image courtesy of That Other Blog
Isabelle Caro, a 27-year old French woman who weighs just 68 lbs has suffered from anorexia since she was 13.
She’s also the star of a highly charged new ad campaign from Nolita, an Italian fashion label.
Double-page spreads of the ads, which brutally expose her and her disease, debuted Monday in major Italian newspapers along with prominent downtown billboards in cities such as Milan, Naples and Rome, coinciding with Milan’s fashion week. The ads will run in national French newspaper Libération next week.
The Nolita campaign was developed by photographer Oliviero Toscani, who has made a career out of twinning often disturbing images with fashion. During the ’80s and ’90s, he authored numerous campaigns for Italian apparel maker Benetton that touched on themes of race, AIDS and sexuality.
This campaign is already stirring people up. Some health advocates claim the company is trying to profit from the disease. I, for one, don’t see the merit in that claim.
[via The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.)]
