Fashion v censorship: a history of banned ads

''Last week, the Advertising Standards Agency ruled that a Miu Miu campaign image featuring Mia Goth photographed by Steven Meisel was “irresponsible and was likely to cause serious offence”. 

An article featured on dazed website featuring past ads that have been put under scrutiny for their controversial photography and ideas they are projecting within their campaigns. looking at some of these adverts it does surprise me how they thought they wouldn't be subjected to backlash. It is quite obvious that the ones that got band focus on quite a sexualised image. Sisley's advertisement (above) of Josie Maran posing with a cows udder is one which shocked me. though it wasnt a shock when i came to find that Terry Richardson shot this campaign. he also shot tom fords 2007 campaign which also got banned its not hard to see why this got banned. the model poses with her legs spread and a perfume bottle strategically placed over her genitals. Sadly but obviously this perfume is aimed at men as 'sex sells'. making it an extremely obvious target for being banned. though to my surprise it wasnt. tom ford argued that the people that will be buying and reading magazines that feature the ad will be aware that its simply an image and that it was extremely artistic. 

In the end, to me it is very blatant why these ads could be banned if a child saw the advertisements. especially the way some of these ads show women. does banning it in fact spread it further?. which defeats the point. 

“The thing is, you can’t show male nudity in our culture in the way you can show female nudity. We’re very comfortable as a culture exploiting women, but not men” – Tom Ford

Palomo Spain are making wildly erotic, line-blurring fashion --------------------------

In 2015, Alejandro Gómez Palomo graduated from London College of Fashion and shortly after founded his label, Palomo Spain.

Palomo Spain creates beautiful clothing that is erotic and desirable. It is executed in a way that isn't predictable but is executed in a very playful dream like fantasy setting. This autumn winter collection was shot in the designers hometown. The backdrop is green fields. They wanted to make the images personal this is why the images were shot in the designers home town. He wanted to reflect four attitudes towards sex. He said the boys he images as 'dandles' looking for other boys. He said the second role belongs to the boys that are waiting to be picked up. Then he said the role of the 'pimp' comes along swell as the role of 'virginity' which represents the strongest desire you can have for something. almost untouchable. 

“I wanted to express sexual desire as something really pure and natural” – Alejandro Gómez Palomo

Palm said that he wanted to create a sense of sexual desire for the clothes, as well as through the boys that presented it. My intent was for the viewer to feel the same or similar desire for the pieces as when they feel sexually attracted to a person.

For me a big part of what drew me to this collection was how the images looked almost Alice in wonderland like. I like the whole fantasy part of the images. the idea of a bed being randomly placed in a green grassy field with dream like creatures (men). the men seem to act as gender free beings, dressed in androgynous clothing wearing makeup, creating an almost comical like approach. 

Met Gala 2017:

My Top Picks:

girlboss

A woman in control, taking charge of her own circumstances in work & life. Someone who knows her worth and won't accept anything less. She is not a "mean girl" in fact, she hates "mean girls." She is empowering and inspiring to those around her. She kicks ass!

The series opens with Sophia winging to a random old women on a bench  ''Adulthood is where dreams go to die,”. Setting the tone for the upcoming events in Girl boss. 

Girl boss is a series loosely based on the autobiography of sophia Amoruso the founder of Nasty Gal. 

The series begins with a 23 year old girl feeling lost within dead end jobs. She seeks to find a job where she can stay at home all day. Something i think we would all love to find. I know i would.  She purchases a jacket from a vintage store and sells it on for $500. This is the beginning of her new passion, taking her first leap to  'leaving adulthood'. 

In the series, sophia continuously whines about working for other people. She steals food out of bins even though we are introduced to her father who continuously offers to help her out financially. 

Being your own boss is something which has always been something i would love to do. I see a lot of myself in Sophia. Some of which perhaps aren't the most positive of qualities but ones which i could turn into successful qualities. By turning her everyday eBay shop into an industry worth $300 million is aspiring. 

Though what let the show down was the fact that the business has filed for bankruptcy  casting a dark shadow over the series. 

Gucci features all-black cast in latest campaign

Watch young designer Matty Bovan’s new film on girlhood

Celebrating Barbie’s birthday, the designer goes home to York to create GIRLNESS

http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/35085/1/watch-young-designer-matty-bovans-new-film-on-girlhood-for-barbie

Barbies 58th anniversary has just passed and there was no better way than to collaborate and showcase her birthday with designer Matty Bovan producing the film 'Girlness'. Barbie is known for the looks, different styles as well as having an array of jobs. In my opinion the video isn't what you would expect their collaboration to look like. Rather than being full of fakeness, cliche models and sexualisation, it takes a different approach and seems surprisingly natural. it showcases how girls are in 2017 rather than the stereotypical 'barbie' figure. 

Bovan said in an interview that Barbie was a huge influence for him growing up. He said he saw Barbie as a blank canvas that he used to make his first designs. 

The models consist of social media girls rather than the thin 'perfectly' proportioned girl we associate barbie to be. this is something i really admire in this short film. The unpredictability. Bovan said that he wanted to cast people with a real sense of who they are, showcasing modern characters. 

the models were dresses in pieces from his ss17 collection which were consciously un gendered. he wanted to push the boundaries of what defines femininity. ' She can be transformed into anything your imagination wants'. 

An erotically charged series of male and female nudes

"I wanted to catch a moment beyond those feelings and prejudices" – Sarai Mari

The interview with the photographer : 

Sarai Mari: I grew up on a small mountain which is a world heritage UNESCO site in Japan and every society there has codes of conduct for how people should behave. Traditionally women are supposed to be shy and quietly mannered, and people are scared of being isolated or left behind. They conformed to fit in and I tried to push against it. I was loud, behaved like a free-woman and drove a big motor-cycle when I was teenager, with bleach blonde hair – a bit crazy for my village people.

I moved out of my tiny village when I was 18-years-old and went to the second largest metropolitan city in Japan – Osaka – then I went to Los Angeles to study photography. I had to get out of the small society quickly to see the world and find people who had the same free-spirit as myself. I wanted to prove what I could do and do something different. This reflects my work deeply, I see people inside and out. There is so much background information I can get when I shoot the model, but I am dedicated to the moment I see before me and to photographing a unique side. 

How does your book "celebrate all definitions of gender and sexuality"?

Sarai Mari: Now is an easier world for gender. I wanted to express models’ personas in my book. There is nothing to divide men and women and LGBT people – this book is genderless and timeless.

As a society we are obsessed with defining, giving labels and gendering roles, objects and even colours – what is it about our culture that causes this need to categorise everything?

Sarai Mari: Everyone has too much prejudice over others. There are too many hate crimes. In the news I see the 'threat' immigrants pose to countries now, and it is clear we are still holding onto racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and more. I wanted to catch a moment beyond those feelings and prejudices.

The women you shoot often look powerful and defiant, do you feel an obligation to empower women in your photographs?

Sarai Mari: Yes very much so, but powerful women have a dark side also – I like the contrast. They can be fragile and sensitive. I like all strong women who push their lack of freedom to make them even stronger.

You talk about how "in our radically changing and highly judgmental society, people are often scared of being isolated or left behind." Are we using certain social media platforms as a mask?

Sarai Mari: Yes exactly. It’s a convenient way to let all the world know how fabulous you are, but there are too many layers of mask hiding the truth of yourself. Everyone knows that we are all faking it everyday, little by little, but one day it will become the truth and there will be no going back.