Is it time for a Reboot?

[TriggerDiscipline]

I have been to said fairs with mostly upcoming brands but the lack of intimacy in those places doesn't really give me the comfort or space to try something on and realistically make me feel comfortable enough to take it home but that's my experience.

[upsilonkng]

honestly every major art related , artist generated field needs a reboot.. that would of course include music(stealing product is all good, ur nothing w/out a superbowl commercial), movies (just franchising everything now, the top 10 movies in history will basically all be owned by disney), the art paint stuff (oh the guy that does Obey is considered a successful artist?!? he doesnt do anything.. oh and that Banksky dude what does he paint again? ) I'm sure there's a lot more but i think we all get the point.

Maybe the problem isn't w/ the artist as there are many many great artist in all fields working and scraping by barely, maybe and i've thought this for a long time now, the problem is the audience, the buyers, the consumers, more and more i think we live in the world of the movie "Idiocracy". There are more stupid people in the world everyday because stupid people reproduce more, and stupid people don't want art, not on stage not on a screen, not in a gallery and certainly not on their back. They want mediocre because they are and everyone knows no one gets more uncomfortable w/ something new than stupid people. Let's face it , a reboot would be basically killing off a majority of stupid people in this world which i'm guessing is around 75% of all people and letting the rest of us figure out how to make shit cool and semi-fair again.

ps I'm against guns, violence etc.. this is just something i feel not something i am planning though if u were planning it I'd be happy to help plan though not participate.

[aussy]

Agreed, fairs are not the place for clothing aside from tshirts, etsy sweaters and vintage. Fairs are the wrong market, which is why I drew the line between fashion and soap above. Plus, at these price points, consumers are more likely to look up the company rather than spontaneously purchase from them. However, the pop up shop approach Chinorlz describes makes sense.

[Ahimsa]

I dont have a problem with the approach but it breeds elitism in the most negative of ways and denies the general customer a chance to purchase/view/preorder.

so unless you have spent baller money with that store chances are you wont be invited to the preorder events.

Unfortunately, the elitism is the only way for some artisanal brands to stay afloat. The exuberantly wealthy like to have what no one else can, and they'll pay almost anything to keep it that way. Clients ordering a piece in a fabrication no one/no other store can have at a huge markup is common for a company I work with.

(I don't condone it, it just works its way into some business models)

(the "trunk show" method)
I can't see it supporting a designer alone but it can act as another way to diversify customer engagement and reach and build one's 'brand'.


On that note, what ways other than bm retailers, ecommerce and social media, dressing celebrities would you welcome designers to adopt in order to push their goods? Could we blame a lack of creativity not just in clothes but also in presentation, marketing and sales for fashion's current state?

If a needless fashion film is as far 'out there' as marketers campaign for the sake of building brand identity, we're in trouble.

Yes, the trunk show is only good for support. But it can garner tens of thousands within a day/few days so it's integral to some business models.


The "needless fashion film" is indeed a money sink. They can be extremely costly, with very little gains, and I don't see them going viral all too often...

But where does one put ads when no one reads magazine's anymore? And what online publication will accept submissions from another run of the mill goth ninja brand? (besides a few I shall not mention here)
With the fall of runway shows, it's looking like options for any sort of publicity outside of celebrity is running dry.

[Nickefuge]

the art paint stuff (oh the guy that does Obey is considered a successful artist?!? he doesnt do anything.. oh and that Banksky dude what does he paint again? )

i think we live in the world of the movie "Idiocracy". There are more stupid people in the world everyday because stupid people reproduce more, and stupid people don't want art

I´ve always wondered who decided what art is – now I know it´s you, thanks.
"Stupid people" care for a different kind of art than the one you consider it to be or they have other things on their minds, like making ends meet with a a job that won´t pay as much as one "smart people" get to have. And of course, it always depends on who gets to be introduced to art as the art world is not as welcoming and open for everyone to participate.

I guess the feeling you have may come from the fact, that nowadays, everyone gets to raise his/her opinion on the internet and opinionated people do write more and more often than others.

Let's face it , a reboot would be basically killing off a majority of stupid people in this world which i'm guessing is around 75% of all people and letting the rest of us figure out how to make shit cool and semi-fair again.

OR it might be fixing the educational system and supporting families with abusive and/or negligent parents before going all Hitler, don´t you think?

[upsilonkng]

I´ve always wondered who decided what art is – now I know it´s you, thanks.
"Stupid people" care for a different kind of art than the one you consider it to be or they have other things on their minds, like making ends meet with a a job that won´t pay as much as one "smart people" get to have. And of course, it always depends on who gets to be introduced to art as the art world is not as welcoming and open for everyone to participate.

I guess the feeling you have may come from the fact, that nowadays, everyone gets to raise his/her opinion on the internet and opinionated people do write more and more often than others.



OR it might be fixing the educational system and supporting families with abusive and/or negligent parents before going all Hitler, don´t you think?

