A Family Affair For Now at Hermès

Pegged as “one of the world's most elegant businesses” Hermès is also one of the most resilient. It fairs substantially better than its competitors during slower economic times and spikes in demand during times of economic recovery. Perhaps as synonymous with the brand as its trademark horse and carriage calèche is its dedication to family ownership. It’s familial vigilance that enabled Hermès to maintain control over its company vision while gracefully expanding.
While most luxury brands today expand to increase accessibility, Hermès focuses on quality. The focus has paid off, as Hermès is a leader in luxury brands. LVMH, a French conglomerate, bought 15,016,000 shares of Hermès; it holds a total of 18,017,246 shares, or a 17.1 percent stake. At 17.1 percent, LVMH has become the largest non-familial stakeholder, prompting some to inquire if an acquisition is around the corner.
Whether LVMH’s move bespeaks a takeover remains unclear, but charting Hermès’ evolution highlights its covetable nature. Its ability to keep a semblance of its original vision in-tack when so many luxury brands have turned to mega-marketing schemes, distinguishes it in the minds of consumers when compared to rival brands, like LVMH-owned Louis Vuitton.
According to a LVMH company-issued statement, “LVMH has no intention of launching a tender offer, taking control of Hermès, nor seeking board representation.”
Ask analysts, like Luca Solca at Sanford Bernstein, and a different picture materializes. Solca theorized to the Wall Street Journal of the move: "LVMH is in a pole position for a future Hermès acquisition.” Solca predicts the nature of Hermès’ role if the potential acquisition takes place. She explains, “LVMH is very much in 'mass luxury' and Hermes could complement that with a higher-end focus."
If Hermès joins the LVMH family, it would be the chic and studious equestrian-loving older sister (who remains aloof when siblings try to engage her). Sibling rivalry might rear its ugly head, with brands like Fendi being owned by the same parent company. Hermès gained notoriety for timeless pieces that embody the intimacy of a whisper, whereas LVMH brands often shout their message in monograms. Would the tone of Hermès change if it became adopted by LVMH?
The distinguishing feature of the Hermès brand is within its iconic Birkin and Kelly handbags, silk scarves and classic pieces that emphasize craftsmanship. The inherent craftsmanship of a Birkin connotes an intimacy that its consumers crave. If it acquired by LVMH will its bags be bathed in logos, sprayed with sequins, embellished with a goal of democratizing merchandise in mind? If Hermès gets adopted by LVMH will its merchandise start to resemble its new siblings?
If the reins change hands, new tactics that forever alter the brand’s reputation and relationship with its niche customer could be tested out. Look at Louis Vuitton’s shift, when Marc Jacobs sought to bring the brand up-to-date, he collaborated with artist Takashi Murakami (who played with the notion of superflat by splashing anime figures atop LV monograms).
If the thought of a bedazzled Birkin elicits a heart stopping response, it must be noted that this would be especially arresting to the prototypical Hermès customer. Altering Hermès would alienate its loyal customer.
By creating covetable and classy pieces Hermès maintains its position as a power player in luxury goods; it doesn’t need a face-lift. CEO of LVMH, Bernard Arnault, jockeys his brands to win and will most likely realize Hermès needs to remain a familiar face, if not a familial one.
This means lower-priced accessories, cheaply made street fashion spin-offs – such as cotton t-shirts, toiletry cases and denim handbags— which have never been options for expansion of this French powerhouse, would not become viable avenues to explore if under LVMH’s direction.
Fret not, lovers of the label. With a Hermès silk scarf allegedly sold every 20 seconds, the brand is not in danger of going under the metaphorical knife, even if some prophesize it is about to get adopted. Hermès has proven its success in its high-luxury heritage, aging with the grace of a French film star. Therefore, it dodges the bullet of brand-surgery. Even if Hermès is about to be taken over by LVMH we predict its leather goods will remain regal and wrinkled.

