There are luxury brands and then there is Stefano Ricci – a Florentine house that treats menswear as an act of ultra-luxury myth-making. Since its founding in 1972, the brand has built its reputation on uncompromising artisanship, liberal use of rare fibres and exotic skins, and tailoring that’s pushed to the most opulent expression possible.
But, beyond the crocodile leather blousons and hand-tailored vicuña overcoats, the Ricci family (the company is privately owned) has also nurtured a taste for high adventure. And over the last few years they have switched from simply photographing new collections to staging expeditions in their honor.
The SR Explorer series – part ad campaign, part odyssey – sees members of the Ricci family and the occasional VIP client visit some of the planet’s most remote and breathtaking landscapes. Moreover, they’re accompanied not by conventional fashion photographers but by award-winning National Geographic regulars. This season’s instalment, Explorer No 8, transports the brand to Patagonia and the tip of Argentina, Tierra del Fuego — ‘the end of the world.’ It’s the sort of place that lends itself to grand gestures, which is precisely what Stefano Ricci does best.
©Andy Mann
Patagonia, captured through the lenses of photographer Andy Mann and Moggi Studio, becomes a character in the campaign in its own right: a land of “untamed majesty,” as creative director Filippo Ricci puts it, where the wind whips across the land with “ancestral fury” and the granite towers of Torres del Paine pierce the sky.
It’s within this theatre that the new Fall/Winter 2026-27 collection is staged, and the resulting imagery is appropriately cinematic. Stefano Ricci has always understood the power of scale (the brand’s 50th-anniversary catwalk show was memorably presented atop the ancient Temple of Hatshepsut in Luxor, Egypt, three years ago) and this season the contrast between couture menswear and wild Patagonia creates a series of tableaux that oscillate between operatic drama and gentle, self-aware irreverence.
A standout shot, for example, showcases a model in a one-button, wool-and-silk evening jacket, bow tie and silk evening shirt, strolling his way through windswept tundra as a trio of penguins toddle indifferently in the foreground – showcasing their own feathery tuxes. It’s a tongue-in-cheek moment: nature documentary meets Florentine black tie.
Other images lean into Ricci’s fascination with the modern adventurer. A figure in a snow-white technical parka stands atop a ridge of sculpted ice. Another strides through the Mirador Bader Valley in a cashmere-and-silk overcoat, layered over a deconstructed suit the color of stone. In one frame, shot atop the Cerro Guido mountain, a figure in a nubuck leather jacket surveys the valley with the solemnity of Caspar David Friedrich’s ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’.
It’s rare for a brand to shoot a campaign where clothes aren’t the obvious focal point, but the sense of grandeur this creates is echoed by the opulence of Stefano Ricci’s new collection. Technical field jackets are trimmed in fox fur; evening jackets showcase silk fabrics woven by legendary Italian mill, Antico Setificio Fiorentino; accessories come in nubuck crocodile leather. This season’s tailoring is particularly fine, with several pieces cut in ‘Alpha Yarn’ vicuña fabrics. These are exceptional evening by the standards of vicuna, woven from fibre that measures just 13.5 microns in fineness. Most cashmere fibres, by contrast, measure between 15 and 19 microns.
If the Explorer missions are a way of situating Ricci’s world in the grandest possible register, they are also a vehicle for the brand’s philanthropic commitments. While in Patagonia, the Ricci family met with Fundación Científica Acción Fauna, an organization dedicated to the conservation of pumas and the restoration of their natural habitat, and pledged to support the foundation’s work. “I was able to see first-hand the quality and integrity of this project,” says CEO Niccolo Ricci. “Our contribution will support the study and conservation programme for pumas.’’
Ultimately, the Explorer No 8 campaign captures the essence of Stefano Ricci – a house that believes in excellence pursued without compromise, but with room left over for wit, wonder and a sense of scale most fashion brands wouldn’t dare attempt. Set against Patagonia’s vast stillness, this is luxury as adventure, delivered with a flourish only this family could pull off.
stefanoricci.com