists.

With the Sweltering Italian sun penetrating many of the photographs - as well as being used as the main backdrop to set the mood for the campaign - it’s these types of moments that would make you forget there’s even been a worldwide pandemic at all. After isolation became normality for many, with glimpses of sunlight and happiness only seen through a film watched on your laptop, the dreamy Italian landscape depicted in the Aries x Lee campaign provides the perfect summer escape for dreamers everywhere, who are counting down the days until they can get their vaccine passport and escape to Europe’s sunnier side.