Commercial Campaigns Remembered for Provocations

In the second half of this article about famous fashion commercial campaigns, find out why Girbaud was banned.

If you liked the first half of the article which can be found HERE, then you will probably like its sequel.

In the last article we wrote about the commercial campaigns by Yves Saint Laurent, Calvin Klein, Sisley, Mango and Agent Provocateur, and in this issue we bring you a few commercials which you will certainly remember.

Hedonistic Diesel

First up is Diesel. Known for their excellent and ingenious commercials, Diesel has not disappointed us ever.

Do you remember the wax dolls that looked a bit frightening, and delighted us in 2001? Or a jungle full of models dressed in provocative clothing?

Another in a great series of commercial campaigns for the fashion company is their one for autumn/winter 2005 called “'A Guide to the Individual Pursuit of Hedonistic Pleasure”.

Anna V, Anna Beatriz Barros, Alysa Miller and other beauties participated in the campaign. The commercials are pure sex, however, with lots of imagination, they gain a whole new dimension – they are provocative and refined at the same time.

Domenico and Stefano flirt with homosexuality

Another probably even more controversial fashion duo are Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana, who also play with sex appeal in their campaigns, with commercials which allude homosexuality, which turns out to be a slap to straight people.

The solid male bodies in tight white suits win over the campaign for spring/summer 2006.

In many of their campaigns, Dolce & Gabbana have hired models like Martina Corre, Katarina Ivanovska, Lisa Cant, Heidi Vesrster, Naomi Campbell and others, who attract men who are only dressed in jeans.

Such seductive scenes will leave nobody indifferent.

Patrick Cox and models ‘dressed’ only in shoes

Patrick Cox, a British-Canadian designer of shoes and leather fashion accessories, is characterised by his avant-garde style which occasionally crosses with traditionalism.

He designed shoes for Galliano’s ‘fallen angels’, and has cooperated with John for around six years, and then he later decided to work independently.

For spring/summer 2006 he launched a commercial campaign with Elizabeth Hurley, and only a year later he did a campaign for autumn/spring with Suzana Moreno, Ondra Babic, Peter Piliako and Andre Kupko.

In the commercials, Sophie Dahl, who has already stripped for Tom Ford, more precisely YSL, appears together with Ruth Crilly, Eva Jay Kubatova and Chris Suhoh.

The girls and boys are provocatively dressed, and sometimes wearing only shoes. One of the photographs in the series is reminiscent of ménage a la trios, in of course, designer shoes.

Louis Vuitton surrounded by sex symbols

Louis Vuitton also offers some slightly less provocative campaigns, which does not mean that they are not sexy. Who could resist Gisele Bundchen who appears in a commercial campaign for spring/summer 2006?

Sexy Gisele posed half nude with the fashion company’s bags.

For autumn/winter 2005, Louis Vuitton hired Uma Thurman who, just as usual, looks like a diva. The same year, Uma was the trademark face for the cooperation between Marc Jacobs and Takeshi Murakami.

Besides Gisele and Uma, Louis Vuitton’s photographers have photographed Christina Ricci, Diana Krueger, Scarlett Johansson, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and many other models, as well as the popular Jennifer Lopez.

Eva Herzigova was a modern pin-up girl, Natalia Vodianova was a gentle romantic, and Karolina Kurkova was an urban lady.

Girbaud banned in France for being ‘female Jesus’

Last but not least, we will mention Marithé et François Girbaud, a French couple who have been creating their own designs since 1969, offering casual clothing and jeans.

They caused quite a controversy with a scene from the commercial campaign for spring/summer 2005. The photograph was made to look like the famous ‘Last Supper’.

One of the controversial things in the scene is the fact that a female model takes the place where Jesus is in the original painting. The only man in the photograph is one of the apolstles and is hugging a model.

The photograph was banned in France, even though the authors explained that they gained inspiration for it in “The Da Vinci Code”, and was supposed to be dedicated to women’s strength.