Iconic Fashion Visionary Oliviero Toscani Passes Away at 82

Oliviero Toscani, the Italian fashion photographer renowned for his contentious advertising efforts for the Benetton brand, has passed away at the age of 82.

Last year, Toscani, the previous art director for Benetton, disclosed that he was suffering from amyloidosis, a rare condition characterized by abnormal amyloid deposits within the body, affecting the brain, heart, kidneys, and other essential organs. Toscani was hospitalized in Tuscany late last week in critical condition. In a conversation with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera last August, the photographer expressed that he had lost nearly 90 pounds within a year, stating, “I don’t know how much longer I have to live, but I’m not inclined to live like this anyway.”

This morning, his passing was confirmed by a post made by Toscani’s spouse, Kirsti Toscani, on Instagram.

“It is with immense sadness that we announce that our cherished Oliviero has set off on his next journey today, January 13, 2025,” Kirsti Toscani wrote in Italian.

Throughout his extensive and productive career, Toscani led numerous Benetton campaigns, including several particularly contentious ones during the 1980s and 1990s. Among his most shocking works was an image of a nun and a priest sharing a kiss, garments stained with the blood of deceased soldiers, inmates on death row, and perhaps most famously, David Kirby succumbing to AIDS. The campaign focusing on death row inmates led to Toscani’s departure from Benetton in 2000, although he returned for a brief period nearly twenty years later.

The photographer also gained attention for a campaign aimed at highlighting severe eating disorders within the fashion industry. A 2007 image of French model Isabelle Caro was showcased on billboards during that year’s Milan fashion week. Caro tragically passed away two years later at 28 due to anorexia nervosa.

Toscani’s powerful photograph of Caro stands among numerous artworks that faced censorship throughout his career, underscoring the photographer’s dedication to illuminating societal issues through provocative art.

“I utilize fashion to bring forward societal concerns,” Toscani shared in an interview with Reuters in 2000, following the controversy surrounding his death row images.

“To clarify certain matters, mere words are insufficient. You taught us this,” commented a Benetton representative regarding Toscani’s demise.

In the past year, Toscani expressed his desire to be remembered “not for a single photo, but for my entire body of work, for the dedication.”

Image credits: Featured image shared by the Toscani family