Some dreams you wake up from. Others you get styled in.

Bottega Veneta’s latest visual story, What Are Dreams, sees brand ambassador (and everyone’s favorite cinematic heartthrob) Jacob Elordi slip into a world that’s part fashion fantasy, part lucid dream. Directed and lensed by the legendary Duane Michals, the short film unfolds inside Michals’ own New York home — a space that feels like memory, poetry, and mystery all in one frame.

Shot entirely in black and white, the campaign doesn’t just whisper “luxury,” it hums with surrealist undertones — the kind that make you question what’s real, what’s imagined, and what’s simply Bottega. Each image places Elordi in what Michals calls “mysterious” situations, surrounded by poetic props and shadowy symbols that nod to icons like Giorgio de Chirico and René Magritte.

And yes, Elordi reads poetry — specifically Michals’ What Are Dreams poem, an extract from his 2001 photo book Questions Without Answers. The moment blurs cinema and self-reflection, giving fashion the kind of soul it rarely gets credit for.

“I’m very much interested in the realm of the invisible,” Michals explains. “My problem is how do I make the invisible visible? Movie-making is also a dream… and Jacob understood exactly what I was trying to do. He was right there for the magic and the mystery of it.”

Bottega Veneta

There’s also a beautiful full-circle energy here: Michals previously shot a Bottega Veneta campaign back in 1985. Fast forward nearly four decades, and the creative legend is now framing a new generation — with Elordi as its face, muse, and dreamer.

Take a look at the campaign above.

In other fashion news, check out Callum Turner for Louis Vuitton.