For Victor Belmondo, style is virtually a birthright.
The rising French actor, who was named on Wednesday as Berluti’s new brand ambassador for 2025, is the grandson of New Wave icon Jean-Paul Belmondo and has both French and Italian ancestry.
In addition to bearing more than a passing resemblance to his illustrious relative, who starred in both art house classics like “Breathless” and action movies such as “Ace of Aces,” the younger Belmondo appears to have inherited his nonchalant allure (Berluti borrowed an Italian term, “sprezzatura,” to describe his charm.)
Belmondo’s debut campaign for the house, which is owned by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, sees the star wearing a mix of relaxed and sophisticated spring looks ranging from a trenchcoat to a red blouson and a forest green blazer, all paired with signature footwear styles such as New Oslo derbies and Playtime sneakers.
“Victor Belmondo personifies the Berluti spirit — that fusion of heritage and modernity, elegance and audacity,” Berluti chief executive officer Jean-Marc Mansvelt said in a statement.
“At Berluti, we cultivate the art of passing down legacy. Victor Belmondo helps us write a new chapter in our story, with a dialogue between generations that reinvents the classic style codes with a fresh force and simplicity,” he added.
It marks the first time since the coronavirus pandemic that Berluti has worked with a famous face. Taiwan-born Canadian actor Eddie Peng appeared in campaigns in 2019 and 2020, and the brand previously tapped the likes of Jeremy Irons and Pierre Casiraghi.
Its Live Iconic campaign launched in 2022 with images of two of its legendary clients, Marcello Mastroianni and Andy Warhol.
Victor Belmondo in the Berluti campaign.
Since making his debut in “The Very Private Life of Mister Sim” in 2015, Belmondo has carved out his own path in cinema. Following his critically acclaimed turn in Gaël Morel’s AIDS drama “To Live, to Die, to Live Again,” presented at the Cannes Film Festival in May, he will be seen in the title role of the Netflix movie “Squad 36,” coming Feb. 28.
In the family tradition, he performed his own stunts in the cop thriller, in which he plays commander Antoine Cerda.
“I trained hard for this role, which is very different from the real me, especially as I came on board a few weeks before the start of filming and the role required several months of preparation. So it was very intense, six days a week and from morning till night,” he told WWD.
In addition to combat sports training, he was rehearsing fight scenes and learning how to shoot and handle weapons, as part of his deep dive into France’s BRI antigang police, which investigates serious crimes like armed robbery and kidnappings.
“I was living and breathing this character and project 24/7 so I arrived on set a little tired, but it actually helped with the character,” Belmondo said in an interview conducted via email.
His connection with Berluti felt a little more effortless.
“We share common values, a dialogue between two cultures, France and Italy, which are at the heart of our identities,” he said. “Berluti manages to create a perfect balance between timeless elegance and sophisticated relaxation, which is also the way I approach style.”
While the new Netflix show will introduce him to international audiences, who previously glimpsed him as French director Roger Vadim in the miniseries “Bardot,” Belmondo remains sanguine about conquering Hollywood.
“I never set out to have an international career. I’ve always wanted to focus on France first, and then see what happens. But I dream of working one day in my second home, Italy, and given that ‘Squad 36’ is getting an international release on Netflix, I’m starting to think more about working in the U.S., for example,” he said.
“If someone there sees the film and wants to hire me for an American project, I’m obviously all in,” he added.
Victor Belmondo in the Berluti campaign.
