Oliviero Toscani: The Provocateur Who Changed Advertising Photography

He gave the name “Jesus” to a pair of hot pants, found AIDS more interesting for fashion campaigns than yellow sweaters – and defended himself against accusations of cynicism throughout his life. On the death of the great advertising photographer Oliviero Toscani.

The photographer Oliviero Toscani has died. His job title was never enough to capture how and what he changed with his work. It was less the photography itself than its perception that he turned upside down forever, especially with his campaigns for the fashion brand Benetton in the eighties and nineties. Long before the dogmas of identity politics, he confused skin colors, sexualities and beliefs.