New cologne = Vagina
Tom Ford, former creative director of Gucci and Yves Saint-Laurent (and graduate of Parsons, where Project Runway takes place, as it turns out), struck out on his own in 2004.
Since then he's been shaking things up with a menswear collection George Clooney loves and swank Madison Avenue men's store...
...a Vanity Fair cover that got Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley naked (thank you, Tom)...
...and now, a cologne (one of many scents Ford has created at $165 per 1.7 oz. bottle) whose print ad campaign strips the niceties away from the "sex sells" ethic and just puts the tiny bottle between a woman's naked, glistening thighs, resting on her waxed pubis.
A not even kind of work-safe link to the actual ad here.
Even more explicit flash intro to Ford's website here.
Holy. God.
If Ford were straight I think people would be saying he hates women. Because he's not people will just accuse him of being a perverse design school guy who gets off on shocking people.
Which is, I imagine, fine with him.
Comments (6)
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OK, I am no prude. But I think this ad is merely prurient. No art whatsoever.
Posted on September 19, 2007 12:08 PM
I think it's value is certainly in its shock value.
"No art whatsoever" may be a bit much.
It's certainly very artfully done - well executed prurience, if nothing else. The woman has a beautiful body and it's been beautifully photographed. How and why it's being used to sell cologne is a whole other conversation, I suppose.
Posted on September 19, 2007 2:52 PM
I don't believe "merely prurient" exists. There's art in everything. Whether it's good art is another matter.
Posted on September 20, 2007 1:41 PM
$165 for 1.7 ounces? Does she come with it?
Posted on September 21, 2007 2:35 PM
Gay guys can hate women just as effectively as straight guys can. Sad but true.
Posted on September 21, 2007 5:05 PM
Gay guys can certainly hate women -- but I don't think Ford does. Or any of the straight guys (or women) who exploit female sexuality to sell things. I just hear that a lot.
Dolce and Gabbanna, on the other hand, seem to exploit male sexuality more in extremely homoerotic print ads. But while there's criticism for the explicitness or the fetish elements of their advertising at times you rarely hear about the models being exploited or how much they obviously hate them.
Posted on September 22, 2007 10:46 PM