Brooks Brothers Taps Leslie Bibb, Nick Wooster for Its Spring 2026 Campaign

Brooks Brothers has launched "Make It Yours," a spring campaign built around an eclectic cast.

Photographed by Coliena Rentmeester, the campaign spans tailored suiting, oxford shirts, and outerwear styled with personal touches.

The campaign's talent roster includes:

• Actor Leslie Bibb
• Fashion entrepreneur Nick Wooster
• Comedian and television writer Alex Edelman
• Fashion influencer TyLynn Nguyen
• Model and athlete Nick Arrington
• Model and director Bethann Hardison

They model blazers over shorts, suits worn with sneakers, and menswear pieces incorporated into women's looks.

Creative Director Michael Bastian said in a statement that no direction or parameters were given to the cast:

"Everyone approached it differently, but that's the point. There's a freedom and confidence in making it your own," he added.

For a 200-year-old company, letting talent self-direct says something deliberate about how Brooks Brothers is approaching its brand positioning.

The Cast and the Creative Approach

Each cast member brought a distinct interpretation to the campaign.

Wooster, known for pairing precision with irreverence, styled sharp blazers with shorts and kilt-like silhouettes.

Bibb wore a navy pinstripe suit with loafers and layered soft knits over pleated skirts.

Hardison incorporated men's pieces into her looks, styling classic pajama sets as statement dressing.

Edelman took a more understated approach, pairing structured jackets with denim and leaning into the brand's elevated sportswear.

The cast spans generations, disciplines, and aesthetics deliberately. Bibb described her relationship with the brand as personal:

"Brooks Brothers always felt very cool and very luxe, something that was special."

Using talent with genuine existing brand relationships produces a different kind of campaign asset from casting based on reach alone.

The Business Context

"Make It Yours" arrives during a period of sustained growth for the brand's women's business, which claims to have posted five consecutive years of gains under Bastian.

The campaign explicitly targets a lifestyle-driven customer who moves between professional, social, and personal contexts and looks for pieces that work across all of them.

Brooks Brothers was founded in 1818, making it one of the oldest clothing retailers in the United States.

The brand has dressed 40 of the 45 U.S. presidents, according to the company's history.

A heritage brand with this kind of cultural footprint doesn't have to earn credibility, as it already has it.

The harder job is targeting an audience that cares just as much about individuality as it does about legacy.

The campaign offers a few specific lessons for companies managing long-established brand identities:

• Give talent real creative latitude: Self-directed styling reads as personal expression, and audiences can generally tell the difference.
• Cast for real perspective: A multi-generational, multi-disciplinary roster signals a wider customer base without the brand having to say so.
• Let the product carry the heritage argument: 'Make It Yours' keeps the 200-year history out of the visuals and lets the modern pieces speak for themselves.

Legacy brands that hand creative marketing control to their cast take on real risk, but the payoff when it works is content that looks nothing like a brand campaign.

Our Take: Does Creative Autonomy Pay Off for a Brand This Old?

We think "Make It Yours" is a well-calibrated move for where Brooks Brothers is right now.

Five years of women's business growth gives the brand something to build on, and a campaign built around self-expression is a good way to widen the customer base.

The no-direction brief is the most interesting detail, and the styling is varied enough to suggest it was real.

We think the big test will be whether the campaign actually moves product out the door or just generates goodwill.

Heritage brands refreshing their positioning for new audiences need agencies that understand how to balance legacy with contemporary creative direction.

Take a look at the top fashion digital marketing agencies in our directory.