• by Barbara Lippert , Columnist, August 29, 2024

“What a great day to have eyes,” said a commenter on Instagram, feasting her peepers on one of the raw, amped-up images in the new Calvin Klein campaign that dropped this week.

The image she referred to showed Jeremy Allen White drinking from a cup, dripping water down his bare chest to the top of his briefs, where the brand name is banded.

It’s season 2 for Chef Carmy Berzatto and CK, and this round is also artfully shot by photographer Mers Alas and styled by Emmanuelle Alt.

If you recall, season 1 broke in January, showing the star of “The Bear” on a New York City rooftop, baring almost all, working with some unexpected props -- an orange couch and a ladder -- and his Calvins, of course.

And thus he broke the internet while reviving the brand.  PVC, the holding company for Calvin Klein, Inc. announced that during the first week of the campaign’s launch, underwear sales for the brand shot up 30% year over year.,

And according to PVC metrics, the campaign generated $74 million in social media impressions.

White didn’t show up as some cold, sculpted model, but rather a gifted actor known for playing a depressive chef, who brought a bit of a modest he-man presence to the scene.  There was a throwback feeling, like going from Marlon Brando all the way back to the beauty of Roman statuary. The ad captured JAW’s angles-- all cheekbones and hair curls and deep-lidded eyes. As for the major musculature of that moment, Allen had gotten ripped for his wrestling movie, “The Iron Claw.”

This time the frenzy hasn’t been as huge. Perhaps the shock of seeing a stripped-down White out of his toque-to-toe Bear costume is gone.

But these ads are also full of mystery and symbolism. This time the background is poolside in Los Angeles.  There doesn’t seem to be much of a backstory, just sun, water, grass, two large doggies, and White climbing out of the pool while still wearing his ‘90s-style sleeveless denim vest and black jeans. The music is fantastic -- the Shacks' haunting 2020 cover of “Crimson and Clover” (over and over), which was originally released in 1968 by Tommy James and the Shondells.

With the fourth season of “The Bear" ready for future release, White is reported to be preparing to play Bruce Springsteen in a movie about the making of Bruce’s 1982 classic album, Nebraska. It’s tough enough to embody a living musician as acclaimed as Springsteen, but it’s also been reported that White will attempt to do his own singing.

And damn, in some of the still shots, wearing Calvin’s ‘90s revival of denim on denim, with straight jeans and ‘90s-style sleeveless trucker jacket, he does resemble The Boss.

Then there are shots of him playing with two large dogs in and out of the pool, and in one shot, with one of the dogs horizontal, standing behind his head, he looks like Cerberus, the mythical multiheaded figure (often shown with dog heads) that guards the gates of the underworld. (Or is that the denim-monde?) Though Cerberus didn’t wear sunglasses.

Movie star/ frozen Chef White brings so much dimension to these shoots that the whole is always greater than the sum of its parts.

That commenter above said it was a great day to have eyes. But this guy knocks our socks and clogs off.