Brooks Brothers Reclaims The Power Of Personal Style With “Make It Yours”
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By PAGE Editor
For more than two centuries, Brooks Brothers has stood as a pillar of American dress—an institution woven into the wardrobes of presidents, cultural leaders and creatives alike. But heritage alone does not sustain relevance. With its Spring 2026 campaign, Make It Yours, the brand makes a compelling case that legacy is strongest when placed in the hands of those unafraid to reinterpret it.
Photographed by Coliena Rentmeester, the campaign resists nostalgia in favor of instinct. Rather than prescribing a uniform aesthetic, Brooks Brothers invited a cross-generational cast—Leslie Bibb, Nick Wooster, Alex Edelman, TyLynn Nguyen, Nick Arrington and Bethann Hardison—to approach the collection on their own terms. No strict styling directives. No rigid archetypes. Just the freedom to explore.
The result is less campaign, more conversation.
Heritage As Framework, Not Formula
The backbone of Make It Yours rests on the pieces that built the brand: oxford shirts, navy blazers, pinstripe suiting, structured outerwear. But here, tailoring is worn with sneakers. Blazers are paired with shorts. Shirts are slightly undone. Pajama sets leave the house.
It’s a subtle but strategic reframing. In an era defined by personalization and fluid dress codes, classic American style must adapt without losing its discipline. What Brooks Brothers communicates is that timelessness is not about rigidity—it’s about range.
For Bibb, the connection is emotional. “When I hear Brooks Brothers, I think of a crisp shirt, I see the color blue, I see tailoring,” she reflects. “I really see my childhood.” On camera, she leans into that nostalgia but disrupts it—sharp navy pinstripes styled with loafers, oversized blazers offset by ties, soft knits layered over pleated skirts. The codes remain intact; the proportions shift.
Wooster, long synonymous with modern tailoring, pushes further. Known for precise silhouettes with irreverent twists, he treats tradition as raw material—blazers styled with shorts, suiting reworked into kilt-like forms. “When I think of Brooks Brothers, I think of classic—but it’s always my version of classic,” he says. His approach underscores the campaign’s thesis: endurance is earned when garments invite reinterpretation.
Edelman brings understatement, grounding structured jackets with denim and unfussy shirting. Hardison, meanwhile, embodies a deeper lineage. By incorporating men’s pieces into her wardrobe—a practice long embedded in Brooks Brothers’ own history—she reinforces that style authority has never belonged to one gender alone. Her pajama sets, styled as statement dressing, challenge convention with quiet confidence.
A Strategic Evolution Under Michael Bastian
At the helm is Creative Director Michael Bastian, whose tenure has coincided with five consecutive years of growth in the women’s category. That momentum signals more than a seasonal uptick—it reflects a recalibrated understanding of today’s customer.
She moves fluidly between roles. Career and culture overlap. Formality bends. The demand is not for trend-driven spectacle, but for pieces that transition seamlessly across contexts. Under Bastian, Brooks Brothers is not abandoning its authority—it is modernizing its invitation.
“What I love most about this campaign is that we invited people with true personal style to come in and pick looks for themselves from the entire men’s and women’s Spring collections—we didn’t give them any direction,” Bastian notes. The absence of parameters is intentional. Control gives way to confidence.
Classic As A Bold Choice
In a market saturated with hyper-ephemeral fashion cycles, choosing classic can feel countercultural. That is precisely the point. The crisp oxford, the navy blazer, the well-cut suit—these are not relics. They are foundations.
What Make It Yours ultimately affirms is that personal style does not reject tradition; it refines it. Brooks Brothers remains the original authority on American dress, but authority today is less about dictating and more about enabling.
The clothes have always been classic. The difference now is who defines what that classic looks like.
Alex Edelman:
Bethann Hardison:
Leslie Bibb:
Nic Arrington:
Nick Wooster:
Tylynn Nguyen:
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