PDN - December 2011

CREATE

SPOTLIGHT

Interview by Conor Risch

THE FASHION
ADVERTISING MARKET TODAY

Giovanni Bianco is a creative director whose clients include fashion brands like Dolce & Gabbana, Versace, Zegna, Dsquared2 and Miu Miu. Born in Brazil, Bianco moved to Milan at 22 to work as a graphic designer. He became interested in fashion after his studio created advertising for Dolce & Gabbana brand D&G. In 2001 he founded Giovanni Bianco Studio 65 (GB65), where he has worked with photographers like Bruce Weber, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Steven Klein, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, and Camilla Akrans. PDN recently spoke with Bianco about fashion advertising, post-production and his role working as an intermediary between brands and the photographers they hire.

GB65

247 West 16th Street, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10011
studio@giovannibianco.com
www.giovannibianco.com
PDN: What defines the work of a creative director
in fashion advertising?

Giovanni Bianco: Number one, you’re never doing anything alone. You’re working for the companies, you’re working for the clients, the clients have the ideas, the concepts, and they change. Each brand is different and that’s what’s so interesting in our business. You need to really open your mind and really know what your client needs for sales. You need to respect the DNA of the company. I’ve started to work with Versace, and before the first advertising shoot I spent probably four days inside the archive of Gianni Versace, and of course Donatella Versace helped me a lot and brought me inside the company. You can’t do Versace and not respect the feeling of the house and the DNA of the house.

PDN: are certain clients more assertive about
what they want?

GB: I’m so lucky—most of my clients have opinions. For example Miu Miu: I work [directly] with Fabio Zambernardi, the creative director of the company. He knows exactly what the company wants for the advertising each season. What I’m doing is research, helping him put together ideas and shape concepts. It’s good, because sometimes it becomes more difficult if the

Opposite, right: Fall/ Winter 2011 Versace advertising
photographed by Mart Alas and Marcus Piggott; left: Fall/
Winter 2011 Miu Miu advertising photographed by Bruce
Weber. This page, above left: GB65 founder and creative
director Giovanni Bianco; right, Fall 2011 Ermenegildo Zegna
advertising photographed by David Sims.

client does not know what the company wants.

PDN: What are the factors that go into choosing a
photographer?

GB: When you start to work at this level, you need to be very sure with the photographer, because most photographers have a signature. If you’re going to work with Steven Meisel you need to know what he likes. If you work with Steven Klein you need to understand his vision, too. All these big photographers have really good opinions and you share. At the end of the day art direction is working between the photographer and client to make everything better together.

PDN: What are the key elements in a good relationship between an art director and a photographer? GB: The photographer needs to trust you; you need to trust the photographer, because it’s a team. I’m really