Advert Analysis - Yves Saint Laurent

C E R E A L Fashion & Lifestyle VOL.5

C E R E A L

Y

ves Saint Laurent was the very first designer/perfume creator in fashion history to be cast in his own fragrance campaign in the nude.

While the ad was never banned and did not cause much of a stir initially; the marketing move was controversial and remained so until the death of the photographer Jeanloup Sieff in 2000. By this time ‘the image’ had reached an icon-status within YSL’s house environment and served as a landmark in fashion advertising. In 2010 the now iconic image went up for auction. [Vogue Magazine, 26th May 2010 by Jessica Bumpus] ‘A Photograph of a nude Yves Saint Laurent will go up for auction in Paris on June 30 … Estimates for the sale range from, €2000 to €15,000’.

Prior to the release of YSL Pour Homme, Fragrance advertisements never featured men in the nude, it was the norm to see women featured unclothed for any fashion or fragrance campaign. But what was more remarkable was that Yves Saint Laurent was the first ever designer to pose naked for his own brand. No other brands had done this, it was revolutionary and heralded great changes in fashion advertising over the next twenty years.

Today fashion and nudity regularly complement each other in advertising. Nipples are barely any more shocking than belly buttons when they’re in the pages of Vogue and it is not uncommon for clothing to be disregarded entirely. However, it is only common to see female models in the nude in fashion and fragrance ads, never men. But male designers on the other hand, are getting naked more frequently than ever. Marc Jacobs stripped down for his Fragrance campaign Bang; Tom Ford bared all for W magazine and Olivier Theyskens similarly for Vogue. Between the 1970’s and 2015 the lines have been blurred between what’s considered to be eroticism and what is fashion.

Jay Harris WRITER

“It was just provocation on the part of Yves Saint Laurent.

The picture didn’t specifically target the gay population, even though it resonated strongly among them.”

Y ves Saint Laurent’s target consumer in the 1970’s was primarily woman. He was best known for reworking the rules of fashion by dressing women in elegant pantsuits that then came to define how modern women dressed. Consequently, for a designer who mainly focused on women’s tailoring to bring out a male fragrance was very risky and implied aiming at a very niche market. He made Pour Homme available for all men in pursuit of elegance. Some would even say it was targeted at the gay community, but according to Pierre Berge, Saint Laurent’s business partner “It was just provocation on the part of Yves Saint Laurent. The picture didn’t specifically target the gay population, even though it resonated strongly among them.”

This suggests that Saint Laurent’s aim was to connect with all male consumers and even his loyal female consumers, who wanted their husbands, and male friends or relatives all to be associated with the YSL brand.

My initial impressions of the advertisement reveal a strong link between the advert and the theme of Greek gods, an idea of masculinity, and strength.

The way that Saint Laurent is positioned in the nude yet still covering up, suggests to me a strong link to Grecian gods such as Poseidon and Aries, both of whom are worshipped for there power and strength. Statues of the gods of sea and war are very much positioned in the same way to YSL’s ad, being provocative yet appearing in control and apart from the populace; something to be worshipped and revered not something provoking mere lust. It is very much an ad which challenges the male to aspire rather than desire, unlike many ads featuring naked women.

The 1970’s was known as the decade of second wave feminism. With new laws being passed that required women to be paid in the same bracket as men and also having more freedom with what they can do and what to wear. Feminism was starting to reach larger audiences than ever before. Similarly, The gay movement was starting to move forward with the election of political figures such as Harvey Milk to public office, the coming out of Freddie Mercury and Andy Warhol; bringing gay culture into the spotlight and the advocating of anti-gay discrimination legislation; this was the decade for the gay movement.

The design equation makes strong reference to photographers such as Richard Avedon and Cecil Beaton, proposing the idea that lighting is the most important part of an image. As seen in Cecil Beaton’s image of Audrey Hepburn, you can see that it is the lighting that draws the viewer’s attention to the subject, whether that is directed onto the face of the entire silhouette of the model. Yves Saint Laurent uses the lighting in a very similar way, directing the viewer’s attention immediately to his face before registering the strength of the whole picture.

