Mario Sorrenti: Obsessive Compulsive

Mario Sorrenti followed Kate Moss, almost incessantly. His photographs of her are unmatched in their raw emotion and beauty. So, when he was invited by the House of Calvin Klein to create another campaign for their new perfume, Obsessed, all he could think of was the unused photographs lying in his archives.

Mario was also the man behind brand’s first Obsession perfume campaign in 1993 with Kate Moss as its face. Launched at the height of the grunge movement, where androgyny was the name of the game, Obsession found an incredible following, even across the Atlantic all the way to the Orient. Young Kate Moss as its muse, Mario shot a monochrome campaign. Raf Simons, the then artistic director remembers that it was homage to sensuality. “We had thought of a new perfume that would make people relive the desire of men and women, and the memory of his skin against hers,” he says.

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So, when it was time for its new adaptation, Obsessed, to see the light of the day, it was played on the lines that the gender line has been blurred. The femininity is expressed through earthy fragrance of ferns, which is traditionally a masculine scent. The revamp has been carried out by Annick Menardo and Honorine Blanc. On the other hand, the masculinity has dived into the richness of vanilla, reimagined by Ilias Ermenidis and Christophe Raynaud.

A delicate reminiscence was created as Mario looked through his archives and collaborated with the artistic directors of M/M (Paris) to create a new campaign. Excerpts from the interview with Mario.

Take us back to 1992.

I was a young photographer with a fashion magazine, when its creative director, Fabien Baron happened to look through a collection of photographs of Kate Moss that I had taken during my vacation.

The idea hit home for a campaign for Obsession. I met Calvin Klein to show him my work. I remember him saying that those were lovely and could I shoot something similar for him? I readily accepted. We spent a lot of time looking for the right location as I wanted a little house with basic things such as a sofa, a bed, and a bathtub. We found the space and added everything else to it. The idea was for it to be intimate, as if we were at home and not at work.

Back then, you photographed only in monochrome, isn’t it?

Yes, but not anymore. I did continue in black and white for a long time before I started working with colour.

Had you, in your mind, thought of something slightly provocative?

We had no intention of being provocative, that was not the idea. We wanted something of beauty…

…Something sensual?

Not really. Something natural actually. My role models were Robert Frank and Irving Penn. I wanted to simply take beautiful photographs. Being provocative was not on the programme then and neither is it today.

What could be provocative today?

Honesty and sensitivity. Something that pushes one to be able to gauge the time we live in. Kate Moss was the personification of two perfumes, the masculine and the feminine. It was uncommon then. It was an incredibly intelligent and bold move, but risky too. But, Calvin Klein dared to make it happen. Kate was appealing to both men and women. The photographs are a representation of the consciousness of the time. And it worked. The campaign was completely out of the ordinary and that is what interested me the most. The idea wasn’t to be sensual, but classy and genuine. I had no inkling of what that might result in, but once they were developed and I showed them to everyone the immediate response was, “This is it!”

How would you explain the success of this campaign, these images which are now legendary?

I couldn’t then, nor know now. May be it was the honesty. We loved everything about Kate and that was visible in the eyes, in my relationship with her. Those are without a doubt the ingredients that played a role in what was needed for that time. There is no set formula for success, but I am really glad that it came to me.

How was it working with the archives?

The same way it had the first time, even though I look at things very differently now. It had been many years since the campaign, so I opened the boxes and started to edit. I chose the images that I liked, and loved rediscovering them. I didn’t ask Kate what she thought as she has faith in me. She always had faith in me.

Classic What drives a campaign that delves into the past?

For Calvin Klein, it is something new that they are dabbling with, the challenge of working with an idea that is at times of another era while being tremendously modern. It wouldn’t have sufficed to simply revisit the old campaign. The presentation for Obsessed is completely modern. It is not a documentary. And I am not trying to sell a thing of passion and sensuality. It is a memory. The approach is honest, and this idea of remembering is in harmony with the perfume itself. Yes, true nostalgia, but in a positive sense of the word. I have been very fortunate to have lived this experience.

From the February 2018 issue of L’Officiel India.