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Sunday, 18 October 2009

Benetton, London

I rarely photograph Benetton or even really take any notice of what they do visually, I suppose because the brand seems, at least to me to have lost its way somewhere along the line. When Oliviero Toscani's photographs of a Nun and Priest in a passionate embrace, the newly born baby still bloody or the Aids victims on death beds, gave this brand a real edge which seems to have disappeared somewhere along the line. This is a shame as I guess the brand is now more than brightly coloured sweaters (and mountains of them) that filled these sites last time I shopped there. Anyway, I did find myself drawn to this scheme although I think I would have laid this out quite differently and bearing in mind the height of the space here in an absolutely prime location, I think I would have perhaps really filled this space with these wooden discs to create a much stronger statement. The use of the grey tone in windows does shout luxury to me (even if the product is not), however I feel this is lost as while in essence the scheme and idea is there, the execution of it could do with a huge dose of drama and creativity.