Welcome to the 181st insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode, we undress fashion’s lust for sex, questioning the ethos behind industry marketing techniques and its impact on contemporary style.
When thinking of designer fashion, many resort to the heights of couture. Flashing images of editorial shoots, maximalist cuts and provoking mediums, slim waists pair with washboard abs and chiselled jawlines. Promoting salacious tropes in arousing ad campaigns, these industry-defining beauty standards call to a higher thought of sex, but what’s it all for?
In an industry that intends to adorn the naked body, it’s odd that marketing ideals pertain to semi-nude models. While seemingly backwards, the fact of the matter is that sex sells and our primal instincts are incredibly lucrative. From the cover of Vogue magazine to a Rick Owens runway show, it seems as if fashion is inseparable from the exposed, leading us to query whether we’re selling a luxury craft or the perception of one’s self.
The answer to this question can be found in the work of Tom Ford’s Gucci. Pioneering the advantageous approach to the sale of highly provocative wear (take the 1997 ‘G’-string for example), he would leverage sex to promote shock value on billboards and magazines globally. Enlisting elderly models, Ford presented geriatric soft-core porn to the masses in ‘Forever Love’, while similarly working with the youth in his highly controversial ‘G’ pubes photoshoot. Promoting the brand’s clothing through lust, he worked to sell Gucci’s prestigious attitude, not the suit or trousers.
As a result, Tom Ford’s era saved the Gucci label from bankruptcy. Influencing a slew of competition, he’d aid in the establishment of shock-centric works like Dolce & Gabbana’s ‘gang-bang’ advert in 2015, among others like Hysteric Glamour’s 2002 ‘leash’ promo in Dune Magazine. Despite such success, with that said, sex’s placement in fashion can have adverse effects, pushing many to opt for baggy cuts in fear of sexualization, or perhaps rid of the shock value once associated with it.
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