Bluefly: Bathing Suits, Business Suits and...Birthday Suits?

Last week, Bluefly, the leading online retailer of designer brands, released a risqué new advertising campaign. The first of the ads, which appeared in the March 2007 issue of Lucky magazine and other top media markets throughout the country, depicts a girl nonchalantly waiting for her morning subway while completely nude.

The image, shot by photographer Leif Schiller, is tastefully done with limbs and accessories covering any R-rated regions. The picture does not evoke the shock value one may associate with a naked girl on a subway platform, but that is exactly the point.

Are we to assume her by-standers are simply too jaded or robotic to notice an attractive girl in her birthday suit on the morning commute? Or rather, is the nudity not a literal nudity but simply that sense of feeling naked?

I tend to lean toward the latter. At the end of the day, Bluefly wants to sell us clothes. And while their decision to use nudity to do so is an interesting one, I happen to like it.

They are tapping into that sense of feeling unclothed with our clothes. It’s like when you’re running to a dinner and you don’t have time to stop home so you borrow a top from your friend. The top fits, and its look good, and you choose one from their closet that happens to suit your style. But it’s just not yours, and in turn, it’s just not right.

Getting dressed is such a personal form of self-expression, and that’s exactly what Bluefly is tapping into here. The girl in the ad is taking a stand against settling for a mediocre wardrobe. If she had it her way, she would go undressed rather than poorly dressed, and who can disagree with that?

Final Word: If you have continuous re-occurring naked-in-a-crowd dreams, you may want to consult your therapist. But if you’re looking to pick up some discounted designer duds from your desk, Bluefly has got you covered. Literally.