Tonight in New York, the Italian menswear company Ermenegildo Zegna will host a dinner to celebrate a new campaign that packs a seriously powerful casting coup: It features Robert De Niro.

To secure the services of such a storied star is quite something—especially one who, his long-standing friendship with Giorgio Armani apart, is rarely spotted in fashion land. According to Ermenegildo Zegna artistic director Alessandro Sartori and CEO Gildo Zegna, this campaign, entitled “Defining Moments,” has special resonance in that it marks the start of a new strategy for the house. De Niro stars opposite Maryland up-and-comer McCaul Lombardi (of American Honey) in a series of images shot against archetypal la-la backdrops. Alongside the print campaigns, Sartori and Zegna commissioned the director Francesco Carrozzini to shoot a series of short films recording the actors discussing their “defining moments.”