Saturday, October 11, 2008

Fashion with a side of Art History- yum!

This D&G ad from Spring 2005 has been tucked away in one of my hefty art history books next to the page with Raphael's Deposition. Who would've thought that the masters of the sultry dress would be inspired by one of the most highly regarded depictions of Christ during the high renaissance?

It seems predictable that D&G would dress the three Marys in hot-pants and Jesus would be languid (not dead) and buff, but what of the chimp?

As my art history professor would to say, "Discuss."

(and "they are all Italians" doesn't count as an explanation ;)

Oh! And Happy Weekend!


Ad (i.e. Deposition) by Dolce and Gabbana


Deposition (The Entombment) by Raphael

LL

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm not the most pious Christian, but I have to say that the ad is a bit sacriligious and makes me respect D&G a lot less.

Songy said...

oh well. I'm not religious and if I didn't know about the classic I would have just though 'hmmm that's very rich with colour and strange..

Happy Weekend!

June Shin said...

Hmm, I'm not sure what to think of the chimp.

we wear things said...

with most of italy being roman catholic i can see why they'd be influenced by religious renaissance art.. but at the same time i do see it as a bit controversial..

of course i would never have noticed unless i had both side by side..

-issa

this wheel's on fire said...

very interesting!
this would be very taboo in italy....

maybe the chimp is evolution!?
since fundamentalist christians generally don't believe in evolution...haha it's a stretch, but who knows?

Fashion Moment said...

O la la!

Danika said...

I'm a tad conflicted, but I must say it's nice to see fashion ads actually trying to lay out a scene, sacrilegious or not. Most ads just depict a hot girl lying around holding a bag or something, this ad actually takes an image and reinvents it. It's not great, but it's interesting to look at.

yiqin; said...

Wow, I dontknw what to say but I really like those hot pants!

agnes said...

Good eye, the D&G ad is apparently influenced by that painting.

Alya said...

Hmm.. I can understand people who would think that this is sacrilegous, but at the same time, this is a painting. And the ad is copying the painting. Don't know if this makes any sense.

On the other hand, I don't know what emotions the picture is provoking.. Personally, I feel like its a bit sombre. I'd like to know what emotions they want us to feel..

Anonymous social worker said...

Haha I love art satire!

Shen-Shen said...

Woah, this is so cool!

To be honest I think it's completely silly for people to be offended by this.

Anonymous said...

HAH. Never would've caught it on my own ... thanks for edjumacating me.

Unknown said...

hmmm to D&G "jesus" looks more like he has expired/collapsed/fainted from the heat of summer more than anything else. the ladies on the left look suitably non-plussed. The more i look at this ad the more i see things that amuse me! as an aside, i've been a big fan of your blog! so much so that i've added you to my links at my blog: ondressingup.blogspot.com. This is not a shameless plug, i really do mean it :)

Angel said...

I always love D&G ads! They are so artistically taken and created!! They give the shivers every time! D&G's photographer (can't remeber his name right now haha) is very talented! All their adds have this realistic yet fictional look to it.