hierry Mugler isn’t a brand known for following traditions, so when the time came to find a guy to be the face of its A*Men cologne, no model or ordinary celebrity would do. Instead, Mugler tapped Oscar Pistorius, the double-leg amputee South African sprinter. Pistorius, 24, is a participant in the Paralympics, the holder of world records in Running for 100 m, 200 m and 400 m and is known as the fastest man in the world with both legs amputated. Born without fibulae and with problems with his feet, he lost the flesh and bones below his knees when he was eleven months old. He started getting attention in the mid-aughts, when he was competing against (and beating) other paralympic runners who’d been graced with fully functioning legs. The prosthetics he wears when he competes are seen in some corners as devices that level the playing field and in others as unfair advantages. Included by “Time” magazine among the hundred most influential people in the world in the category “Heroes and Pioneers”, Pistorius now wants his talent recognized as such. Therefore he hopes to be selected for the Olympic Games in London 2012. What better a spokesperson for a brand that generates controversy, commentary and admiration all over the fashion and beauty industries? The new hero of Mugler’s advertising campaign brings a new essence and a new image of a hero, a disable but persistent sportsman, a man with a goal: “he opens the way for a new style of modern hero: an atypical personality which asserts itsefl beyond everything one could have imagined – it is in perfect adequacy to the vision of Thierry Mugler”… In the ad, photographed by Ali Mahdavi, Pistorius is running, bottle of A*Men in hand, resembling nothing so much as a half man/half machine on a mission, a supernatural creature who wants to win and show all his strength.
hierry Mugler isn’t a brand known for following traditions, so when the time came to find a guy to be the face of its A*Men cologne, no model or ordinary celebrity would do. Instead, Mugler tapped Oscar Pistorius, the double-leg amputee South African sprinter. Pistorius, 24, is a participant in the Paralympics, the holder of world records in Running for 100 m, 200 m and 400 m and is known as the fastest man in the world with both legs amputated. Born without fibulae and with problems with his feet, he lost the flesh and bones below his knees when he was eleven months old. He started getting attention in the mid-aughts, when he was competing against (and beating) other paralympic runners who’d been graced with fully functioning legs. The prosthetics he wears when he competes are seen in some corners as devices that level the playing field and in others as unfair advantages. Included by “Time” magazine among the hundred most influential people in the world in the category “Heroes and Pioneers”, Pistorius now wants his talent recognized as such. Therefore he hopes to be selected for the Olympic Games in London 2012. What better a spokesperson for a brand that generates controversy, commentary and admiration all over the fashion and beauty industries? The new hero of Mugler’s advertising campaign brings a new essence and a new image of a hero, a disable but persistent sportsman, a man with a goal: “he opens the way for a new style of modern hero: an atypical personality which asserts itsefl beyond everything one could have imagined – it is in perfect adequacy to the vision of Thierry Mugler”… In the ad, photographed by Ali Mahdavi, Pistorius is running, bottle of A*Men in hand, resembling nothing so much as a half man/half machine on a mission, a supernatural creature who wants to win and show all his strength.
