The death of Oliviero Toscani, the man who made the image of Benetton

Faced with a gin and tonic, cheerful face, violet glasses and greedy smile, the Italian Oliviero Toscani lets a good five seconds pass to perfect his formula: “Luciano Benetton is my Laurent de Medici. » Then he bursts out laughing. It was 1998, in Ponzano, near Treviso, in northern Italy, where the famous colorful clothing brand has its factories. Luciano Benetton was his patron and he was a fascinating character.

Photographer, artistic director, publicist, artist, polemicist, guru, farmer (150 hectares in Tuscany), olive oil manufacturer, breeder of appaloosa horses… Oliviero Toscani died on Monday January 13, following a rare illness , in Livorno, Tuscany. He was 82 years old. “Keep dreaming”reacted the Italian firm.

This Milanese was the author, from 1982 and for almost twenty years, of advertising images as innovative as they were sulphurous for the Benetton brand. Never, to our knowledge, has a visual artist so shaped the image and style of a company with thousands of stores around the world. “I never said no to Oliviero”told us Luciano Benetton, the founder, in 1965, of the brand that bears his name, and who is now 89 years old. Between them, however, it was not a long peaceful river, far from it. But Oliviero was Luciano’s damned soul. And Luciano, Oliviero’s protector.

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