Breaking news for shoe guys the world over: Kingsley Ben-Adir has landed a starring role in Gucci’s latest campaign for the Horsebit 1953 loafer – and it’s a closing of the loop for the self-confessed loafer man. “Between 11 and 16, I had about three or four pairs of Gucci loafers,” the actor tells GQ. “My grandma, she spoiled me. They were inappropriate for the school uniform but they got me a lot of street cred.” It was a perfect fit, then, when the stars aligned and Ben-Adir was asked to front Gucci’s latest campaign, which celebrates the classic Horsebit 1953 loafer.
The Gucci campaign comes at the end of a whirlwind couple of months for Ben-Adir. He travelled the world doing the press rounds for Bob Marley: One Love and he’s speaking from LA days after he danced with Ryan Gosling and his fellow Kens at the Oscars in the uber-fun “I’m Just Ken” musical number (“It’s an incredible way to experience the Academy Awards for the first time”). But Gucci has been there every step of the way – the brand’s creative director, Sabato De Sarno, has been designing his look on the campaign trail. “Who better than the creative director of Gucci to create and tailor all these wonderful suits and shoes?” he says. “And there’s a line about Gucci in [Bob Marley: One Love] so I thought it was quite fitting.”
But fashion hasn’t always been Ben-Adir’s strongest suit. As an adult, he's learnt some things. “My style is a little bit baggy and rough and old and not very stylish,” he admits. “I haven’t used an iron in probably 25 years.” Suits became a routine, unexciting part of the press tour. Having De Sarno swoop in reignited something. “Spending time with Sabato in Milan and hearing him talk about his vision and ideas and the detail around his work, it made me feel like he thinks about style in the same way I think about acting,” Ben-Adir says.
The stripped-back campaign, conceived by De Sarno and shot by Heji Shin, spotlights the sheer legacy of fashion’s biggest loafer – and it has ample breathing room. Ben-Adir reclines in various states of dress in various classic fits from Gucci, letting the classic shoe speak for itself. “[De Sarno] just felt like such a human being and very unlike what the cliched idea of what fashion is,” he says. “He made fashion feel accessible and not fancy and for everyone. I really enjoyed spending time with him and the team. We were able to go out and eat and party in no time – it felt really comfortable.”
And comfort is a priority for Ben-Adir – it’s why the Horsebit loafer has always appealed to him (and many other of his Hollywood colleagues over the years). “They’re comfortable,” he says. Versatile, too. “I think you can wear them with tracksuits, as slippers, with a tux, with a suit, with jeans; you can wear them with anything,” he says. “They just slip on and slip off.”
He’s been repping the Horsebit loafers every opportunity he can get: at most stops on the Bob Marley: One Love press tour and at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Grammys. But one pair is his favourite. “There was a turquoise green [pair], but I haven’t actually got them yet – I’m going to ask if I can get them,” he says. “But the black ones with the gold buckle are cool, I’ve been wearing them every day out here.”
Next up for Ben-Adir is some much-needed downtime. He’s got some housework to do and friends back in London to see. “I’m going to get back into my life a little bit,” he says. “It’s important to recharge before you take on another role. You’ve got to engage in the world and life and be around people.” Oh, and come to terms with the fact your face is going to be on billboards around the world in one of Gucci’s biggest campaigns to date.
