Jude Bellingham
for Calvin Klein

The Icon Underneath: What's in the Shoot

The campaign was photographed and directed by Oliver Hadlee Pearch in Madrid. It is classic Calvin Klein: a white studio, minimal styling and the product doing the talking. The film opens with Bellingham in a white tank top and jeans before he strips down to his underwear, with crowd noise in the background, and in one image he recreates his arms-out goal celebration.

Calvin Klein started teasing an unnamed star on Instagram on 27 October with a "the next icon, coming soon" post and a billboard in New York's SoHo, showing only the back of his head and a polaroid. The full reveal followed the next week.

Bellingham's own line on the concept was that confidence starts with feeling comfortable in yourself, and that Calvin Klein is a brand he wanted to bring to life "in my own way".

The Styles He Wears

Everything in the shoot is from the Icon Cotton Stretch range, Calvin Klein's everyday cotton-and-elastane line. Across the images he wears:

• Boxer brief — the classic mid-length cut
• Low rise trunk — shorter leg, sits lower on the hip
• Hip brief — the closest cut to the 1992 Wahlberg look
• Slim boxer — a longer, close-fitting leg
• Shine Trunk — a limited-edition trunk with a metallic waistband

Not sure which of those cuts suits you? Our guide to briefs vs boxers vs boxer briefs explains the differences, and boxers vs boxer shorts vs trunks clears up the naming.

Kroos, Militão and the Internet React

Toni Kroos, who won the Champions League alongside Bellingham in their one season together at Real Madrid, commented on Bellingham's own campaign post, below, with three letters: "WTF". German and Swiss outlets reported the comment had passed 600,000 to nearly 700,000 likes within a day, more than most of the campaign posts themselves. Former teammate Lucas Vázquez also chimed in under the post.

Inside the current squad, centre-back Éder Militão told TNT Sports that he and Vinícius led the teasing, telling Bellingham he "could not do that", while stressing the mood was light-hearted.

Fan reaction has been split. Plenty of people loved it, and LGBTQ+ outlets such as Queerty and Attitude covered it enthusiastically. Others felt the flat lighting and one pose in particular, the second image of the series, didn't do him justice, with the most common complaint being that the shoot made one of football's best-looking players look ordinary. Every big Calvin Klein campaign gets that debate, and the debate is part of the point.

Did Sergio Ramos Criticise the Campaign?

Italian outlet Virgilio Sport, citing the account Football Central, attributed comments to former Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos saying Bellingham should not have accepted the campaign, that his priority should be football and trophies, and that elite athletes carry a responsibility to young fans.

We haven't found those comments in an interview or on Ramos's own channels, so treat them with caution until a primary source appears. The argument itself is a real one, though: whether footballers should strip off for brands has been asked since David Beckham's Emporio Armani billboards, and the answer from the industry has been an emphatic yes.

Bellingham's First Underwear Campaign: SKIMS, 2024

This isn't Bellingham's first time in his underwear for a brand. In June 2024, days after winning the Champions League with Real Madrid at Wembley and just before England's Euro 2024 opener against Serbia, he fronted SKIMS Mens, Kim Kardashian's label, which had launched menswear in 2023.

That shoot, by photographer Katja Rahlwes, was a very different mood: neutral greys, chalk and taupe, the SKIMS Cotton 3" and 5" boxer briefs, and a video of him juggling a ball before telling the camera that everybody's wearing SKIMS. The tagline paired the best in football with the best of underwear. He followed Neymar Jr., Nick Bosa and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who launched the SKIMS men's line.

Moving from a celebrity-founded newcomer to the brand that invented the modern men's underwear campaign is a step up, and a sign of how bankable he has become. Calvin Klein has also been building a football roster, with his Real Madrid and England teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold reported to have shot for the brand at the end of 2025.

Why Footballers Keep Getting the Call

Bellingham is the latest in a long line. Calvin Klein's first athlete star was Olympic pole vaulter Tom Hintnaus in 1982, and the brand has since cast Fredrik Ljungberg, Fernando Verdasco, Son Heung-min and Carlos Alcaraz. Emporio Armani built its men's underwear on David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and Rafael Nadal. Brands are buying a body that's trained daily and a fan base that follows it everywhere, and he brings nearly 57 million Instagram followers with him.

We've gone deeper on the sport, masculinity and desire behind all of this in why sports stars sell men's underwear.