Rocco Siffredi, Mia Khalifa… Why does fashion bet on porn?

1. Rocco Siffredi: the comeback of a controversial porn star

October 2015. Numéro Magazine Homme commissioned a rather unusual article to the French novelist Christine Angot – an interview in which she dissects the character of Rocco Siffredi, the famous Italian pornographic actor from Ortona, a seaside town in Abruzzo, east of Rome. Angot addressed his family, his addiction to sex, the shootings, his wife, and the other girls. She questioned, dissected, and broke his story down. Although she couldn’t quite get him, she never judged him at any point throughout her article. In fact, Jean-Baptiste Mondino’s portrait of a small tear of sperm slowly running down from the left eye of the ‘Stallion’ was chosen to illustrate the conversation.

Throughout his career, Rocco Siffredi has escaped shame and judgement off camera. As he would kiss female TV presenters on set without their consent, nobody said anything. The audience would simply follow the directions of the warm-up, and therefore found the situation amusing... At that time, he avoided any scandal because he wasn’t really considered as a man but just as an archetype – the alpha male.

In the end, Rocco Siffredi remains more a men’s fantasy rather than a women’s one, as if he single-handedly encompasses the sexual arousal and frustration generated by pornography. In October 2015, Christine Angot began her article as follows: “The day his son will ask him: ‘Daddy, why did you become a porn actor?’, he will tell him: ‘Because that was what made me happy’. He will add: ‘In life, you have to do what makes you happy, without shame’”. A year later, the actor was the topic of a documentary by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, released in cinemas. A brainy feature for some, a soft portrayal for others, whose synopsis tackled a “hardcore porn star with an exceptional destiny”, a “living legend”, and even “pornography coming out of hiding, invading traditional cinema, fashion, and contemporary art” … And that is exactly what we are interested in.

“Insulted, harassed, and then threatened with death... Mia Khalifa has now become a genuine fashion influencer with over 27 million followers on Instagram...”

Rather discreet since that controversial documentary, Rocco Siffredi came out of the shadows, fly open, at Milan Fashion Week in June 2023. The twins Dean and Dan Caten invited him for their Dsquared2 Spring/Summer 2024 show. In a penthouse overlooking Miami Beach, the Italian Stallion played the role of a porn films producer, imagining offset shooting a scene featuring actress Julia Fox on a four-poster bed. He then defies the audience with his gaze and walks down the catwalk while chewing gum to an extremely suggestive soundtrack. The actor unbuttoned his pants in the middle of the catwalk and revealed a pair of boxer shorts with his face on it. That season, Dsquared2 opted for low-rise trousers, as a kitschy, erotic throwback to the 2000s. Who better than the porn star to showcase these boxer briefs? Rocco Siffredi embodied Rocco Siffredi and flooded Google Images in only one fashion show. Yet, shockvertising has had its hour of glory. 

That advertising strategy is designed to capture the public’s attention through deliberately impudent contents. However, pornography has never really been welcomed by the luxury industry. Politically incorrect, but still a way to make ends meet for some people, the world of pornography can also be very dangerous. Today, examples or legion. For instance, French actor Manuel Ferrara has become a streamer on Twitch. But is it just a little wink for the buzz’s sake, or a genuine rehabilitation?

2. Porn star Mia Khalifa’s career change to fashion influencer

Mia Khalifa is 30. She was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and most men know her name. At least that’s what a challenge on social media suggests. On TikTok and Instagram, several young women are trying to trick their partners on camera. Filming themselves in selfie mode, they are asking their lovers to fill in the last names of some celebrities – Brad... Pitt. Meryl... Streep. Pharrell... Williams. Nicki... Minaj. But every time they pronounce the name Mia... radio silence, then laughter. 

Yes, most men know who Mia Khalifa is – one of the most famous porn actresses despite her three-month-long career. In 2014, she appeared in a video released on Pornhub wearing a hijab – a headscarf worn by some Muslim women to cover their heads while leaving their faces visible. Insulted, harassed, and then threatened with death, Mia Khalifa has now become a genuine fashion influencer with over 27 million followers on Instagram. She even walked for KNWLS, Charlotte Knowles and Alexandre Arsenault’s label during the last London Fashion Week.

So why are men reluctant to say that they know Mia Khalifa? Is porn something to be ashamed of? In any case, Mia Khalifa has been described as “beautiful and magnetic” at KNWLS. A week earlier, during New York Fashion Week, American artists Doja Cat and Ice Spice showed up at the label’s after show, which celebrated a collaboration with Jean Paul Gaultier. The two singers stuke the photographers’ attention with their suggestive poses... Collaborating with the porn industry means opting for legal subversion while securing media coverage.

