Heavy Metal Band Metallica Suits Up for Luxury Fashion Campaign

The men of Metallica in the Brioni campaign. (Photo: @brioni_official/Instagram)

Metallica might be known for their heavy metal hair and grunge ’80s outfits, but the band’s just been tapped to star in its first luxury fashion campaign.

Justin O’Shea, the street style star and former MyTheresa global buying director, was recently hired as the creative director of Italian menswear brand Brioni and wanted to do something more “rugged, masculine.”

Group members James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, and Lars Ulrich appear in two different images, one in black suits and another in white. The resulting ads are obvious odes to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” album cover and lead up to Brioni’s next collection presentation, which will take place during Paris Couture Fashion Week, beginning July 4.

O’Shea also introduced a new logo with a bold Gothic font that hearkens to Kanye’s Life of Pablo merch more than Brioni’s current branding. According to the company, it’s a new interpretation of the brand’s first logo that was used up until the ’80s.

A new look isn’t all that Brioni has in store. According to Business of Fashion, following Paris Couture Week, the Italian suiting label will host a show in New York, in November, in concert with a renovated store opening. This presentation will kick off a “see-now, buy-now, two collections a year” approach that a number of brands (like the popular label Vetements) are adopting.

With all the news, Brioni is definitely one to watch in the coming months. Reports are surfacing that Grace Wales Bonner, who recently won the LVMH Prize, will be supporting O’Shea in a design role. That move only heightens anticipation for the collection’s debut.

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