#DIESELHIGH CAMPAIGN

This is Diesel’s new year’s resolution. It’s rising above, it’s tolerance, inclusiveness, LOVE in the largest most unconditional sense possible. As Nicola Formichetti explains, “It’s elevating yourself. Elevating your spirit. Whatever it takes, however you do it. Wherever you are.” Nicola loved #DieselHigh because it has a multitude of meanings and implications. #DieselHigh is provocative; it pushes you to live life with intensity. It suggests immediacy – being in the moment, enjoying the present, living fully – as well as spontaneity, escaping from the every day into something bigger, more immersive, more exciting. Today, as the world can feel mired in war, fear and illness, #DieselHigh is bright and optimistic; it’s a punk or subversive answer to the darkness around us. Sociologically, our desire to rebel is channeled into escaping or transcending reality using mysticism, or experiencing reality in the extreme through thrilling or psychologicallychallenging activities. Politically, as the authorities read emails and crack down on protestors, and censorship is rampant; the last stronghold of complete freedom is the mind and the spirit. Thus “Free Your Mind and the rest will follow” leads us to transcendence; a higher vision, a higher LOVE – compassion, optimism and positivity –and a smile. “Just a simple gesture – laughing or smiling – can be powerful,” Nicola explains. The #DieselHigh campaign is especially eye-catching as a contrast to serious premium fashion campaigns; it’s playful and happy. As Nicola says, “There are so many crazy things happening now that you don’t see people just having fun any more. The challenge was to work with an avant-garde photographer, Nick Knight, and get him to do something he’s rarely done – which is shoot people smiling. It feels spontaneous, like they are selfies and he’s just the one snapping the photo.”