My favorite Benetton ads are the ones shot in the early 80's, before Benetton advertising became very controversial. The controversial ads were groundbreaking and very needed, but the stylist in me longs for the brightly layered fun of the old times.The shots that I loved featured classic 80's styling on many models clustered together in one shot, photographed against a white background. I am having a hard time finding my top pics, but here are some goodies.
The little girl in this shot is someone I know, which just proves that "six degrees of separation" philosophy-especially in fashion circles. That is Marie Suter, former Elle Girl art director and Jane Magazine creative director. I was fortunate to style two shoots for Elle Girl and Marie told me about this. Her dad was an Art Director for Benetton and it is his own cursive writing that adorns the Colors de Benetton perfume. Another piece of trivia that is fantastic.
I wore this perfume in the 80s and my mom would take me shopping at the South Coast Plaza Benetton store. Absolutely brilliant times for Benetton.
The ads today are still well done: Shot by David Sims and styled by Karl Templer. They retain the old ads' styling, energy and spirit.
Another bit of trivia is that I currently work for a lady who styled Oliviero Toscani's daughter Lola for Rebel Magazine several years ago, photographed by Oliviero. Aleksandra was the editor in chief of Rebel until she moved to NYC, and that shoot introduced me to Rebel. It featured a teenage Lola with a blunt bob, looking very much like how I would picture Ramona Quimby to look like as a teen. She wore navy and black blazers and denim-very chic and French minimalist. Rebel couldn't continue w/o Aleksandra at the helm, so it ceased publication. But I have the tears from that shoot floating around my apartment somewhere. Also, two years ago I was styling a shoot for Soma magazine and I called Lola at Brian Reyes for some clothing samples. That Lola was Lola Toscani who did PR for Brian at the time.
Recently one of the most interesting models (and personalities-watch her, she is destined for big things) in the business, Taylor Warren, was photographed by Oliviero for L'Official Magazine.
What an honor!
Here is Taylor by Oliviero:
On her blog, she wrote the following about her experience-
"Its an 80s amazing story shot by Oliverio Toscani that shot a lot in the 1980s. He was a funny guy. Very Italian. Reminded me a lot of my stepfather. He liked to yell at people and got really upset when I would touch my hair..."
taylor-warren.blogspot.com
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