WHAT ABOUT THE CONTEXT?
Not long ago, in the 1980, 15-year-old Brooke Shields became the face of the brand in one of the advertising campaigns for Calvin Klein. She starred in quite controversial commercials. The stumbling block was the phrase: “Do you want to know what is between me and my jeans? Nothing”.
And as you can guess, society exploded with allegations of child pornography. A well-known feminist Gloria Steinem said that advertising provoked violence against women.
The apogee of the scandal was the temporary suspension of production of this very jeans model up to 1998!
NOT QUITE LAW-ABIDING CITIZENS
In 2004, the world of the fashion industry exploded with the news that Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana could face a real court sentence – two years in prison. Well-known fashion designers were accused of tax dodging in the amount of 400 million Euros!
The allegations were made due to the fact that in the same 2004, Domenico and Stefano sold their brands for a billion Euros to a fake holding in Luxembourg. This enabled them to avoid the high tax rate in Italy, and pay lower taxes in Luxembourg.
This was the unfair game of the eminent fashion designers.
FAREWELL MR. GALIANO
Another shocking event rocked the fashion world in 2011. This time, John Galliano took the place of honor as a troublemaker. Outrageous fashion designer went for outrageous actions.
Galliano was accused of harsh anti-Semitic remarks and violent behavior. The matter is that while visiting a Parisian restaurant, the designer drank too much, insulted a couple sitting next to him and got into a fight. In addition to this, there was a video where everything was captured.
This behavior caused a negative wave among colleagues and some celebrities. The result of the fiasco was the dismissal of Galliano from the Christian Dior fashion house.
PERFUME SCANDAL
Belle D’Opium is one of the most notorious perfumes ever released. Its fame is as loud as the name.
For the first time, people protested against it around the 1980s, when the perfume was just released. The Chinese emigrants in the U.S. demanded to change the name of the perfume. They were associated with a drug that was popular in China and killed thousands of people.
But in 2000, an advertising campaign for perfume literally blew people’s eyes. The thing is that the advertisement featured a completely naked model lying on dark blue velvet. This work of art has been recognized by the UK Advertising Standards Commission as the most controversial printed ad in the fashion world.
KARL LAGERFELD VS H&M
The popular Swedish brand H&M is known for its collaborations with famous fashion designers Stella McCartney, Viktor & Rolf, Roberto Cavalli, Sonya Rykiel, Lanvin and others, but the pioneer was Karl Lagerfeld. The designer’s creations were sold out immediately on the first day of the sales.
The snag in this story was a personal insult. In an interview, Lagerfeld spoke sharply about the brand. Lagerfeld declared that the management was full of complete snobs, they released a reduced number of models for sale. Moreover, his entire collection created in small and medium sizes was released in the entire size grid. The main argument of Karl Lagerfeld was laconic: “I make clothes for the graceful and slender people!”.
