Welcome to the 101st insertion of DEMUR®, an analytical series highlighting the intricacies of the artistic world and the minutiae lying within. In this episode we get down and dirty with Tom Ford, remembering Gucci’s most explicit and contentious adverts of all time.
Tom Ford understood better than anyone that sex sells. As he approached the crumbling Gucci maison in 1994, he took the reins to revive a dying company. Ford catapulted Gucci to unparalleled heights, using seductive marketing techniques to attract a slew of media coverage and untapped consumers.
In the age of grunge and rebellion, Tom Ford positioned himself to stray from the classic ethos Gucci had so closely retained. He pivoted and instead catered to the youth and super models that defined the decade, pushing a provoking narrative that would instigate a whirl of disapproval. His first campaign featured Amber Valletta in a dicy unbuttoned satin blue shirt, but would appear rather tame in comparison to his following looks.
As Ford got comfortable in his monogram throne, he quickly abandoned the receded attitude and became flamboyant. Year after year, we saw him push the public to their limits with blatant sexual reference and radiating lust. In 1996, Georgina Grenville and Ludovico Benazzo presented daring stares and soft-core heat, sliding his hand down her breasts in a dripping trope of desire.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In 1997 we’d see Carolyn Murphy, Angela Lindvall, and Gavin Matthews in the pretence of a threesome, alongside gripping close ups of total submission. Tom Ford would soon be coined the “King of Sex” as these images rolled out in magazines.
The designer continued to debut sexualized ads for the following years, until 2003, when Carmen Kass would face the hottest controversy to date. Shaving a “G” logo into her pubic hair for a campaign shoot, she pulls down her underwear in front of a male model to reveal the letter. Facing intense backlash, the advert was nearly banned in the UK, and headlined as “no better than pimps and those who sell sexual services in phone boxes” by The Daily Mail.
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