The Pour Homme strap line translated to English is ‘ since then this eau de toilette was mine. Today it can be yours.’ This is a great marketing technique as it is potentially offering consumers a lifestyle, selling to them what nobody else has, something that belongs to someone that is an ultimate celebrity in society.

Jeanloup Sieff lensed 14 images of the designer nude, settling on the one that appeared natural, vulnerable and desexualized.

Why? I believe it is because Yves Saint Laurent wanted the fragrance to be the object of desire, not him; making male consumers more likely to buy into the brand. He knew that men prefer to not make a fuss, nothing over the top, just simplicity and something that smells good. Therefore, with the advertisement being very simplistic, not too extravagant and Yves Saint Laurent not being this huge muscly male to be intimidated by; males were thus more likely to buy into the fragrance and the brand.

The execution of the image is very simplistic, playing on the idea of buying into a lifestyle but also making it so that the advert isn’t intimidating men to buy it, Yves Saint Laurent’s tone of voice is very laid back and calm, the imagery doesn’t suggest competition and the idea of always being the best like other male fragrances were at the time, just plain and simple.

With the advertisement scarcely exposed to the public due to its ‘erotic’ nature, you could say the advert didn’t work at all for the brand or its traditional all female brand values. The fact that a female endorsed brand creating a product for men in the midst of second wave feminism would seem bizarre, would it sell? Would it threaten the loyal customer?

But it was only after the death of photographer Jeanloup Sieff in 2000 that we can truly see the advertisement’s potential. Prior to Yves Saint Laurent there were no designers featuring (especially nude) in their own ad campaigns, Yves Saint Laurent was offering his consumers his lifestyle. He was selling to the consumer his name and his brand, demonstrated by the strapline ‘…Today it can be yours’ – an offer hard to refuse.

The success of this strategy can also be also demonstrated through many other brands such as Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabanna; they took direct inspiration or influence from the 1971 YSL ad. In my opinion the ad works perfectly. Yves Saint Laurent was trying to achieve a ‘new look’ for male advertising. Perhaps the ad was too risqué and too risky for that time in society but without its creation, the nature of advertising and advertising campaigns would not have been changed forever. It was, in my opinion, a risk worth taking.

(Image 1) Dolce & Gabbana Advertisement Featuring David Gandy: Tribute to YSL. (Image 2) Marc Jacobs Bang Fragrance advertisement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Big Idea

http://www.styleite.com/beauty/8-perfume-ads-way-more-provocative-than-rihannas-rogue/ http://partnouveau.com/?p=1240 http://www.styleite.com/news/a-history-of-male-fashion-designers-posing-naked/ http://www.ohlalamag.com/en/2008/06/french-fashion.html 2. Creative Idea http://thewhaleandtherose.com/2013/sex-sells-we-take-a-look-at-the-most-provocative-of-perfume-ads/#.VQXoZkLlfzI http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2010/05/26/nude-yves-saint-laurent-photograph-to-be-auctioned http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2012/11/05/chanel-model-cast-as-yves-saint-laurent http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3e6ee7d6-30d0-11dd-bc93-000077b07658.html#axzz3UUJajmSE 3. Execution

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/yves-saint-laurent-paris-couturier-who-was-revered-as-a-genius-but-consideredhimself-a-crazy-mixedup-man-838903.html http://coolawesomemovies.com/2011/11/the-decline-of-masculinity-in-the-seventh-art/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s#Social_movements http://www.jeanloupsieff.com http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-14_u-189_t-508_c-1881/1970s---decade-in-context/nsw/history/australia’s-social-and-culturalhistory-in-the-post-war-period/social-and-cultural-features-of-the-1970s http://adage.com/article/adage-encyclopedia/history-1970s/98703/ http://www.boyculture.com/boy_culture/2013/02/historys-hottest-100-male-models.html

C E R E A L Fashion & Lifestyle VOL.5

JAY HARRIS WRITER Nottingham, UK NO555578 FASH10106 Creative Networks Fashion Communication & Promotion

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YSL DOLCE & GABBANA MARC JACOBS CECIL BEATON RICHARD AVEDON DAVID GANDY JEANLOUP SIEFF PIERRE BERGE OLIVIER THEYSKENS