Fashion Briefing: Live from New York – Why ‘SNL’ stars are becoming mainstays in fashion marketing

While originally known for their viral videos, the trio are now better known for their work on “Saturday Night Live.” All three appear in digital shorts, while Herlihy and Higgins are writers for the show and Marshall is a cast member. Their work for J.Crew includes a humorous short film showcasing J.Crew’s men’s suits. It was written by the group and collaborator Brady Lees, and was directed by Herlihy.

But J.Crew isn’t the only place “SNL” stars are showing up. While “SNL” cast members have always enjoyed fame outside of Saturday night, the current lineup is notably stacked with stars who make frequent appearances in the fashion world. Cast members like Chloe Fineman, Sarah Sherman, and Ashley Padilla, along with recently departed cast members like Bowen Yang, have all been featured in brand campaigns, appeared in brand lookbooks, and even collaborated with brands directly on special products and collaborations.

It’s reflective of how fashion brands are increasingly looking for novel ways to tap into popular culture. While fields like sports and music are well-represented within fashion, comedy is a growing cultural powerhouse that brands are just starting to tap into.

J.Crew’s campaign casts the three comedians as bumbling employees at J.Crew’s men’s suit shop as they attempt to help customers and close before noon.

J.Crew CMO Julia Collier said working with Marshall, Herlihy and Higgins was about demystifying and bringing a playful edge to the sometimes-intimidating world of men’s suiting. Often, buying a first suit can be an overwhelming process, so the comedic approach to the campaign, which launched on October 20, was meant to make suiting more approachable.

“With Ben, John and Martin, we wanted to bring some personality and humor to that experience,” Collier said in a press statement. “They took the idea of a day in the J.Crew Suit Shop and made it entirely theirs, while showing how versatile and well-fitted our suits are.”

Marshall, a rising star and the most visible of three members of Please Don’t Destroy by virtue of being a main “SNL” cast member, has also appeared in other brand campaigns recently. In August, Marshall appeared in Brooklinen’s first-ever celebrity brand campaign alongside others like musician Alana Haim and fellow comedian Robby Hoffman.

Laura Jacobs, CMO of Brooklinen, told Glossy that, for that campaign, the brand was seeking out talent that had an “unmistakably New York City energy” and that would be an unexpected choice.

“We knew we wanted to create a social-first, humor-led campaign, and Ben’s wit, playfulness and authenticity were a perfect match for us,” Jacobs said. “He’s having such a breakout year between being a featured player on ‘SNL,’ making multiple movie appearances and more, and we love that we were able to reach comedy fans and a younger, more internet-native audience in partnership with him.”

Another benefit of having a comedian in your campaign: They’re good at punching up the script. Jacobs said Marshall helped revise the script, added his own jokes to the campaign and brought his own props, including a megaphone.

“He really dove into the experience wholeheartedly, and that authenticity comes through in the final spot,” Jacobs said.

Other cast members are also serving as fashion muses — especially Chloe Fineman. At New York Fashion Week this past season, she was featured in the lookbook distributed to guests at the Kallmeyer show, being a personal friend of designer Daniella Kallmeyer. Over the last year, she has also been in campaigns for Olaplex, Andie Swim, Kohler, and Maybelline.

Sarah Sherman, another breakout star of the cast, is known for her striking and unique fashion sense, which has been referred to as “Clown Couture” for mixing high-end designer wear with outlandish colors and prints. Last year, the 55-year-old shoe brand John Fluevog worked with Sherman to design a signature pair of motley leather boots that match Sherman’s unique aesthetic.

For the brands working with “SNL” stars, comedy is another frontier in the race to attach brand identity to influential personalities. Comedy is the leading genre of podcasts in the world, making up 36% of all podcasts consumed in September, and “SNL” alumni like Amy Poehler and Bowen Yang host popular, award-winning shows. Comedy also resonates on social platforms like TikTok, where 76% of Gen Z users reportedly seek out comedic content.

Over 50 years into its existence, “SNL” is still a dominant force in American entertainment. It draws in around 5 million live viewers per episode, and its digital shorts and YouTube clips accrue billions of views in total. It’s also the No. 1 broadcast entertainment product for people aged 18-49 in the U.S. In addition, it has had consistent audience growth of around 5% annually over the last few years, and its last season was a breakthrough for digital views, with a near 100% increase from the year before and 8.2 billion video views across the whole season.

Christina Lindley, founder of the growth consultancy firm VPRG Consulting, said that bringing in comedians like Fineman or Marshall allows a brand to imbue a campaign with more energy and personality. Lindley has a background in comedy herself, having appeared on the improv comedy show “Wild’n Out” and performed with the Groundlings in Chicago, where many current and former “SNL” stars got their start.

“I’d put comedy right up there with music and sports,” she said. “People follow these performers because they enjoy watching them, and fashion gives them plenty to work with. J. Crew putting Please Don’t Destroy in a suit shop makes sense. The clothes are part of the scene, and there’s room for their personalities to come through. But you have to let them be themselves. If you hire someone because they’re funny and then take all the personality out of the campaign, what was the point?”

News to know

• Adidas lifted its profit guidance this year, thanks to a $220 million tariff refund from the U.S. government. Incoming tariff refunds will likely affect other major companies’ earnings in the coming months.
• Amazon is staffing up ahead of the holiday season, with a reported 300,000 new recruits in the coming months. That’s a 20% increase from the number of people the company hired for last year’s holiday rush.
• Swiss watch exports rose for a fourth consecutive month, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry. Watch exports have fluctuated in recent years, but international sales seem to finally be stabilizing.

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