Oliviero Toscani + leggings

[aka controversial ads part 2 ]

You may not be familiar with the name but i bet you are familiar with some (if not with all) of the images that follow.
Oliviero Toscani is an Italian legendarily controversial advertising photographer who was the mastermind of the advertising philosophy of United Colors of Benetton for near two decades (1982-2000).

It's the person whose images made me realize (back in the 90s) that a fashion ad,may be something more than Marky Mark , a six-pack  and a pair of underwear.
Remember? (how one can forget...)
 

 ( a-ha, Marky Mark stands for Mark Wahlberg)

 

Hearts,1996

 

Cemetery, 1991

Bosnian soldier, 1995      
                                                                  

 Handcuffs, 1989

The below images were using by the brand as prints on T-shirts.
(but according to my calculations(!) some years after the original photos were shot).

I used to own ''the children on the pot'' t-shirt (which i still have- it's been more than 15 years!) and the ''priest and nun'' one (both in white)!
They fitted me as a T-shirt dress, and i used to wear them with my fav blue leggings (you know 100% thick thick cotton-the kind that high school girls used to wear in Greece circa 1995-remember?) and cream supergas (f*** yeah, SU-PER-GA). It was my summer uniform for that period!

Pinocchios, 1991 

Priest and Nun, 1991    
                                                                           

Angel and Devil, 1991

              

 Children on the pot, 1990                                                                         

                                                                                                 images via http://www.flickr.com/photos/benettongroup/

In 2002, he managed to provoke the Catholic circles, as his poster for Costas Gavras film Amen, represented a mix of Christian cross and a swastika.

✂  an interview of Mr.Toscani on CNN here and on TIME magazine here.