Everyone wants Jules Koundé

Football players are fashionable, they go to fashion shows, sometimes they walk on the runway, they are luxury brand ambassadors, they are the protagonists of campaigns. But no one embodies fashion like Jules Koundé. The right-back of Barcelona has quickly become the best-dressed football player in the world and has no intention of giving up his throne. It all started with the tunnel fits he showed off when the blaugrana team acquired him from Sevilla in the summer of 2022, a practice borrowed from NBA arenas, where Koundé has shown not only a taste and knowledge of fashion, but also a certain propensity for risk and what everyone now calls aura. From there, everyone has tried to steal his secret, the apparent simplicity and confidence with which he arrives at the French National Team's training camp in Clairefontaine or the cunning that still allows him to circumvent Hansi Flick's ban on tunnel fits by taking photos dressed up after the match. And all the brands wanted him in their fashion or lifestyle campaigns, the perfect ambassador for both a French luxury collection and a performance collection on the field.

The latest campaign in chronological order is for the first collection created by Samuel Ross for Zara. The British designer is one of the protagonists of the bi-annual releases that the Spanish brand wants to integrate into its offerings to elevate the positioning of its product through its brand SR_A (Samuel Ross Atelier), and the choice of ambassador could only fall on Jules Koundé. The French right-back is perfectly at ease in Ross's technical/sartorial aesthetic, captured in a sterile environment amplified by the analog lens of Gabriel Moses. He was previously the perfect host in a French villa for Jacquemus, between Old Money and the French Riviera, in the short and ironic videos that define the brand's communication. And who better than Koundé to represent this dreamy and hyper-realistic style, modern and timeless, in a campaign that could easily be one of his tunnel fits or his arrival at Clairefontaine.

Koundé is also one of the most active ambassadors for adidas, the sport brand that provides him with his game gear, and which is increasingly leveraging his strong visibility, especially on social media platforms. He has been involved in shoots for Moncler x adidas, the Originals lifestyle collection, and of course, the activations for the Predator, the model that dominated adidas' feeds in 2024. A versatility that perfectly captures the different styles of Jules Koundé, who can go from a 90s tracksuit to a tailored suit without ever losing credibility. In an era of post-dump and the iPhone's front camera, Koundé's realness is his winning card, along with a strong dedication and curiosity towards the fashion's world, without limits or preconceptions. An attitude that even brands have learned to appreciate, as evidenced by engagement data.

"I like the fact that guys like Jules are really interested in fashion and are exploring the possibilities they now have at their disposal. Even the campaign with Jacquemus, it's a product made by someone who is passionate about fashion, who has his own aesthetic," Hector Bellerín had told us when we met him for our More Than. And now, the new right-back of Barca has taken up the ideal mantle of the most elegant and avant-garde football player on the planet, in a world that has accepted this role for athletes. That's why he has become the perfect ambassador, capable of interpreting the different souls of brands and telling the story of aesthetics that may seem conflicting at first glance, but in Koundé's wardrobe, they suddenly make sense.