Bravo to Bruno

Often discussions of branding and promoting a line are centered around: how do we "break through the clutter?" The mere quantity of pictures we are exposed to create a "banality of images." It's a phenomenon that media scholars are both intrigued and repulsed by. With so many fresh faces, so many underground shops, and so many video lookbooks, it is an increasingly challenging job to break through the clutter in a way that emanates meaning not just noise. Vanessa Bruno has the most incredible lookbooks floating through the world wide web with the same sort of ethereal and undying youthful energy of her clothing. Her latest video was incredible:

The video is gloomy and gratifying all at once. She plays with light and dark as dialectic counterparts by revealing a journey of a mysterious figure who reveals the dichotomy of strength: its fist-slamming strength (as Valentine Fillol Cordier pummels the ground under a dark sky) and its delicate sensitivity and sensual nature bathed in the softness of daylight (with Lou Doillon air-strumming a guitar). The video is a montage of scenes open to levels of interpretation that are varied and rich. For example, the image of Valentine Fillol Cordier commanding a tree to sway suggests we examine our realtionship to nature.

By asking viewers to engage with her content on such a deep level Bruno is tapping into what marketers mean (or should mean) by the phrase "breaking through the clutter." She is enunciating her brand's ideology through a visualization of a journey that speaks to the complexity of her creations. From a less-lofty, more business perspective Bruno and her team certainly know the label's most praised pieces are outerwear and managed to incorporate a few terrific jackets!

Semiotics of Style: Studying Proenza

Fashion insiders, critics and even the designers themselves are all guilty of it: overusing, misusing and degrading the term iconic. Often we drop that one specific semiotic phrase into commentaries, a futile fuchsia sword in a watery cocktail, and proceed with surface level critiques. There may be little acknowledgment of relationships between the ideas that spur the clothing and the pieces mirror-like reflection of those ideas. We may rarely use formalism to examine fashion. And we might need to change our approach drastically with radical designers such as Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler at the helm.
Lazaro and Jack been credited with giving their brand its “finest fashion moment” through the presentation of their Spring 2011 collection. I found the collection particularly poignant because it demands examination beyond the traditional barometers of fashion success—it demands a semiotic analysis.
The live show lasted mere minutes, yet somehow Jack and Lazaro successfully signified the conventional symbols of womanhood that have spanned decades. It seems to me that the collection itself can be viewed diachronically, as a subversion of the codes of femininity, through a charmingly rebellious evolution of the “lady.” Traditionally, the first look steers the collection; it informs the audience. This show deviates from that pattern and displays an endless chain of signification that works to expand on their exceptionally fine-tuned point of view. Due to the limited space I have I will stick to the synchronic frames of a few key looks in the show. Yet, to best convey this evolution we should examine the dimensions of the relationship between the pieces synchronically and then place them in a temporal frame of reference.

I see the each of the outfits as a syntagm – or simple Gestalt-esque arrangement of symbols—collaborating to build a sort of optical illusion. At first glance, the opening look is demure and connotes “lady.” This look represents all the traditional codes through textiles of lace and silk and a silhouette that grazes the knee. Upon closer inspection, the textiles signifying “lady” actually deconstruct it through a clever subversion, which profoundly alters its original conceptual connotation.
Jack and Lazaro develop ways to channel conventional thought about femininity and then redirect it by physically altering the form of the signs themselves. This involves electronically mapping out a pattern, printing it on tulle and using acid to melt its underside— thus, lace-like remnants become lace’s proxy. The alternative-lace skirt implies that a modern lady is an afterimage of her predecessor. The finished openwork print of the skirt denotes twisting lines that mimic ancient Irish lace patterns. The abrasive melting that spawned the textile’s creation help it retain a fundamental sense of toughness. Layers of semiotic intention are suggested through the laborious and artisanal process required to craft the piece.
The opening look also incorporates a classic – dare I say iconic – Chanel-inspired blazer. I identify it as a blazer only through examining its construction: tailored and a bit boxy. Its creamy shade connote a strong and independent woman, while its form’s inherent modesty foil the over-sexualized 1950s pinup woman. The piece distinguishes its wearer as a refined lady; however, the sequined sleeveless top peeking from behind the blazer is a rebellion against this refinement. This creates a rich tension that forces my eyes to rebuild a more modern emblem of a woman.
Is this emblem representative of a modern lady or in actuality an evolution of the symbol of girl? Rebellion –a behavior associated with adolescence – inspires these looks, according to the designers. Post-show Jack announces, “The suit is the new rebellion.” The suit, to the Proenza designers, signifies a concept of an inner-awareness: the subtext being that society expects young girls to present themselves while only aware of the outside trends, which for girls today means citing 1990s ambivalence as their inspiration and donning a flannel shirt. Jack and Lazaro prudently removed those grunge influences – surfer and bohemian girls— that informed their previous collections. Thus, the “Proenza girl” (the target market consumer the duo speak of often) evolves.
The channels used to analyze the semiotic intention of the show are similar to the channels that guided Seiter’s criticism of more traditional mediums. I appraise the colors of soft lavender and salmon, curdling to sulfuric shades toward the show’s end and a larger societal commentary unfolds. The deepening and bighting hues express the duality between the lady and the girl.
The lady, with her maturity and grace would cease to exist without the germinal existence of the girl, with her naiveté and stubbornness. We once saw the two symbols as anchors along the dichotomy between being pure and being sexual. Modern perspective notes the latitude separating these once extreme states has blurred. A crippling ambiguity is the result. Proenza presents the lady and the girl as dialectic counterparts through its pairings of matronly silhouettes with inventive textiles.
Semiotic analysis of the Proenza show and other fashion shows will illuminate these dualities by exploring the links between articles of clothing and their significations’ permeation of popular culture. It is to take note when meaning is created through a five-minute display of moving motifs. It is to take note that the fashion of tomorrow links naturally to semiotics.

