LA Times Magazine - Kobe Bryant

[whitney]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0134802f97ab970c-800wi

that is probably the only one that looks close to normal imo. stylists are suppose to work with the subject to bring what they are in essence, in a better light.. i don't think that fits his persona but thats just me.

http://cache-02.gawkerassets.com/ass...x_original.jpg

creepy kinda come hither.

[deleuze]

Stylist's response

http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2010/05/stylist-discusses-kobe-bryants-la-times-magazines-photo-shoot.html

[Fuuma]

OH noes a celebrity and stylist are giving exposure to brands we like instead of repping Gucci and LV, let's all complain!!!

[Fuuma]

She does it better.

I still have that issue at home....

Yes I keep National geographic issues from 1985.

[laughed]

OH noes a celebrity and stylist are giving exposure to brands we like instead of repping Gucci and LV, let's all complain!!!

exposure? i think these brands are doing just fine no? this entire photoshoot is a complete joke.

[thehouseofdis]

There are so many good quotes in the article with the "stylist".

"The concept was about shooting everything in white." -that's quite a concept!

"...it's highly fashionable because it's super-sleek, expensive materials" -I guess expensive automatically equates to fashionable. I wouldn't use the term "super-sleek" to for any of these looks.

"A basketball player usually wears a hoodie, but instead of it being a plain hoodie, this is more conceptual." -How is an athlete wearing an Ann top "conceptual".

"But if people like Kobe will wear them in magazines, it'll translate in everyday life." -Huh?

"With celebrities, you tend to just make them look good. But in this particular shoot, I didn't want to do that." -Success!

[endersgame]

they should have asked george muresan to do the modeling..

[Mail-Moth]

Certainly, this stylist's explanations sound pretty silly, and the result of this audacious conceptual exploration doesn't always look successful - especially on the scarf picture.

But frankly, I don't see it as a complete failure either ; I'm perfectly fine with the two pictures Jonif selected. The KVA one even looks great to me.

I don't really understand what happens here, or elsewhere on this forum on a regular basis. It sounds like one has to show some sort of legitimity to wear the clothes of the designers we favor : that is, to be in complete harmony with their universe, I suppose, to share their cultural references and to understand their deepness ; having some sympathy for artisanal production and a reasonable level of technical knowledge would certainly be appreciated too.

I do not get this. Isn't this plain snobism ?

From what I understand, this guy is a baseball player ? Would he be an anonymous model posing in a lookbook, I'm quite sure the critics wouldn't be so harsh. Because you can't honestly consider as a fail the pic of a man wearing a hoodie, when both look good - and when you can't see the rest of the outfit.

So what is the point ? That Doma and Ann D. have nothing to do with baseball ? That the price of each garment is indicated at the bottom of the photos - which assuredly is gross - nouveau riche, as we say in France ? Talking about money in front of works of art ! Letting sportsmen wearing concepts !

"We can enjoy some rapp from time to time, but don't leave the rappers wear our leather jackets. And sure we love watching baseball, but those guys had better stick to bling-bling and sportswear."

That's what I understand, reading you folks.

[whitney]

i saw part of that going on in wtf

i don't really care who wears it so much as how they wear it. a lot of times a celebrity will wear something just because its hyped or to hype it up. the former shows lack of appreciation for the garment which offends some and latter means more exposure and either a) less to go around (esp during markdowns) or b) that brand producing more which doesn't always equal to lesser quality but does tend to lean that way


the stylist article pretty much confirmed what i thought--stylist picked what he thought of kobe to be, to represent, and kobe pretty much just went with it. nothing discussing of what kobe liked, letting kobe look through books and pick out what he likes, and working with those pieces to come up with an outfit that was stylish but still represented what the client, in this case kobe, is at heart.

then again it was really all done in a matter of minutes it seems, so i guess you can't expect much

[Faust]

Well, this is obviously failing, "Another aim of this community is to divorce fashion from consumerism and celebrity culture."

I wish this stupid thread was never started.

[Fade to Black]

Easily the most poignant post in this entire thread, and perhaps a fitting closer after the reminder:

went to high school with kobe (ps, he lies about growing up in the hood)

god how he would have railed on the kid who wore a white tassled doma head scarf back then...

[Fuuma]

Well, this is obviously failing, "Another aim of this community is to divorce fashion from consumerism and celebrity culture."

I wish this stupid thread was never started.

On the contrary it is a nice platform from which to discuss a certain attitude regarding who gets to wear these brands with "authenticity", it seems to be an issue with many posters. I find it especially jarring here considering it is an editorial...

[Faust]

That point seems moot (plenty celebs and regular people wear a ton of stuff without authenticity, including on this forum) and I'd rather avoid the topic altogether. Easier on the eyes, you know.

Can someone wear something for the wrong reasons? Sure. What are those reasons? Trends, hype, fashion media diktat, peer pressure, etc. Can/should we do anything about it? Not really.

[Chant]

Can someone wear something for the wrong reasons? Sure.

I strongly disagree. There's no wrong reason to wear anything. Or you have to build a fashion police, and everything that goes with.

I've the same feeling with this "authenticity" that one often evokes around here. How is it possible to estimate the authenticity something is worn with ? What are the criterias ? This idea does not make any sense for me - especially from pictures.

Looks like a lot of members here, maybe because of their passion, are considering themselves both as guardians of the temple and arbiters of elegance.

And huge lol at Mail-moth, who truly lives in the dickensian 19th century : Kobe, baseball player !!!

[Mail-Moth]

Faust, I don't know that much about fashion history, but aren't some evolutions in this field due to the fact that people, from time to time, begin to wear clothes "the wrong way", or because of those reasons you are giving ? Aren't some of the clothes we like here - especially when it comes to men's fashion - a magnified iteration of clumsier, and even quite vulgar, trends, initialy based on the "wrong" use of otherwise respectable garments ?

I wish I had some precise examples to give here, but this is just an intuition. To me it seems like designers often take a part of their inspiration from those "cultural accidents". I wouldn't present that as a general rule - I don't think that CCP or the Carpe Diem constellation really belong to this category - but what about Rick Owens, or Yohji ? I remember Christian telling somewhere else - or was it here - that in Paris, the "sapeurs" of the african communities were forming a good part of YY's clientele, and I don't know if they're that cautious about the respect due to the designer's vision. But I wouldn't find it surprising to learn someday that Yohji is taking interest in the way they deal with his creations.

I may be completely wrong though - just trying to figure things.

Edit : Christian, this is just... sport. Why should I care ?