STONE ISLAND STYLES XU XIN IN AW26 STELLINA JERSEY

Stretch nylon and polyester, cut into a zip up hooded sweatshirt, filed under style number 6100045 in Stone Island's own system. That garment sits inside the Autumn Winter '026 chapter of Community as a Form of Research, worn by two time Olympic table tennis champion Xu Xin, who answered a hundred question interview curated by Serpentine artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist. Most brand campaigns lead with the clothes and let the model fill dead air. This one hands the model a hundred questions and lets the jersey wait its turn.

"I Prefer a Face to Face Future"

That is Xu Xin's answer to question fourteen of a hundred, asked what the future holds, and it is more specific than most campaign copy gets. Question eighteen asks what he does before sleep, and he answers honestly: he checks his phone anyway, in the silence, and says the internet era has changed him. Question twenty eight asks his favorite season, and he reaches for a Chinese saying, a year's plan starts with spring. None of it mentions the product he is wearing. That is the format Obrist built for this project, treating the interview as the content and the garment as context, not the other way around.

6100045 Is a Zip Up Hooded Jersey, Not a Hard Shell

Stone Island built its reputation on GORE TEX outerwear and reflective nylon that could survive weather. The Stellina line, marked by a small star instead of the compass rose, runs lighter, and this piece sits at the lightest end of it: a technical stretch jersey blending nylon and polyester into a zip up hooded sweatshirt built for movement rather than storm protection. Stellina means little star in Italian, and the name describes the whole capsule's approach, understated branding on performance fabric that does not need a badge the size of a patch to prove what it is made of. It is a quieter bet than the one FO covered in Miu Miu's Bubble sneaker, which built its whole identity on a visible contradiction; Stellina bets on the opposite, a logo small enough to miss.

Ten World Titles Made Xu Xin the Brand's Choice

Xu Xin has ten World Championship gold medals, two Olympic team golds, and held the number one world ranking for a full year between March 2014 and February 2015. He plays penhold with his left hand, a grip most of the sport abandoned for the two handed shakehand style decades ago because it limits backhand reach, which makes him the rare elite player whose technique looks like nothing else on tour and still finished on top of the rankings against opponents holding the supposedly superior grip. Community as a Form of Research has previously photographed Liam Gallagher, Jason Statham, Philippe Starck, Kim Jones and Peggy Gou, a list built from music, film, design and fashion. Xu Xin is the athlete entry, and the brand chose someone whose game itself runs against convention.

Photographer David Sims Has Shot This Brand's Story Since Calvin Klein 1993

David Sims built his name on the 1993 Calvin Klein campaigns with Kate Moss, minimalist and stripped of styling tricks, and that same instinct shows up here: no set, no props, just Xu Xin and the questions. Sims has since shot Prada and Louis Vuitton, and Stone Island brought him back for this campaign specifically because his portraits favor the subject's actual features over retouching. Ferdinando Verderi directed the creative and Max Pearmain handled styling, but the frame stays plain enough that the interview, not the art direction, carries the campaign. It is the same choice FO tracked when Wales Bonner shot its Morning Raga campaign on location in northern India instead of a studio: the format itself becomes the statement, not just the clothes inside it.

Community as a Form of Research works because it trusts a hundred honest answers to say more than a hero shot ever could, and Stellina's jersey line earns its place by staying quiet enough to let that interview lead. Xu Xin's left handed penhold grip broke a convention on the table the same way this campaign format broke one in fashion marketing, and both bets paid off because neither one needed a logo to explain itself. Buy the jersey for the fabric, not the face on the campaign page; the interview is the part worth rereading.