Contra-Ban: Fashion Culturally Prohibited from Social Commentary on Oil Spill

Fashion: a world where most debates center on how many sheer taffeta ruffles should envelope a runway-bound prepubescent model to keep her underwraps yet cheekily overexposed. A world most struggle to take seriously when it enters a dialect reserved for activism and begins to pose questions of an elevated cultural value.

Perhaps the roadblock is a defense mechanism. Fashion houses are fickle, like a fair-weather friend; they tell you to run out in the latest/greatest cropped harem pant, only to run an article the following week mocking those foolish enough to shorten their silhouette with a pair.
Fashion is an industry known for being creative, but it is only alive because it is lucrative.
To stay in the black, financially, industry leaders (especially, it seems, those with a personal aversion to donning color) curate elaborate shows and entertain customers with a myriad of media contests. Essentially, fashion thrives on attention. Some Vogue readers flipped to see model Kristen McMenamy face-down, tangled in a net and saw a disgusting capitalization on a tragic event. Others viewed McMenamy as a personification of the harmful effects of environmental destruction.
The spread entitled "Water and Oil" in Italian Vogue marked a maturation of the type of attention fashion seeks. Shot tastefully by Steven Meisel, it somehow stirred up high-school type drama, according to MSNBC. It was a spread meant to inspire action, liven readers with a powerful visual representation of environmental damage that newscasters had droned on about for months.

Franca Sozzani, editor in-chief, explained that the spread was new means to the same end. Skilled communication is often laden with images, whether those are painted with brushstrokes or assembled in syllables. The images-- a wounded bird spitting up water in a feathered gown coated in oil-- are meant to make an environmental statement.

"The message is to be careful about nature," Sozzani told the AP. "Just to take care more about nature."
While the magazines motives suggest that fashion can enter a dialogue once reserved for social activist groups, the public reaction to the spread indicates some serious mistrust. Forums are flooded with complaints that fashion "has reached further levels of portraying the tragic as hip."

Editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani claims that the spread was a visual means to explore the damage that has been tossed around for months through only some of our means for communication, written and oral. Sozzani knew the risk of publishing social commentary on current events. She said, "I understand that it could be shocking to see and to look in this way, at these images."

Some Gulf residents hope the spread will have a impact, perhaps repackage a message whose initial inertia is fading. It has been reported that some see the spread as a fair attack on BP, while others say it's inappropriate and insensitive. I think the spread has a serious tone that respects the gravity of the issue it portrays. It inspired me to research the damage and I uncovered this indisputable fact: A single gallon of oil creates an oil slick up to a couple of acres in size. The BP oil slick spread over 580 square miles in just its first three days.

