of its founders, Paul Marciano. The first thing that was striking about Guess’ images was the
fact that they were black and white, shot in a grainy style that recalled a simpler American
West of the 1950s. And in fact, this harkening to the past was not accidental but deliberate.
The journalist Susan Faludi quotes Paul Marciano as saying: "When I came here, I fell in love
with the American West. I set the ads in the West because you will not see any change there."
And it is clear from an official Guess publication that what Marciano really liked about the past
was that women knew their place and were untouched by the influence of the modern
women’s movement. "Women are treated with great respect, but it is assumed they know
their place, which is supportive, and their function, which is often decorative."
Marciano goes on to say: "I'm attracted to the femininity of the women of that era. The
femininity like you find in Vargas drawings. That's what we want to bring back – everything
that has been lost." So, for Marciano, representations of gender are not just reflective of what
is in the culture but are part of a battle to bring back an idea that he thinks was lost: women
as passive, supportive, and decorative – i.e not modern women as independent, powerful,
autonomous, and in control.
It is also worth noting that he says that the femininity he wants to bring back can be found in
the drawings of the artist Alberto Vargas, who was known for his portraits of nude women
from the 1920 to the 1950s. His drawings are already far removed from the reality of women’s
bodies. If they are reflections of anything, it is the fantasy world that operates in his head. But
this is the femininity that Paul Marciano wants to return American women to. And actually, a
lot of advertising – not just Guess – looks explicitly like the Vargas drawings.
Sometimes, the link is absolutely direct.
But perhaps the most telling insight of how all these images work comes from Marciano
himself. Talking about the female models Guess uses, he says: “We always use models. It's
difficult to find real women who fit what we're trying to say. Real women, they aren't as
cooperative as real men." So while the cowboys, matadors, and truck drivers in Guess
advertising are real, the women come from the fantasy, or some would say deluded, world of
his imagination – women as passive, decorative, powerless, submissive, and subordinate.
And in communicating Marciano’s regressive vision of femininity, Guess photographers draw
upon the full repertoire of the codes of gender.
For example, the ritualization of subordination that shows women lying around in sexually
available positions of passivity, or crawling around on their hands and knees or kneeling with
head thrown back. Their necks are exposed in a classic pose of passivity, and their bodies
contorted as they look over the shoulder.
Using the classic head, body, and leg canting posture, they place themselves off-center, and
off-balance, as they grab one foot while standing. Peeking from behind curtains, they hold
themselves in a nervous and emotionally protective manner. They signal girlishness and