‘Sex Sells’

In 2010 while studying Fine Art photography at Kingston University in London, I began experimenting with the juxtaposition of adverting' and pornographic images.

This concept came from the commonly held belief that ‘Sex Sells’ and how it is used from fashion to selling phones and cars.

Using images from Playboy magazines, I traced the outline of these explicit images of models onto ad campaigns for Louis Vuitton, YSL, Ford, Nokia, Dsquared and many more, to highlight the sexualisation of women in advertising.

Although highlighting these and the often blatant aspiration of the ‘male-gaze’ aimed a women in many of these ad campaigns, these pieces are not intended as an attack on the brand but rather a tongue -in-cheek comment on them.

Since 2010, movements such as ‘Me too’ and the rise of Feminism have brought more scrutiny to the way women are often portrayed in fashion and the wider media. We are seeing more ‘plus-sized’ and ‘average’ sized women on the runway and in our publications and I believe this is a push-back from women being portrayed as mere sex objects under the male-gaze.

Perhaps we are entering the phase of the female-gaze and how women wish to see themselves. Either way, it seems like a step in the right direction.