Year: Spring/Summer 1987
Models: Justin Lazard , Tim Schnellenberger, Blake Daniels, Paul Wadina.
Photographer: Bruce Weber
The original WWD Report 22 years ago.
Obsession For Men ad: body-conscious.
January 23, 1987
Author: Wiest, Robin More
Calvin Klein Cosmetics once again will stretch the boundaries of provocative advertising when its spread for an Obsession For Men body product --which features six naked men and women--hits the newsstands in mid-February.
Unlike the ad for the Obsession women's fragrance, which depicts a nude woman entwined with several nude men, the characters in the new shot barely interact but pose like statues, with their eyes closed. The roof of a Miami hotel provided the setting, a white stucco structure set against a slightly cloudy sky.
Like most of the designer's advertising, the new yellow-toned print was photographed by Bruce Weber and developed by Klein's in-house agency, CRK Advertising.
Klein doesn't like to say too much about his ads. He says he prefers to let people interpret them for themselves. There is no hidden meaning,' he said Thursday. It's very sculptural, architectural. The composition is extraordinary . When you are working on products that relate to the body, one wants to show the body to its best advantage.'
The nude women are striking, not just because of what's not there but because of what is. These are not the skinny creatures seen on the runways of yesterday. Curves are in. You didn't see girls like that a couple of years ago,' Klein said. Their bodies interfered with the clothes. We were looking clothes hangers. But now, I feel anyone who looks anorexic is so sad.'
Robin Burns, president of Calvin Klein Cosmetics, was more forthright: The bust is back. Beauty is health . Forget about all the anorexic stuff.' And forget about product shots in newspapers to introduce ancillary bath and body products. Burns went against that traditional practice of launching line extentions when the Obsession body care line was introduced with its own print ads and was promoted on TV. The new Obsession For Men body product will be treated in the same way.
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here a few interesting info about the ad, I got it from a Sam Shahid interview, he was the Calvin Klein creative director and has worked with Bruce Weber since 1981.
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TR: What about the Obsession ad with the naked models?
SS: That's Obsession for men for the body, shot in Miami Beach. We were there before Miami Beach exploded. It was still very seedy at that point. We shot it on top of the hotel. (The Breakwater Hotel)
TR: Very beautiful
SS: It looks beautiful in the photograph. But if you saw the actual place, you would die.
TR: You knew ahead of time that you wanted a shot like this?
SS: It was one of many. There were a lot of photographs shot in Palm Beach—the same scene, but the kids were naked in a pool, just kissing. The shot in this ad is the one we chose in the end. It was the most powerful. It really glorified the body.
