The Most Moving Fashion Ads In History That You Have To See
Fashion adverts often show a lot more than clothes. Some designers now create perfume and have very creative ways of showing their designs. These ads often go a lot further than fashion, creating moving, sometimes controversial adverts to keep their brand alive. These adverts often go down in history as being very creative and memorable with huge revenues created for the brands. The bigger the shock, the bigger the campaign. These are some of the top moving fashion ads in history.
Gucci and Tom Ford 2003
This advert caused such a stir that it was banned everywhere. The banning of the advert probably only added to the purchase of Gucci and Tom Ford collection. The ad featured the model Carmen Kass, shot from the neck down with her pubic hair shaved into the letter G.
Calvin Klein and Kate Moss 1990s
Calvin Klein and Kate Moss have been working together for decades now. For the first release of the perfume Obsessed in the 1990s, Calvin Klein hired Mario Sorrenti who created a sensual film showing Moss wearing very little on a beach in the Virgin Islands. In 2017, Calvin Klein re-imagined Obsessed and to release it brought out new nseen footage from Mario Sorrenti and his trip with Kate Moss to the Virgin Islands. When releasing the mael perfume, they used photos Moss had taken of Sorrenti. This is one of the top moving fashion ads in history.
Yves Saint Laurent 1971, Remade in 2002
With Yves Saint Laurent’s release of his first male perfume ‘Pour Homme’, he decided to use himself as the face of the product.  At the time it was unusual for the designer to pose as the face of the product, usually opting for models or stars. He was the first celebrity designer, as we see them now, and was well known throughout the celebrity world both for his designs and himself. This is one of the top moving fashion ads in history.
United Colours of Benetton 1991
This fashion campaign had little to do with fashion and a lot to do with shock. Oliviero Toscani was given creative free reign to manage and create Benetton’s new ad campaign. His approach to use images that shocked the nation and created controversy. The images were not fashion related but had the brand’s logo in the bottom corner. Toscani used images such as a man dying of AIDs surrounded by his family and a black woman breastfeeding a white baby to create the shock. Some customers thought that this campaign was exploitative, as they were unconvinced that Benetton were actually interested in the ethical issues portrayed. This is one of the top moving fashion ads in history.
Benetton 2011
Benetton decided in 2011 to continue its fashion-less ad campaign of shocking images. This campaign took a political turn with the creative directors deciding to use images of political leaders kissing their political opposites. Again this was a campaign to shock audiences. One of these images featured the pope kissing Ahmed el-Tayeb, Sheikh of the al-Azhar mosque. This image was then banned and the advert campaign was not wholly successful; despite causing a stir and reminding customers that Benetton had an edge. This is one of the top moving fashion ads in history.
Nolita (No Anorexia) by Oliviero Toscani, 2007
This advert was up on Billboards and advertising space during the Milan Fashion Week in 2007 to highlight the effects of the disease. Simultaneously, this advert was used to show some of the truths in the fashion industry and to try and make a change away from using anorexic models. In recent history, we have seen a change in the models that are used in Fashion Week.
Diesel SS14 by Inez & Vinoodh 2014
An inclusive advert that showed Jillian Mercado in her wheelchair alongside model James Astronaut. In this image Diesel wanted to explore and showcase how inclusive clothing can be and how their brand was for everybody.
