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:

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