Diesel revives its most rebellious 90s ethos

Celebrating 30 years in Japan with a See Now, Buy Now runway in Tokyo this afternoon (streaming here), today Diesel relaunches its iconic ‘For Successful Living’ message for AW16, a throwback to its powerful past ads.

The new series of 50 images, dubbed ‘For Successful Living 2.0’ by creative director Nicola Formichetti, and shot by Terry Richardson, are a call to arms, each with their own piece of advice. Continuing the label’s reputation for strong, playful campaigns – its recent PornHub ads were a big hit – the images are tongue-in-cheek, but the messages – ‘#5 love openly’, ‘#18 be a model citizen’, ‘#47 find your rock’ – are impactful.

As Formichetti explained, “More than ever, we need a positive message in this crazy world we live in. And Diesel is probably the only brand that can have such a strong point of view – it always has. We were looking to the original For Successful Living advert that Renzo (Rosso, Diesel’s founder) did in the 90s.”

The meaningful messages are reinforced by diverse casting, something critical to Formichetti’s vision of the project: “The casting represents all kinds of people – street cast models, different generations, different skin tones and body shapes. It really is a global casting and it is all about being part of something together, belonging. That’s what #forsuccessfulliving is about, a sense of belonging, an extended family!”

Watch the accompanying film below.