For its latest marketing effort, Levi’s is bringing its past to the present.
On Friday, the denim giant unveiled its partnership with “A Complete Unknown,” the Timothée Chalamet-led film that follows musician Bob Dylan’s early days as a musician living in New York City in the 1960s. The movie will be released in theatres Dec. 25.
As part of the tie-up, Levi’s worked with costume designer Arianne Phillips on the wardrobe for the film. It also created a capsule collection, which hits stores Friday, featuring three garments: a two-pocket suede motorcycle jacket, Dylan’s “D” belt and a recreation of the 501 XX jeans his ex-girlfriend Suze Rotolo sewed a triangular gusset into so they would fit over his boots. The items run at a more premium price point, at $1,200 for the jacket and $495 for the jeans and belt, which come as a set.
The collaboration is what Levi’s chief marketing officer, Kenny Mitchell, described as one of the brand’s “cherry bombs in culture,” allowing it to revisit — and revive — a cultural moment that the brand was organically part of. The real Bob Dylan, whose style shifted from folk to rock-and-roll over the course of the early 1960s, integrated Levi’s pieces into his wardrobe throughout this transition, making the brand a natural fit for partnership when Phillips began researching his clothing for the project.
“It was really special to be able to have Levi’s in this movie,” said Phillips. “We couldn’t not, because it’s part of Bob’s story.”
Working alongside Paul O’Neill, the design director of Levi’s Vintage Clothing, Phillips pieced together costumes for the film with an eye to historical accuracy. O’Neill began the research process back in 2019, when Levi’s released a collection inspired by the folk scene in 1960s New York. This was when he discovered Rotolo’s impact on Dylan’s wardrobe when reading her memoir.
Phillips parsed through photos of Dylan’s stylistic evolution, spotting details like the slim-cut jeans he started wearing after spending time with The Beatles. O’Neill was instrumental in identifying them as Levi’s Super Slims and manufacturing them for the film when they could not get their hands on an existing vintage pair to use. He also happened to have a cotton jacket in his personal collection that Phillips was hoping to track down and gave it to her to bleach from black to brown and use in the film.
The collaboration between Phillips and O’Neill went so well that they pitched a merchandise collection to the film’s producers and production company, Searchlight Pictures. Phillips was a part of creating those items, too, which she said is unusual. Typically a themed collection is outsourced to the brand without the costume designers involved. It ultimately allowed them to create “three pieces that are essential to Bob Dylan’s character,” Phillips said.
“Film influences fashion, and yet it’s very rare that a costume designer is involved in that process,” she added. “A point of difference here is that it’s really ground zero. There’s no middlemen in terms of interpretations.”
Organic Storytelling
The Bob Dylan collection is also a product of Levi’s’ Haus of Strauss arm, which operates five locations — not open to the public — in Los Angeles, London, Paris, Tokyo and Mexico City to host VIP clients such as influencers, actors, musicians and executives. The LA location in particular is a forum for the brand to build relationships with stylists and costume designers that lead to organic inclusion in cultural moments, like a Levi’s vest worn by Ryan Gosling in the “Barbie” movie thanks to the actor’s costumer having a relationship with the Haus.
Historically, Haus of Strauss has been more an “if you know, you know” segment of the business, and hasn’t been a major part of its external marketing strategy. While the showrooms remain dedicated to fostering industry relationships — and will remain closed to the average consumer — “we’re more open to celebrating it” publicly, said Mitchell. The goal is to showcase Levi’s in more high-profile cultural moments, like a partnership with Beyoncé earlier this year, which also put the Haus in the spotlight.
And while these sorts of marketing efforts have been part of the fashion playbook for decades, marketing via movies can be particularly resonant to today’s consumers, who are inundated with blatant advertising on their phones.
Of course, it’s easier when your brand has a natural connection to the subject.
“The competition for your attention is at an all-time high, so having really interesting, memorable and authentic stories that you can tell is pretty special,” said Mitchell. “We try to be thoughtful about [finding] the right opportunities, stories and partners where we can demonstrate and reinforce that we have a rightful role in culture.”
