Italian Rugby For Cavalli Underwear
Roberto Cavalli’s “Just Cavalli” announced the launch of its new advertising campaign today featuring 5 star rugby players from The Italian National team and the Montepaschi Viadana club. Shot by photographer Gianpaolo Sgura in the team’s official locker-room, the black & white advert is styled to resemble old High School and College Year Book team photos from the 1940s and 50s. The Cavalli ad is set to run June 2008 in a select number of Italian and international magazines and features the following players; Aldo Birchall, Ross Curle, Matthew Harvey, Hayden Pedersen, and Kaine Robertson. (Via Fashion Windows)
11 Comments so far
I love how they framed the collage with three very conspicuous packages wrapped in the brightest of whites. I wish my high school locker-room looked like this!
Beauty and good ol’ eroticism aside, the ad campaign seems to imply/pursue the nostalgic longing and currently expired masculinity of the yesteryears: the peak in male confidence post War, and potent virility in young adult athletes.
This campaign may aspire to that nostalgic masculinity of yesteryears but it fails. Instead this kind of thing is symptomatic of its demise. Photos of self consious young men that have been stylized by art direction, manscaped of any unsightly body hair, coiffed plucked etc. I wonder how many young rugby players alter their workouts knowing that they maybe approached to model underwear or be in some calendar? The idea that we are seeing real men in their natural state as opposed to male models is a farce, this is minor shift in aesthetics. How long before the models in Milan start doing heavier and heavier squats to meet the demand for “rugby” quads and ass.
Interesting thoughts, but I couldn’t disagree more. The very reason the ad works is because it fails in the traditional sense; it’s clunky, amateurish, odd, self conscious and most of all humorous due to the contrast. As for aspirations, professional Rugby sounds like a rough way round to a modeling contract (missing teeth cauliflower ears, busted noses) and I doubt that very few have aspirations for calendar work, I think they just want to play Rugby. In closing, given the outrageously slim state of most male models working in Milan (even professional divers and swimmers are now too big for the clothes) I would welcome a beefier model, one who aspires to squat his body weight and be healthy enough without the aid of steroids to pump out some nice quad work.
I agree the beefier look is most welcome. I think the campaign is pretty lame, the amatteurishness feels forced and cynical, but that is my take. Regarding the athlete / model point. I am sure rugby is job one for these guys, you can’t reach their level without that. Maybe it is me that is cynical, but I can’t believe the David Beckham effect hasn’t filtered into the conciousness of most young professional athletes. At the end of the day, modelling underwear probably has a better day rate than professional Italian Rugby? Certain professions have become so sexualized in the media, the word “firefighter” conjures up a very different image in people’s minds today than it did 20 years ago, same thing is happening to rugby.
Still, would rather look at this than the latest Versace model any day of the week.
Yes, I agree with you on advertising recontextualizing, a bland stereotype is produced and tradition gets redefined. Imagery is produced to sell a product, it’s the equivalent of skimming or taking a small part off the top. We never get more than the fluff (and sometimes that’s hot and wonderful in a pop context) but we never get anything deeper either, I suppose that’s the difference between fine art and illustration or advertising promos.
nothing could get me to wear anything by that crud hack Cavalli …not even a team of italian rugby hunks.
hola kiero ser modelo sensual de mens ok grasias
This kind of looks like old Bruce Webber photos for Abercrombie. And Cavalli kind of sucks anyways….
Brilliant. Remember the Jockey ads with Jim Palmer? Gay men will always love nice underwear but fusing sports and underwear brings straight men to the table too.
Oh goodness what a hot compilation of pictures! I just love seeing that over and over! I am really going to share this with my gal pals!