Diesel’s New Skin Flick

Italian mega-brand Diesel has made a name for itself in the past with controversial advertising, and now it’s pushing the envelope again with a new short film promoting the Fall collection of its 55DSL label. The ninety-second video, called “Your Skin Is Woven in Mine,” was produced by New York-based animation studio Tronic, whose previous clients include Adidas, Microsoft, Sony, and our very own Visionaire. Using a high-speed Red camera and advanced three-dimensional modeling technology, Tronic created a world of almost-naked bodies that are imprinted with a signature 55DSL pattern. The pattern was Diesel’s only requirement for the film, says Vivian Rosenthal, Tronic’s cofounder. “We were given complete creative freedom,” she says. “The only direction was to interpret the checkered pattern used in their new collection.”

The checks manifest themselves as the glowing boundaries of a futuristic room that is seemingly ungoverned by gravity or time. Through a series of carefully choreographed leaps and twists, set to a haunting ambient soundscape, the dancers become one with the lambent plaid as it weaves itself into their skin. This sort of integration is exactly where Rosenthal sees fashion headed: “Our desire was to explore future forms of fashion where the physical body meets its digital doppleganger. The possibility of pattern mapping, projecting digital patterns onto the skin rather than using physical patterns which need to be fabricated, becomes a reality through this doubling.” Leave it to the always-progressive Diesel to commission an ad that questions identity and branding without showing a single piece of clothing.

Watch the video aft