“Pornhub is proud to support creative innovators who align with its mission and core values of consent, freedom of sexual expression, authenticity, originality, and diversity,” Alexzandra Kekesi, Community Manager at Pornhub.

3. After Kanye West, Vald, or Kali Uchis, New-York fashion designer Shayne Oliver collaborates with the website Pornhub

It is no longer a secret that Kim Kardashian owes her empire to her doggy style act on camera... In 2007, the sex tape she shot with singer Ray J landed on the website Vivid, which she immediately sued. It was but a short-lived deception, as her own mother was the anonymous source of the leak... Cast out for a long time, pornography is now a no-holds-barred advertising option. 

Star of the season 3 of the hit series Euphoria, former porn actress Chloe Cherry appeared on Blumarine’s catwalk, alongside supermodel Eva Herzigova, in February 2022. Porn stars from Clara Morgane to Liza Monet are also turning to music. As for rappers, they have always invited porn stars to participate in their music videos, since buzz paid off more than talent. In his video Selfie#2 (2015), just inches away from Ian Scott and Nikita Belluci’s sex party, French rapper Vald sings wearily: “We even hold hands when we walk through town. She still hugs me when people are around.” Half a joke, half a marketing stunt, the video was eventually released on Pornhub.

Some were speechless, while others were outraged: “At first, I just wanted to see a music video on YouTube...”, or “unbearable, impossible to jerk off on the little blond guy with sunglasses hanging around near the couple!” On the other side of the Atlantic, the porn website hits even harder and invites the soul pin-up Kali Uchis to its Pornhub Awards, a wild awards ceremony hosted in Los Angeles. A year earlier, a certain Kanye West conducted the event. The porn addict unveiled a preview of his track I Love It.

“The amount of minors visiting porn websites has risen by 36% in five years. 15 URLs have been singled out as being far too easy for minors to access...”

Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Demi Lovato… Thirsty for artificial transgression, stars have long been happy with just flirting with pornography. In 1992, Madonna caused a stir with Sex, a book of sultry photographs that illustrated her fifth album Erotica. The sentence on the cover could not have been more explicit: “I’ll teach you how to fuck”. 26 years later, rapper Brooke Candy is no longer content with a mere book and is making a pornographic short film. I Love You plunges viewers into a dreamlike universe celebrating queer sexuality for 40 minutes. We discover the sexual frolics of porn actors, nestled in a celestial setting reminiscent of ancient Greece. The coolest extracts are a big hit on YouTube and invite you to discover more on the producer’s website... Pornhub. 

A certain Shayne Oliver has recently embraced the trend. The New Yorker, founder of the label Hood By Hair and a true streetwear alchemist, had already teamed up with Pornhub for his Spring/Summer 2017 show and designed the website’s logo splashing onto his clothes. This year, he presents “REC”, his new collection named after a category on the famous website. For now, only a teaser directed by the designer and shot at the Schinkel Pavilion in Berlin is available. “This collection is a beautiful and poetic reflection of fashion and adult entertainment,” Pornhub’s Community Manager Alexzandra Kekesi explains. “We are proud to continue to support creative innovators who align with our mission and core values of consent, freedom of sexual expression, authenticity, originality, and diversity.”

4. The porn industry attracts celebrities and the fashion world, while giving the government goosebumps

The first pornographic images posted on the Internet were nothing more than pixelated drawings of breasts made of punctuation marks. At the time, the Internet had not yet colonized our homes and computers were still snoring, oversized machines. YouPorn was launched in 2006 by two geeks in search of maximum traffic... 17 years later, in May 2023, ARCOM [the French Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication] published its latest report on the number of minors visiting pornographic websites. Each month, more than two million minors access these types of websites... The amont of minors visiting pornographic websites has actually increased by 36% in five years and 15 URLs have been singled out as being far too easy for minors to access.

Airing on Netflix, the documentary Money Shot: The Pornhub Story begins with bursts of laughter. These come from a porn actress, unsettled by the question Suzanne Hillinger, the American journalist behind the film, asks her: “Do you remember the first porn you ever saw?” The truth is the answer doesn’t really matter. The documentary is about scandals, taboos, and testimonies against a huge empire. The pornographic industry is worth billions, and the United States alone account for almost 90% of the productions, which generate around 10 billion dollars a year. But the sector has bad press and is looking to redeem itself. 

In 2018, Pornhub recorded more than 900 requests per second worldwide, and 200,000 videos were viewed every minute. The considerable weight of the company in the market is forcing the sex industry leaders to respond to accusations levelled at them. They mainly focus on the fact that teenagers discover pornography at the age of 11, that a lot of women do not identify with the content, which is too often misogynistic, and above all, that the website’s moderation policies are ineffective regarding child pornography and revenge porn – an illegal practice which consists of taking revenge on someone by making public sexual content featuring that person.