Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani, best known for his work on Benetton‘s provocative advertising campaigns in the 1980s and 1990s including one featuring an AIDS sufferer, died on Monday aged 82.
Oliviero Toscani – DIETER NAGL / AFP/Archives
Toscani, who spent two decades as art director for the fashion retailer, revealed in August he suffered from the incurable disease amyloidosis and had lost 40 kilogrammes.
“With great sadness we announce that today, January 13, 2025, our beloved Oliviero has embarked on his next journey,” his family said in a statement on Instagram, asking for privacy.
Toscani was known for using viscerally shocking images not only to sell products but also to draw attention to social themes from AIDS and racism to the death penalty or mafia killings.
Most controversial was Toscani’s use of a photograph of AIDS sufferer David Kirby on his deathbed surrounded by his family for a 1992 Benetton campaign during the peak of the health crisis in the United States.
The campaign sparked a backlash by AIDS activists and a boycott of Benetton, but Toscani stood by his work.
In a 2016 interview with a photography blog, he maintained that a company had a responsibility to “show its social intelligence and sensitivity to the society around it”.
Benetton on Monday paid tribute to his work.
“In order to explain certain things, words simply don’t suffice. You taught us that,” the firm said, adding: “Farewell Oliviero. Keep on dreaming.”
Backlash, censorship
Toscani’s work for Benetton — from 1982 to 2000 and again from 2017-2020 — was both applauded and reviled.
It included campaigns featuring a black woman breastfeeding a white child, a nun and priest kissing, a still-bloody newborn with umbilical cord attached, and an array of colourful condoms against a white background.
Beyond consumer backlashes and boycotts some of his “United Colors of Benetton” campaigns were censored in Italy and France.
Some of his other work was similarly controversial.
Toscani’s 2007 photograph for fashion brand Nolita of the nude and severely anorexic model Isabelle Caro — who later died of the disease — was timed to correspond with Milan Fashion Week.
It was shown on billboards with “No Anorexia” over the photo.
A 2012 calendar he did for a leather consortium in Florence depicted 12 penises, following another version using female genitalia.
“Photography is ethical engagement! I don’t give a damn about photographic aesthetics,” Toscani told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in August.
Asked which photo he would like to be remembered for, he told the paper: “For the entirety, for the commitment.”
“It is not an image that makes history, it is an ethical, aesthetic, political choice to make with your work,” he said.
Born February 28, 1942 in Milan, Toscani was the son of a respected Corriere photographer and attended art school in Zurich.
Soon he began his work in fashion photography, collaborating with top fashion names, including his eventual long association with Benetton.
The retailer broke ties with Toscani in 2020, however, after dismissive comments he made about the 2018 tragic bridge collapse in Genoa that killed 43 people.
The Benetton family was the main shareholder of the company that managed the bridge at the time of the disaster.
German retail sales rose in 2024, but growth should be more modest this year due to the high level of uncertainty, according to retail association HDE.
Last year, retail sales rose 1.1% compared to the previous year in inflation-adjusted terms, official data showed on Friday. The HDE forecasts 0.5% growth in real terms this year.
“Consumption and the retail sector in Germany will not really gain momentum in 2025 either,” said HDE managing director Stefan Genth. “There is simply too much uncertainty,” he said. “Wars, high energy costs and overall economic stagnation are a toxic cocktail for consumption.”
In nominal terms, retail sales rose by 2.5% in 2024 and are expected to grow by 2.0% in 2025, according to HDE’s forecast.
The latest HDE survey with 700 retailers shows that 22% of respondents expect sales to increase this year, while almost half of them expect results to be below the previous year’s level.
In December, retail sales fell by 1.6% compared with the previous month, official data showed. Analysts had predicted a 0.2% increase.
Many big names in UK retail had a good Christmas season — despite the sector being generally sluggish — but it seems John Lewis Partnership (JLP) may not have been one of them.
The retailer — which operates its eponymous department stores and webstore, plus Waitrose supermarkets — has missed its profit target after a disappointing festive season.
It hasn’t shared any info officially but internal documents seen by The Telegraph suggest bad news to come when it does release its results.
Those internal documents have only been shared with staff so far with the company saying that sales have fallen short of expectations and it’s unlikely to achieve its hoped-for £131 million full-year profit.
The company is said to have blamed “lower consumer confidence and weaker than expected market confidence” for the sales miss in the month to 21 December, although also the fact that key trading days fell outside the period.
Sales targets were missed at both of the firm’s chains, although the newspaper said it still claimed it outperformed rivals and staff should be “proud of our performance”.
It will be interesting therefore to see exactly what its figures were as a number of rivals have actually reported a good Christmas. If its stores have beaten other supermarkets and chains like M&S, perhaps its targets were too ambitious in the first place.
We won’t know for a while, but we do know that with M&S resurgent, JLP’s supermarkets and department stores have lost some of their lustre as the destination of choice for Britain’s middle classes.
So what were the firm’s benchmarks? Back in September it had said it was seeing strong demand and expected a significant rise in profits for the year to January. The prior year’s pre-tax profit had been £56 million and the year before that it made a loss.
It had also talked about its turnaround efforts paying off and that it was seeing a “considerable improvement” in performance, with the John Lewis chain in particular expected to benefit from a buoyant second half.
It’s been rumoured for some time that he would exit the label but it’s not yet known what his next step will be.
Jones has been widely praised for his work at Dior with his latest men’s collection shown this month being hailed as a success.
He’s been a key creative at LVMH having also designed its Fendi women’s collections. And he helmed Louis Vuitton’s menswear before he joined Dior.
The company said it “wishes to express its deepest gratitude” to the designer “who has accelerated the development of Men’s collections internationally and has greatly contributed to the worldwide influence of the House by creating an inspiring wardrobe that is both classic and contemporary, and connected to some artists of our time”.
And Delphine Arnault, who’s chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture,added: “I am extremely grateful for the remarkable work done by Kim Jones, his studio, and the ateliers. With all his talent and creativity, he has constantly reinterpreted the House’s heritage with genuine freedom of tone and surprising, highly desirable artistic collaborations.”
Jones meanwhile called it a “true honour to have been able to create my collections within the House of Dior, a symbol of absolute excellence. I express my deep gratitude to my studio and the ateliers who have accompanied me on this wonderful journey. They have brought my creations to life. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the artists and friends I have met through my collaborations. Lastly, I feel sincere gratitude towards Bernard and Delphine Arnault, who have given me their full support.”
Entertainment8 years ago