Bright Young Things

Our culture is fixated on the intellect and stamina of the youth : the bright young things. BYTs are everywhere: setting records, sewing clothing and tattooing their names into the flesh of their elders (this is not a metaphor, this is an allusion to the 3 year old tat-artist Ruby Dickinson pictured at work above).
Today it appears to be culturally acceptable and even praised for tweens to chase ambitions on a grand scale. Is this a new form of "cradle robbing?" As in: instead of marrying young executives are hiring young, really young. It is now common for a child navigate a shark-eat-shark tank while chasing dreams.
For BYTs with one foot in the business world and the other on the playground it is the ultimate sink or swim situation. Cecilia Cassini knows how to straddle these worlds: at 10 she has designed her own tween fashion line. Cecilia started sewing at age 6 and now is making a name for herself in a larger pond. Recently, celebrities started buying her outfits for their kids!

Besides immense unspoken pressure inherently present in this stories, there is a potential for immense growth and increased freedom of expression. Generations of young adults are getting encouraged to, say, fly a plane across the USA (this is a nod to Kim Anyadike the 15-year-old who navigated a single-engine Cessna across the seven seas). Some might question how parents could let her take off with the thundering risks. These days, parents are ready to see kids soar and seem to respect the laws of gravity: the higher you climb the sky the harder your fall will be. I guess the only issue both the supporters and booers of BYTs agree on is how do you explain adult sized failure to a pint-sized contestant? In India the fact that: "toddlers as young as 19 months are able to distinguish jokes from mistakes" spurred the creation of a TV show that has child stand-up comedians compete for celeb-status.As soon as BYTs enter a commerical enterprise I become spektical. For example, a new young fashion blogger debuted at New York Fashion week-- meet Katie (pictured above). Katie seemed to be a social commentary, rather than be capable of dechipering the underlying ones in designers collections. Racked National Magazine went on a recruiting mission to discover five year-old Katie who attended shows that most fashionistas triple her age would kill to see. Katie explained to Racked how she analyzes the shows: "For me, it's really all about Love, Hate, or Like" Is simple the new black? Or is this a disgusting capitalization on the BYT trend? Judging by Katie's notes ...it is hard to decipher much of anything! As an endnote: if you are thinking about getting inked consider calling Ruby, the world's youngest tattoo artist and then call me to tell me if the job is a permanent version of fellow BYT blogger Katie's notes! All I can think about is that most toys appropriate for this age-group warn parents to keep all sharp edges far from her tiny finger pads; meanwhile Ruby spends her pre- and post-nap time gripping a needle-tipped pen. She is, among other things, a rarity!

Self-Sufficient Sally

My summer job involves checking people in and ringing people out at a high end salon and spa in my hometown...yawn. The interesting part of my position is not asking in a faux-chipper voice: "how was everything today?" which in my opinion is two steps up from "do you want fries with that?" The highlight is my chance to observe consumers and their behavior. Lately, the women checking in for their cut and color are shooting back startling replies to my "can I get you something to drink?" question.
Before I could list coffee, tea and ice tea one woman waved her hand at me and said I will just get it myself. Taking matters into their own hands modern consumers are craving a treatment of "unservice." The implications of this trend are two-fold.
One perspective is from that of a company's: forward-thinking businesses are putting some of their labor into the hands of customers because they are saving dollars and cents and flat-out making sense (good customer service rests on the premise give the consumer what she wants, so if she wants to pour her own lemonade, let her!) This all started a few years back with specialty coffees and have-it-your-way combos popping up in the fast food niche. The idea behind customization of the product by the consumer offers her the chance for self-expression (the Nike create-your-own-pair online promo comes to mind) and ultimately a chance to be in control.
Now, the trend has evolved into a world of where a consumer hits a canine cleaning booth by day and heads to a self-serve lounge/pub by night. This trend does more than save companies money, it also empowers customers by giving them a sense of independence. Unservice is a win-win for all. Or is it? Now at a Dallas hospital new check-in kiosk computers are allowing patients to record symptoms and join a virtual list which nurses will review to determine which patients are most in need of urgent care. There are also those self-serve nightclubs popping up around the globe (for when you are not in the ER but ready to mix a heart-attack cocktail, which is a festive name for the always popular: red bull and vodka) One such place is MiNiBAR, which opened in Amsterdam along the Prinsengracht canal. The club offers a wall of 45 private mini-bars which patrons get access to after leaving a credit card at the front desk. The concept is simple: you become your own bartender at your own exclusive party, but the idea of paying to mix your own drinks...well Sally (the fictitious manifestation of the Self-Sufficient Consumer) is all in!

