Guy Bolongaro’s Diesel X Eastpak collaboration is about fake holidays and playing dress up (in fashionable clothes)

In a recent collaboration with Diesel and Eastpak, Hastings-based director Guy Bolongaro packs images with a British northerner’s typical idea of what a Paris holiday might look like, but he makes those touristy aesthetics and sight-seeing tropes part of the adventure. He takes the viewer to the capital of France (or so it seems) with a fun-loving ad that prioritises silliness and self aware artifice whilst dressed in Diesel’s signature spectrums of denim and Eastpak’s trendy bags.

Photography for Guy is a “type of therapy”, something that encourages healthier engagement with the world. Coming from a painting background, which felt more like torture, the fast process of photography allows Guy’s mind to move quicker and capture every moment. Rooted in an affinity for Diesel’s approach to image making and his fondness for Eastpak backpacks, the lightly rebellious ad breathes youth, friendship and adventure.

Guy’s photographs are vibrant and distinctly Y2K, with hard flashes, saturated colours reminiscent of disposable cameras and a turn-of-the-millennium attitude, a renewed and nonchalant approach to fashion. These images are composed with a “playful, snapshot feeling” and a sense of humour, with fake holiday backgrounds that give the photos a cheeky sense of artifice.

“We wanted to make something that reflected the lightness of feeling when on holiday but also a bit of the grit and toughness you might need when travelling,” shares Guy. It all feels like a group of friends stumbled upon a movie set and decided to play dress up.

“It’s great to have a mixture of ‘street cast’ or non professional models with more experienced personalities; and I prefer to work with multi generational casts as that always feels more real,” says Guy. The varied cast gives the campaign a home movie quality, where subjects aren’t played too preciously. In Guy’s directed videos, textures of digital camera grains and warm film shine through, bridging generational aesthetics.

“It’s about being in the moment and capturing for memory rather than display, but also we wanted to have a moment of accident or intervention in the way that happens in photos with friends or family,” says Guy. The editing is whiplash quick, transitioning shots with chunky pixels or blooper moments that immediately squash all elements of pretentiousness often found in try-hard fashion shoots. As Guy puts it, ultimately he wanted “something daft” but “surprising with a sense of surreality”.