Zalando’s latest campaign invites wearers to dream up their own fashion fictions, inspired by this season’s most transcendent trends.
Much of Charlie Engman’s work looks like a dream. The photographer’s uncanny AI creations use obscure prompts that manifest in surrealist scenes—office workers dissolving into their chairs; his mother’s face framed by a wheel of melting brie. And his latest campaign similarly blurs the line between fantasy and reality.
Conceived for Zalando’s Autumn/ Winter campaign, As You Dream It, Engman’s images explore the reality-altering potential of fashion. An everyday street becomes the backdrop for a Western, as actor and musician Aaron Altaras and model Joanna Bajena leather-up and buckle down as cowboys ready for action. The banal act of doing laundry morphs into a curtain call for Miu Miu favourite Maty Drazek, and Elis Jurema Teixeira Moaven’s activewear transforms an everyday walk into a mountainside hike.
Moonboots don’t make an astronaut, but when Engman places grime artist Louis Culture in a London caff, his surroundings go zero-gravity. Breakfast waffles, coffee and fried eggs are caught in free-falling motion, while elsewhere Lin Lin Yujing looks set to transcend this planet from the familiar frontier of a city bench.
From the Gorpcore primed for outdoor exploration, to the aquatic allure we saw in Blumarine and Bottega Veneta’s SS24 collections, to the Wild West-inspired collections that took Copenhagen Fashion Week by storm, Zalando’s latest sartorial offerings allow the wearer to dream up their own possibilities, and add a touch of adventure to everyday life. To morph effortlessly between day and night, office and function, and “wear your imagination on on your sleeve.”
In a world that often feels disorienting, Engman’s artistry in for Zalando’s As You Dream It underscores the power of fashion to reshape our perspectives.
Shop the full collection here.
Paid partnership with Zalando.