Streamlining?

So I happen to see my readership growing (Yayy! thanks to all my loyal readers) and I know that blog culture is such that you probably read-up on the rarities and trends I post along with clicking through a few of your other favorites. I found a new way to approach the blogging world that reminds of me those new smartphones that stream your facebook and twitter and texts on one screen... here is a fun, easy-to-watch explanation of what I mean:


So you can go to bloglovin and sign up to streamline your life. In my modest estimation this will make your life exponentially simpler, especially if you have a few blogs you "love on." I often click from the Sartorialist to fashionista and back, but now they are all on one screen. Well, this is quite the time-saver, that's for sure. But, maybe part of the fun of "loving on a blog" is that you are stealing precious time away from your day to do so?
I am not sure that I am gonna convert to bloglovin, but while giving it a shot I came across the chic cyclist pictured above (streaming from The Sartorialist). She is living proof of an old saying your mother might have whispered when you got nervous about backyard play: once you learn how to ride a bike you never forget! And yet our biker is mixing stripes and prints (a mommy No-No!) it just goes to show you how much your perspective, when reading a blog, or examining a photo, impacts the interpretation. I guess that is why I am not so concerned about this new streaming technology. I would rather waste-time and cruise like my friend pushing the petal-to-the-metal in heeled clogs-- maybe not the most practical-- but most certainly an unique approach.

Hair-Raising Colors

“I want to put streaks of a pale sea foam green and a pale lavender in my hair. I can't seem to find a dye in either color. Does anyone know where I can find these dyes? Or can you tell me how to lighten darker dyes?” I read this thread on a fashion forum and thought to myself I could make a small fortune if I start producing temporary pastel hair dye! Well, I am a bit involved in going to college and not in the market to go into business I gonna throw my million-dollar-idea out to you!
Before you start mixing cationic dye with a water soluble anionic polymer in your basement (two key ingredients in temporary dye) allow me to explain the trend.
Lets start with Faran Krentcil, 28-year old digital director at Nylon magazine, who dipped her shoulder-length locks into a bathtub filled with a lavender tint (Virginia Snow, for anyone brave enough to copy her) and took a major plunge—she dyed her hair grey. Krentcil describes her new look as a “rock ’n’ roll fairy princess,” but someone less rad might describe her it as a granny-grey. Grey hair used to be associated with the distinguished women of "The Red Hat Society." Grey, a shade always coiffed in time for the blue-plate special supper, right? Wrong, in an odd turn of events, a clique of fashion “it girls” in their late 20 are dying for grey!

The trend of course trickled down from the runways: Chanel, Giles Deacon and Rodarte. Spring runway models had bright-- and thank goodness, temporary-- streaks of color added to their hair. Backstage at Chanel here is a photo of designer Karl Lagerfeld with model Heidi Mount.
Since I saw a gal rocking the look on the street yesterday I think the trend is about to go mainstream.
In the Comme des Garçons Spring 2010 Collection, the models wore wigs that looked like cotton-candy pinned into poodle-esque hairdo. Some wigs were baby pink others in gentle green and yellow—whatever the soft shade the statement was bold without being punk—an interesting evolution of colored manes.
“These women are showing that they have the money and the inclination to make gray a fashion statement,” said Rose Weitz, a professor of women and gender studies at Arizona State University. Professor Weitz, the author of “Rapunzel’s Daughters: What Women’s Hair Tells us about Women’s Lives,” was interviewed by New York Times reporter Ruth La Ferla for an April 11th story on the trend. Weitz suggested that to dye one’s hair gray is to flout one of fashion’s last taboos. Since fashion praises youth it is a subversive move to dye your hair a shade that we assoicate with the old.
Famous pint-sized blogger Tavi is seen standing behind a Jackson Pollock painting where she asks: "how perfectly does my hair that is in an in-between stage and a mixture of gray match this painting?" Clearly she loves her silver pixie cut, and she even documented the dye-job. I got the photo seen above of her under the lamp from stylerookie, Tavi's blog. She is reading "Girl Power" while the bleach takes hold and it got me thinking. Isn't this whole trend somehow connected to feminism? If you dye your hair a subversive color it is about standing out, being your own woman (and that woman may get approval from girlfriends) without getting caught up in looking "date-able."

