22/04/2010

Gucci & Mark Ronson

Sneaker in our midst.

The store has finally arrived in Covent Garden - Gucci's Icon Temporary store created in collaboration with music man Mark Ronson has opened it's doors to sell 18 exclusive pairs of sneakers, 2 for women, 15 for men and one special Gucci Ronson style.
After the release of their Gucci iPhone app (and it's success) and their Facebook page, Gucci's attempt at enticing a younger audience seems to be working, except that they're not necessarily buying the sneakers. Brands are trying to become a voice in a consumer's head, but are they going about it in the right way? When I think of sneakers, the first thing in my head would be Gucci because of this campaign and because I study fashion, but what about the next person? Would they think Nike?
Burberry for example created 'Art of the Trench', promoting their iconic trench coat - Hermes always promote their scarves. So how successful will Gucci be in promoting sneakers when they're better known for their leather and, more recently, that covetable white Panama hat? Not that I have anything against Mark Ronson, but he just seems like a bit of an odd choice to attach to Gucci, is that just me? It seems like Gucci is rebranding itself in a completely different direction, with the only common element being the green and red flashes of colour.

19/04/2010

Dress Size Down

Vanity Dress Sizing.
Have you ever tried on a dress in what you think is your size in one store, then when you went next door you find you're a size smaller? You could be a victim of 'vanity sizing', where stores design and make clothes that are a little larger than the actual size, making you feel better about buying from them. After all, how many of us like the size label when it's a little bit smaller?
M&S have been found guilty of tampering with their sizing from their online products - this would really annoy me if I'd just bought the wrong size each time and I should have gotten one smaller...
An M&S spokesman said: 'We are not sweetening the sizes or softening the blow for anyone but we tweaked the sizes on our website so they are based on an average body.'
However, the altered sizes have mainly occurred in shops that sell to a more mature audience, and so it could be argued that their reasoning is that a size 12 for a 20 year old is very different to an age 50 size 12.
Until not long ago, many stores were using the old 1950s sizing for their clothing - can you imagine how much our bodies have altered over 60 years? But changing the sizes to up to two inches bigger and calling it the next size down? It may make you feel better, but it's really not true. If you say you're a happy size 10 in M&S, but you're actually a size 12, are you going to decide to eat more unhealthily and become a 14? Well it's ok, you can still fit into a size 12...

15/04/2010

Primark Padded Bikini

Politics and Primark
David Cameron has commented on Primark's padded children's bikini's as 'disgraceful'.


'There is a classic example today where Primark are apparently pushing padded bras on seven-year-olds, which I think is completely disgraceful. The sort of country I want is one where it is not just the Government that feels outraged about the early commercialisation and sexualisation of our children, but companies should stop doing it, they should take some responsibility.'

Primark have since removed the bikinis from the shelves and have donated any profits to children's charities.

Gordon Brown has also commented, saying 'All of us as parents can recognise there's something wrong when companies are pushing our kids into acting like little grown-ups when they should be enjoying being children.'

Am I the only one that thinks it's not Primark's fault, but the women and children who buy the product? So they create padded bikinis, but having a kid wear a bikini anyway shows that kids want to look grown up. It's one thing selling the product, but surely these politicians should be worried about the women buying them for their kids...

14/04/2010

Jean Charles de Castelbajac

Close Encounter of the 5th Kind
Jean Charles de Castelbajac is set to take over 5 windows of Selfridges.

"I would like to dedicate my window's works to my dear friend Malcolm McLaren, who was an alien in the world of rock 'n' roll," Castelbajac told Vogue UK. "I am thrilled to prepare this beautiful installation event with Selfridges because I think it is the only department store in the world which seems to be curated like a contemporary art museum."
The 'exhibition' will take place between the 30th April and 30th June. One not to miss.

02/04/2010

American Apparel

Panic in the Streets of London.
The American Apparel Rummage sale causes riots and police as only 30 people are allowed in.



You may have heard about the event on facebook,which currently has 28,711 attending, where American Apparel decided to hold a rummage sale in Brick Lane market with up to 85% off and some items selling for just £1. Knowing the quality of AA and how all their garments are made in America, this was no Primark sale. I wasn't surprised by the amount of people that would have shown up, but it's interesting to see how it turned out. You almost would have expected women pulling each others hair like in Confessions of a Shopaholic, but this went beyond a tug of war. As only 30 people were let into the venue, queues meant restless people, in the cold and rain I might add, who just weren't happy.
The police shut down the event site and demanded everyone leave the Brick Lane premises for their own safety. American Apparel are attempting to re-open for the Easter weekend, and in the meantime have offered discount codes on the website.

There's no telling what this will do to the label. Although AA have managed rummage sales across the globe, the definitely didn't anticipate the British public as well as they could have. We are all rioters at heart, just look at the days and nights of the football.
In terms of the brand, it could go one of two ways. 1st, the public hate them for letting them stay out in the cold and rain and risk their safety. 2nd, and more likely after how much AA are trying to make this up to their facebook fans, is that they'll be even more covetable, and this will just be something to publicise them better. If anything, it might make people realise that they won't have a rummage sale in the UK ever again, and so they might as well find a store and buy the full priced one.
So that's really the question, is any publicity in the end good publicity?

P.S., discount codes are:

AALNDN10 gets you 15% off our UK webstore for the next 10 days! (redeem code at checkout).

Please Take 25% OFF anything in our UK site (use code LNDNRMG25) or print this for 25% off at our UK retail shops... (exp 1 wk, not valid w/ other offers)