IN COLLABORATION WITH ROBERT POLIDORI, BOTTEGA VENETA LAUNCHES ITS ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN FOR THE FALL/WINTER 2011-2012 COLLECTION
Bottega Veneta has entrusted the design of its Fall/Winter 2011-2012 advertising campaign to photographer Robert Polidori. Dedicated to the men’s and women’s ready-to-wear collections, this eminently creative campaign – the label’s latest collaboration with renowned artists – was shot at the Palazzo Papadapoli, a magnificent 16th-century building on Venice’s Grand Canal.
For Autumn/Winter 2011-2012, the collections focus on the extraordinary and unusual, both in the details and in the very structure of the pieces. The palette is bright and contrasting: vivid camellia, resin orange and peridot tones brighten up Canova white for women and espresso brown or tourmaline blue for men. Simple, natural shapes hug the body, while fabrics, textured and pleated for a three-dimensional effect, run the gamut from muddled wool blends to rougher wools, waxed or faded leathers, ultra-light silks and fine jerseys. Overprints, colorful patterns, embroidery and yokes add depth and graphics to original surfaces in the Women’s collection, while the Men’s collection mixes materials and revolutionizes structures to reinvent the traditional wardrobe.
A renowned photographer, Robert Polidori has made architecture, rooms and human environments in general his favorite subjects. He began his career photographing the restoration of the Château de Versailles. Since then, he has taken an interest in a wide range of subjects and locations, including desolate Chernobyl, Havana under Castro and post-war Beirut. In 2006, he was commissioned by the Met to photograph New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. A resounding success, the exhibition was the most acclaimed of any photography exhibition ever organized by the museum. A contributor to The New Yorker, his work can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Moma, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victorian and Albert Museum in London and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
His large-format camera, unique in that it was designed specifically for him, enables Polidori to take photos rich in detail, as voluminous as it is voluptuous. His pictures capture the sense of passing time, humanity and history that people invariably leave behind. The emotional and temporal dimension that Robert Polidori infuses into his work, right down to the smallest detail, seduced Bottega Veneta Artistic Director Tomas Maier. Commenting on the collaboration for the Fall/Winter campaign, Maier explains: “Robert’s work is unusual in that it both informs and questions. His attention to detail creates layers of meaning that transcend the intrinsic beauty of his images. I wanted to know what Bottega Veneta models would look like through her lens, in the Veneto region and particularly in Venice, the brand’s birthplace”. The two-day shoot was a first for Polidori, who had never photographed models before. “Robert put all his boundless energy and sense of adventure into the shoot,” says Tomas Maier. “I was extremely enthusiastic about this collaboration.
In associating himself with this campaign, Robert Polidori joins all the great artists who have added their names to Bottega Veneta’s advertising portfolio. His predecessors include Alex Prager (Spring 2011), Robert Longo (Autumn 2010), Nan Goldin (Spring 2010), Steven Meisel (Autumn 2009), Larry Sultan (Spring 2009), Todd Eberle (Cruise 2009), Nick Knight (Autumn 2008), Sam Taylor-Wood (Spring 2008), Annie Leibovitz (Autumn 2007), Tina Barney (Spring 2007), Lord Snowdon (Autumn 2006), Stephen Shore (Spring 2006) and Philip-Lorca diCorcia (Autumn 2005).
The advertising campaign for Bottega Veneta’s Autumn/Winter 2011-2012 collection will be launched in the August issues of major international magazines.
A video of the campaign shoot will be available on the Art of Collaboration section of bottegaveneta.com in July.
Cette publication est également disponible en : Français (French)
