Know what makes a woman feel beautiful? Take a Guess
Paul Marciano has an eye for talent. In Dubai recently, he spoke of models who had sparkle, a certain femininity — ‘real women,’ and that one around whom he couldn’t breathe
As fashion brand Guess celebrates its 35th anniversary, you probably think of denim, blackand-white ads, and the women who have been the face of the brand. Women now considered supermodels, were discovered by Paul Marciano, the co-founder of Guess Inc, who was in Dubai recently. Dubai, by the way, has seven Guess stores.
Marciano started Guess with his brothers. Marketing, image and advertising was his charge. The brothers moved to LA, and started a company that became a phenomenon, not just for their jeans but for their campaigns. “I have no advertising or marketing background. It happened by accident”. The first Guess girl was Estelle Lefébure, who Marciano saw at a flea market in Paris. “She looked like Ursula Andress, she had that sparkle,” he says. It was shot in black-and-white, a trademark of Guess images. “The imagery I was impressed by then, was Ralph Lauren’s and Calvin Klein’s. Both were in colour. I wanted to be different.”
In 1988, when Claudia Schiffer fronted Guess advertising, it was confirmation that Marciano had the eye for spotting the next big talent. “I never do castings. I never meet the model before we work together. I just get the pictures. In those days, the internet wasn’t there, so I looked at two polaroids and I decided. She has to have a light in her face and a look in her eyes. I do not want to be influenced by personality.” For him a Guess girl has to be someone new and fresh. “I want to discover. Then she will always be remembered as the Guess girl. “Laetitia Casta was just 15 years old when Marciano cast her. “I loved the gap in her teeth.” For six years, Casta was the Guess girl. And of course, it was Marciano who gave Anna Nicole Smith her name and was the one who introduced her to Elite Modeling Agency. “She was called Vicky. I felt the name was cheap, so we called her Anna Nicole.” Smith caught his eye while she brought her son for her Guess Kids photo-shoot. “She just reminded me of Anita Ekberg in Raging Bull. I could not breathe when I saw her.” He says of Smith’s sad and untimely demise, “Hollywood destroyed her.” It is Marciano’s love of film that he says has given him the gift.
La Dolce Vita and When God Created Woman are among his firm favourites and La-La Land, a film that he has seen three times already, looks set to be on the list too. Influenced heavily by the work of Federico Fellini, his muses are Brigitte Bardot, Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren. You can see references to them in all Guess Jeans campaigns. Often the model wears vintage clothes, not Guess jeans. “I’m creating a dream, an image that is Guess.”
He met Sophia Loren two years ago at her apartment in Geneva, and talked about working with her. “I could not believe it when I met her.” The idea was to use pictures of Loren that had never been seen before. “I went through and selected all the pictures with her from when she was 16 to 19 years old.” Unfortunately, it never came to light as her agents were asking for “more than a supermodel of today asks.”
Right now he has Hailey Baldwin as the Guess face. The daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, she is part of the new model bratpack that includes Gigi Hadid, Jordan Dunn and Kendall Jenner. Though Guess does not always cast women with ramp-friendly figures, “Hailey is actually a little short for fashion at 5 feet 7 inches.” Marciano likes real women. “I am against this razor thin girl that most designers like. I like women who are women.” And what makes a woman beautiful? “You must do what makes you happy, don’t try and be somebody you are not.” He says all Guess girls have a look of femininity combined with a feel of a free spirit. And he also prefers working with girls who are disciplined. “Priyanka Chopra was like that.” She was the Guess Jeans girl four years ago, and while she known in India she was still a fresh face in America and Europe. “She just had that feel of being a great showgirl. She was confident, feminine and so hard working.” He says the next Guess girl will be a surprise. She may not be as young as the girls who’ve have appeared in his earlier campaigns. “I am very excited about this one,” he says.