Today’s Crush: Pictures from the Nordstrom 2008 Spring-Summer Ad Campaign

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Ruben Toledo and Ruven Afandor joined hands to make this beautiful ad campaign for the Nordstrom retailer. Toledo painted some walls to create black and white surrealistic images but he also painted the models.

Here are some of the thoughts of the people involved (and the images, of course).

“It’s one thing to say that fashion and art go together and to show it by putting a model in an art gallery. We knew we didn’t want to do that and we knew Ruben’s artwork needed to be more than just a backdrop. Instead, what Ruben and Ruven came up with truly fused art and photography. The art became the environment–transcending the very idea of a backdrop. The result truly exceeded our expectations.” said Linda Finn, executive vice president of marketing at Nordstrom

The campaign featuring Lily Cole, Jenny Sweeny and Kiera Gormley will hit magazines (Elle, Vanity Fair and Vogue) in the March issues.

“Making art for the images of the ad campaign was really an art happening for me–the walls I painted on were 20 feet tall by 30 feet long and each scene contained three walls plus the floor! Each painting was painted over by the next and when I work this fast, the energy for me comes from everyone around,” he added. “It has to truly be a collaboration with everyone involved and in fact that is what great fashion or art is really about for me.” confessed Toledo about the campaign

I love the pictures! It seems more to me like art than commercial consciousness in this campaign. What do you say?