Spaces: People as their Places

What is it about receiving an invite into a friend's home that sparks a type of curiosity that surely would kill us if we were cats? And what is it about gesturing someone through the threshold of your doorway that feels extra generous and inclusive? I think both responses (which after some field-research have proved normal) have something to do with the fact that we recognize people as places.
Rather, the spaces that they claim as theirs will unquestionably represent them, unless they are too lazy to decorate, which still oddly represents them.
Marquez said we all live three lives: the public, the personal and the private.
Well, fashion and interiors photographer Todd Selby is letting you into the private lives of creative types. Pictured above is Keith Abrahamsson, a music label director and his wife Kate Young, a stylist with their son in their New York City home. Todd Selby began taking portraits of authors, musicians, artists, and designers— basically any out-of-control cool and creative person you could dream of— and posting them on his web site.
Selby must have realized long ago that a private life is reflected by the private spaces of a home: bedroom dream-catchers and bathroom posters of the waning stages of the moon point to a whimsical side that one might have otherwise not noticed.
Or the places that are dying for attention. Like the neighbor who dots exceedingly ghastly groups of garish garden gnomes around his garden? A different take on Full-Moon...

Well the best blog for nosy creative types is now a book! The color-rich and eclectic quarters of, deep breath I am about to do some serious name-dropping: Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler, Faris Rotter, Andre Walker, and Olivier Zahm and he shoot in all the cool places you dream of studying abroad: Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, Sydney, and London. (Of course New York is separated into Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan and takes up a huge chuck of the blog and newly released book, because a huge chuck of the world's coolest people claim that as their place.)
Each profile lets you see how the hip types chill, where they sleep and what color the walls are in their kitchen. Each profile also has one of Selby’s signature watercolor portraits of the subjects and an illustrated questionnaire. The best part is the book is online for free (for a sample) probably for a limited time. check it out.

P.S-- think your digs are cool enough to be featured, click here if you have a sense of humor and want to see if you fit the bill.

Brink

Some of the rarest animals on this planet are on the brink of extinction. Some of the rarest animals on this planet have been forever captured through the lens of Joel Sartore. Lets all take a moment to thank Sartore, because we are going to need a whole lot more than a Nalgene water bottle trend in the form of a conservation movement if we really want to preserve this earth.

His new book Rare might just be leading a the way. Sartore has been a photographer for more than 20 years (17 with National Geographic), and as if that wasn't cool enough he has been putting all the globe trotting to good use snapping photos of creatures like the California Condor (first pictured).


Rare present a total of 80 iconic images, (a few of which I posted here) representing a lifelong commitment to the natural world and a three-year investigation into the Endangered Species Act. Sartore first stuns readers with an intimate look at the species the act seeks to preserve. With crisp up-close portraits on every page even non-animal lovers like me start to swoon.

The creatures are so human-like. I find the images in his book incredible because they capture the essence of each animal. In this behind the scenes video you can see the animals crawling and sliding around the photo set.

RARE from Joel Sartore on Vimeo.

The anthropromophic view of the St. Andrew Beach Mouse is my favorite. (pictured below) Sartore said in an interview, "My flash even had a hard time stopping them. Only when this mouse paused to groom did I get a moment to take a picture.”

Taking It For Granted?