I'm pretty sure if Stravinsky was alive today he wouldn't be wearing an Obey shirt or following Banksky around nyc pretending to care about art.. I'm not Stravinsky but at least I know his revolutionary music well and didn't think it's some kind of high end vodka.
damn nickleback PC much?? u'll be glad to know this message is recyclable..

[Faust]

The "needless fashion film" is indeed a money sink. They can be extremely costly, with very little gains, and I don't see them going viral all too often...

But where does one put ads when no one reads magazine's anymore? And what online publication will accept submissions from another run of the mill goth ninja brand? (besides a few I shall not mention here)
With the fall of runway shows, it's looking like options for any sort of publicity outside of celebrity is running dry.

This. Fashion videos are pretty much useless.

Ads will continue shifting to the online media (you said yourself a few days ago how tired you were by all these ad-ridden websites), and to FaceBook and Instagram.

Basically, and mr.beuys will back me up on that, much of fashion's managerial class are a bunch of idiots and they will simply chase what's trendy. These days it's Instagram.

[Faust]

I'm pretty sure if Stravinsky was alive today he wouldn't be wearing an Obey shirt or following Banksky around nyc pretending to care about art.. I'm not Stravinsky but at least I know his revolutionary music well and didn't think it's some kind of high end vodka.
damn nickleback PC much?? u'll be glad to know this message is recyclable..

I have an amazing Banksy-related story to tell of the kind you are aiming at, but it's too much OT. But it was totally

[mrbeuys]

Basically, and mr.beuys will back me up on that, much of fashion's managerial class are a bunch of idiots and they will simply chase what's trendy.

You are backed up. The signal to noise ratio in fashion's executive levels is indeed staggeringly low. And everyone I have known who's any good is getting out of it. As did I. There's only so much anyone with common sense can take of the staggering tunnel vision which is prevalent in the industry.

[Ahimsa]

This. Fashion videos are pretty much useless.

Ads will continue shifting to the online media (you said yourself a few days ago how tired you were by all these ad-ridden websites), and to FaceBook and Instagram.

Basically, and mr.beuys will back me up on that, much of fashion's managerial class are a bunch of idiots and they will simply chase what's trendy. These days it's Instagram.

It's unfortunate for publications as the money in online ads is not near as good as print (as per mentioned in a BoF article)

However, as this shift occurs, I wonder when everyone else will be fed up with the online ads, especially in FaceBook/Instagram. It almost seems that advertisers are close to hitting marketing bedrock.

I'm currently having to deal with trend chasing, and I just can't get it through to executives/investors that the normal marketing shuffle just doesn't work for everyone. As I had mentioned in the other thread, they just buy out/throw money at brands chasing the success of existing models without innovating at all. They want a piece of the pie but god forbid if they use a different flavor.

[Law]

This. Fashion videos are pretty much useless.

What do you think these fashion videos are missing, from a content stand point?

[SafetyKat]

Depends which videos we're talking about. I think it can definitely be done.

I can appreciate some of the videos from Chanel. They have a few elements of story, and provide some beautiful shots that projected the emotion/vibes/ intended atmosphere of the clothes as well as some good detailing.

on the flip side, I consider Tom Fords recent runway film to be the definition of a "useless" video. After the initial surge of excitement in the beginning faded away (more like hope maybe, the introduction was damn groovy) it was purely disappointing from there on out. It felt like an attempt to showcase clothing without actually fucking showcasing the clothing. My interpretation of the film: Bumping intro, dancing, a few possible "Helmut inspired" garments, lady gaga, half minute of camera flashes, more lady gaga, more dancing, fin. The kicker being that the show featured considerably less clothing as the film went on....

[aussy]

The best I can come up with as qualifications for a good fashion 'film' with an understanding that they're all marketing ploys:

1) The video is not just an extended commercial (wtf is the point) and adds value, other than financial, to the brand
2) At the same time, the products themselves must not be so divorced from the production that the viewer forgets that it was the brand, the clothing and their interest in fashion that presumably drew them to the video in the first place
3) Finally, the clothes must make sense in the context of the video, which kind of relates to the first two standards

Nearly every fashion flick fails. Models treated like dolls in modern houses and cryptic conversation. Dancers with hardly any clothes moving in the name of what exactly? A Disneyrific seven minute long narrative featuring Pharrell, a song AND a number, what more could I ask for? Seriously, what the fuck is the point? Why are these still being made? Obviously I'm not their target audience, but does anyone watch these hair clumps of media and take away anything? I'd love to be in that focus group.

Those that do are probably the same people who like and comment on instagram ads.

[Faust]

What do you think these fashion videos are missing, from a content stand point?

The last one I remember that I liked was the Lanvin with models dancing. That was like 2008?

It's not so much the content, but the overload of it. Nowness and things like that have killed it. Same for images, truth be told. When there is too much content, it's hard for anything that stands out.

[TriggerDiscipline]

https://vimeo.com/80777425

and the BBS video of the same year I quite enjoyed and are quite memorable for me.