Culture of the consumer today. Gimme Gimme Gimme, and it better be cheap, because that is how I know it is valuable. Sound familiar?
Yep, that is the personification of the mantras sitting below the surface of our civilization. The reason Wal-Mart makes bank while Mom and Pop shops flounder. The reason a 12-year-old girl will get Liposuction with her parents blessing and the reason most parents chase the beauty of youth by sinfully smothering skin in chemicals.
Maybe the key to savoring life is to do something truly rare: to redefine beauty.
Start by surfing this site. CLICK HERE TO CHANGE THE WORLD (actually, you are going to do nothing but enjoy a feast for the eyes and surf a set of breath-taking photos, mainly for your own enjoyment, so...)
From someone taking a pee in the shower, to rush hour traffic, to the most nefarious of beasts, beauty is definitely being redefined slowly.
Stop sighting spray tanning and stacking piles of cash as interests on your facebook and start spending your time seeking the beauty in everything. Otherwise we are gonna go down in history as the Generation who related most with the acronym GTL.


[all photos posted in this entry are from the website I suggest above that you to visit: beauty in everything dotcom]

Plastics Please

Fashion is fake. Fake with a capital F and we love it. Where else can we transport ourselves into a world of fantasy, buy into a lifestyle through the purchase of a $7.00 lacquer. Fashion and the advertising behind the looks are all based on suspending reality. So in a sense fashion is the purchase of a single pair of ALDO slingbacks at a mid-tier department store in middle America as much as it is its elaborate runway sets. Fashion endorses extreme versions of a vision, it is fake in every sense of the word, fabulously superficial. Superficial has taken off in a new way through the use of plastic props, which have been used across the globe to set off the new Spring 2010 looks.

Could it be to portray whimsy and adopt a nonsensical tone in like of dark economic times? Could it be due to those economic times? (I think if American Vogue wanted to rent-a-pony for an editorial they could swing it, so I am discounting the real possibility of cost driving the trend, though contributing is up for debate.)

Allow me to present the evidence. First up: the February American Vogue "Back in the Saddle" spread styled by Elissa Santissi and photographed by Raymond Meier features model Constance Jablonski and a faux version of a horse whose resemblance to the beloved black velvet is uncanny. Though this horse is missing a thoroughbred pedigree it has gained more attention that some real-life horses of impressive breeding lines.

It doesn't stop with a single shiny black gelding featured in an American Vogue editorial. The print ads of many different design houses are playing with plastics as a way to channel the youthful energy that fashion always favors. For example, the Mulberry Spring 2010 campaign has models Sasha Pivovarova and Viktoriya Sasonkina spinning around on a merry-go-round while gripping the English label’s signature oversized handbags. The series of print ads give me a toothache-- I worry is it too much sweet, too far a departure from the brand's identity? Mulberry resonates with consumers seeking the sophisticated with a quirky edge. While it remains to be seen if the giddy girlishness of the setting detracts from the outfits, the prints deserve credit for being on trend and on a carousel!For last Fall Mullberry ads featured girls running through a forest (read: browns and grey). These new ads help steer Mullberry away from the frumpy and toward a distinctive British style: stylish, rebellious. confident. The use of plastics help communicate that shift from more traditional to a little naughty.

Advertisers at Aldo got wild for the Spring 2010 ad campaign which features Jessica Stam playfully posing with a plastic feline co-star. The model cleverly channels the spirit of the cheetah in front of the camera lens.

Photographer Terry Richardson captures Stam roaring alongside the plastic cheetah and angles the shot to juxtapose her long legs with the lithe creature in a similar pose. The ads feature other bright red plastic accessories along side quirky shoes. The use of plastics here is playful and showcases the light and fun vibe of the spring season.

Trends via TrendHunter.com.

In the Japanese Vogue March 2010 issue photographer Terry Richardson injects his incredible brand of eccentricity for creative mix of taxidermy tigers, bear heads and buffalo. I realize this example marks a slight departure from the orignial trend of plastic animals, but these stuffed creatures are unreal! Thank goodness the experienced and skilled model Freja Beha Erichsen works the set (we all must acknowledge the potential for this to get too creepy). Freja captured the feeling of a outlandish carnivore-eal feast and went with it. She stares into the lens posing behind a backdrop of bold colors and patterns in hot-pants, plaid coats and mini dresses, mixed with statement accessories. Styled by George Cortina, this outlandish editorial is certainly one to check out and since international spreads are hard to come by I will post a bunch of the pictures here: