Wait, ad-agency CEOs have stylists, too?
Perhaps I'm naive, but I always thought that only Hollywood celebrities had stylists. Not so. They're also helping those in the upper echelons of the agency world. Lisa Kline, the wardrobe consultant who gave Sarah Palin her controversial makeover before the Republican National Convention, also works for Deutsch North America CEO Linda Sawyer. In fact, in a profile of the Manhattan fashion consultant, Sawyer serves as a reference for Kline's yeoman's work. "She doesn't impose her style on you, and she just has a great eye," Sawyer tells The New York Times. Kline's other clients include "well-heeled corporate executives and television news personalities, including local and network anchors." —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on November 19, 2009 | Permalink
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BBH staffer's Mrs. O blog, now in book form
Everyone in the ad industry loves stories where agencies do things for themselves rather than clients. The success of these projects can be debated. See Honeyshed. Now, BBH New York is celebrating the fruits of its labor with the release of Mrs. O: The Face of Fashion Democracy, a companion book to the Mrs. O blog that BBH account planner Mary Tomer started last fall to celebrate the style of Michelle Obama. The blog has remained popular. According to Quantcast, it gets about 27,000 visitors a month. Brain Pickings has an interview with Tomer. —Posted by Brian Morrissey |
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Published on October 28, 2009 | Permalink
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Site picks 50 sluttiest American Apparel ads
You know you've been working the slutty angle when someone can look at your advertising history and narrow it down to the 50 sluttiest ads. That's what StyleCrave has done with American Apparel. (The gallery is NSFW, it probably goes without saying.) The occasion is the recent ban on an American Apparel ad in the U.K. for sexualizing a model who appears to be under 16 years old. (The model is actually 23, but looks younger.) The company has bigger problems this week, though, as it's planning to lay off more than a quarter of its factory work force in L.A. amid a probe by U.S. immigration authorities. See also: |
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Published on September 4, 2009 | Permalink
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Calvin's orgy ad causes predictable scandal
Calvin Klein doing something risque? I know you're all shocked. But an enormous billboard in New York's SoHo district, which has been up for a month, has people talking again. The controversy concerns a topless young girl lying on top of a bare-chested dude while kissing another dude—total threeway, unless you count the guy lying in the foreground, who obviously passed out before things got really good. I maintain that CK is actually giving SoHo its first relevant PSA: Don't party too hard, or you'll miss out on the group sex. You'd think that after all CK has done in the past people would just go, "That's Calvin for ya, always racy!" and look the other way. But the coverage by CBS's Early Show (with a cameo by our own Barbara Lippert) proves that prepubescent threesomes never get old. But the best part of the clip is the woman who admits that if that's what the jeans do for you, she'll certainly buy a pair. You've come a long way, baby! —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on June 16, 2009 | Permalink
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Astronauts are the stars in Louis Vuitton ad
Louis Vuitton reaches for the heavens in a new print ad starring astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride and Jim Lovell. The three appear in this photo, shot by Annie Leibovitz, sitting on the hood of a old truck, gazing up at the moon, on which Aldrin walked 40 years ago this July 20. There will also be a companion video in which the three reminisce about their space travels. (Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, apparently declined to be involved.) The campaign, by Ogilvy & Mather, marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing and is supposed to be a respectful homage to the astronauts, though the product it's endorsing, the $1,530 Icare travel bag, is named for the Greek hero who flew too close to the sun. Huh. Anyway, this continues LV's strategy of using older spokespeople, like Mikhail Gorbachev and Keith Richards, to entice baby boomers who need fancy handbags to distract from how old they've become themselves. So, they should stop calling Armstrong and get Tony Curtis on the phone. |
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Published on June 2, 2009 | Permalink
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Admen gussied up for AmEx fashion photos
The middle of a tough recession is an iffy time to model $1,500 Burberry trenchcoats. But ad guys don't get the call from from fashion photographers often, so they have to throw caution to the wind when it happens. Jeff Goodby, above, is one of nine ad guys featured in a fashion spread devoted to "Today's Real Mad Men" in the current issue of the American Express lux magazine Departures (published for Platinum Card and Centurion members only). He joins David Droga, Duncan Marshall, Andrew Essex and Ted Royer of Droga5; Gerry Graf of Saatchi & Saatchi; Brad Kay and Marty Cooke of SS+K; and Benson Hausman of Kraftworks NYC. They're all trying their best to look pensive, intelligent and/or stylish, except for Graf, who's just chuckling, maybe because the watch he's wearing is worth more than entry-level Saatchi staff probably make in a year. |
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Published on May 21, 2009 | Permalink
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H&M drops big, surreal sex bomb on Britain
What happens when you bring techno lyrics to life through fashion models? Apparently, you get a surreal smorgasbord of sex, meteorites, creepy dolls and pink ponies. This British ad for clothing chain H&M was created to launch a new collection by designer Matthew Williamson, who I assume is the Howard Hughes-looking playboy at the end. The spot was directed by Johan Renck, who has done so many big-name videos, he can probably afford his own pink pony. Heck, make it a unicorn. Via UTalkMarketing. —Posted by David Griner |
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Published on May 7, 2009 | Permalink
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Kanye West enlists girlfriend as spokesbutt
Hey look, another butt. (I'm totally on a roll.) This time, it's Kanye West and his naked weirdo girlfriend in a new ad for ... something. I'm not sure what they're pitching, here. BlackBook says it's an ad for West's personal line of Louis Vuitton shoes—he designed them himself, you know—but he doesn't seem very enthusiastic about them. Looking at them, neither am I. No wonder he threw Amber Rose out there as a distraction. |
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Published on April 20, 2009 | Permalink
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Britney back to skimpy old self for Candie's
Candie's signed Britney Spears to model its clothes back in March and hosted exclusive backstage video footage of Spears' Virgin-sponsored concert tour, which appears to have a circus–burlesque–powertool theme. They even made a little teaser commercial (above) announcing the campaign, which will appear in print, on TV, online and in Kohl's. But now, finally, we've gotten a sneak peak of the actual print work. However, the rest of the campaign isn't coming out until this summer. Ms. Spears looks great in the shots, so naturally, people are already suggesting that they're digitally enhanced. It's Spears' first apparel endorsement ever, but she's not in bad company. Previous Candie's girls include Fergie, Hayden Panettiere, Kelly Clarkson, Hilary Duff and Ashley Simpson-Wentz. Still, Candie's is taking a big chance with Spears. Though she's unlikely to go all Chris Brown and start a worldwide outcry against domestic violence, she hasn't been out of rehab all that long, and is purportedly trying to get out from under daddy's thumb and back in contact with her manager/alleged drug dealer Sam Lufti. Hopefully, Candie's will make it to the actual campaign before Ms. Spears has another catastrophic meltdown. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers
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Published on April 7, 2009 | Permalink
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Dell plays fashion accessory in Enfatico ads
In these times of austerity, people are skimping on fashion apparel. All the more reason, then, to buy a computer that can multitask and fill this role in addition to, you know, computing. A campaign by Enfatico certainly gives Dell's Adamo laptop the full fashion treatment. (The Web site adopts the manner of a runway show.) Looking at the larger ad from which this image was taken, you should be grateful to Enfatico for clueing you in that bell-bottoms have made a comeback—with cuffs, no less! |
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Published on March 30, 2009 | Permalink
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Ads with fake 911 calls are just really classy
Fake 911 calls are so fun! Actually, I tried to keep an open mind and gave DeVito/Verdi's "Fashion without the victim" ads for K&G a try. Sorry to say, there is a victim here: It's me, and anyone else who's exposed to this particular effort. Not because it's especially controversial. It's more low-rent, straining to break through but falling woefully short. The quivering voice of the caller, the world-weary tone of the dispatcher: It's uninspired, just like the clothes they apparently sell at K&G. The chain's shoppers might not be victimized by high prices, but the dubious "fashions" there (at least the ones I saw online) commit any number of crimes against style. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to call 911 and report a real emergency: The McDonald's downstairs is out of McNuggets again! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on March 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Lindsay Lohan in ghastly retro Fornarina ad
When I saw this new ad featuring a nearly unrecognizable Lindsay Lohan, I assumed it was one of those "Only being shown in Japan" things. Then I remembered that those lucrative Asian ad deals are only for actors who are still famous and somewhat respectable. This is just some straight-up "Will work for food" badness. In case you can't figure it out from the ad, Fornarina is an Italian fashion line that creates the ideal ensembles for hitting the clubs, taking in a red-carpet premiere or just pounding out some psychotic Twitter updates while the cops are looking for you. |
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Published on March 23, 2009 | Permalink
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Sony's living mannequins swarm Manhattan
Mannequins take Manhattan! Today! With Sony VAIOs! New Yorkers have ad shop 180LA to blame for what sounds like a pretty creepy campaign. Press materials ask us to "picture 10 mannequins sitting at a cafe, IMing, blogging, updating their Facebook pages and tempting onlookers to check out the beautiful new [VAIO P Series] device." Imagine it? I can't get it out of my head! The "living mannequins" are premiering this morning at Grand Central Station, no doubt to the delight of commuters who haven't recovered from that "world's biggest wheel of cheese" promotion there a couple of years back. Sony says the big dummies will "circulate throughout the city's hottest neighborhoods." Thank goodness, SoHo won't miss out. There's a Fashion Week tie-in, as the mannequins have been dressed by young designers. "Imagine going about your day when suddenly you see something out of place: It's a strikingly beautiful mannequin. She's alive. And she's holding the VAIO P Series, motioning for you to join her." Frankly, I think I'll buy a Mac. You guys are freaking me out. |
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Published on January 30, 2009 | Permalink
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Berlin subway adbusters turn to PhotoshopSubway vandals in Berlin have given up the low-tech Sharpie and are using big Photoshop-palette stickers to offer their wry commentary on the deceptions of fashion ads. Gizmodo has lots more images. Of course, the tactic has a downside: the posters now serve as ads for Adobe. —Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on January 14, 2009 | Permalink
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Naked, shotgun-wielding chick not included
O-kay, so we've got a leggy leather-jacketed babe. The jacket's open to show us that she's not wearing anything underneath. She sits, legs parted, on a bed, holding a smoking shotgun. There's a shell in her mouth. Visible behind her is a naked body, trim buttocks, taught legs, back awash in tattoos. The ad's for the jacket ... I think. See a larger version of the ad here. It's obviously not an American ad, since we generally enjoy violence in our video games but get puritanical when it shows up in paid media. Still, I was somewhat surprised to see that the work is from an agency in Zurich. So much for Swiss neutrality! This is what most of my dreams look like, actually. In them, I'm the gun, and the babe is my sister. Mom always liked her best. Via Ads of the World. |
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Published on January 6, 2009 | Permalink
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Vuitton adds Madonna to list of old friends
Following in the aging footsteps of Mikhail Gorbachev and Keith Richards, Madonna has now joined the Louis Vuitton campaign, sitting for a half-dozen French-bistro photos that will appear in fashion magazines in February. Women's Wear Daily gets the rest of the scoop from Marc Jacobs, who marvels at the kind of strength and flexibility that allows the Material Girl to strike poses like this one. "It was her idea to do the fishnets," Jacobs says. "What fascinates me the most about her is her never-ending energy, and the idea of becoming and changing. She's an artist who's unafraid to use her voice." |
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Published on December 5, 2008 | Permalink
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Lego brightens the boring old fashion show
Your average fashion show is fascinating in content but boring in delivery. The same lighting, the same models, the same electronically mixed music pounding down on the runway. The idea is to focus on the clothes, but if that's true, why bother sticking them on hot, skinny chicks to begin with? Some designers break away by covering their models' faces or hiring unconventional models. But designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac shatters the paradigm by displaying his new spring/summer 2009 collection in an animated Lego fashion show titled "Plastic Architecture." The show was brought to life by France's Four-H and The Lego Group. If you're wondering who would wear such kitschy pop-culture duds, Katy Perry snagged headlines at the EMAs (MTV's European Music Awards) by wearing this Obama dress from Castelbajac's collection as one of her 12 costume changes. Maybe Lego needs to start collaborating with Bravo instead of Lucas Arts. I'd buy Lego Project Runway over Lego Star Wars any day. Via Adverblog. |
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Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink
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StyleCaster lets models loose on the streets
Shaving several IQ points off our collective intelligence, StyleCaster, which bills itself as "the Web's first truly personalized, integrated fashion channel," today launches a short-film series "highlighting talent from the fashion industry and starring notable personalities from the fashion community." Does the fashion community have any notable personalities who aren't dead? The first clip, "Transformation," stars Jessica Joffe, described by Gawker as a "writer, blogger, socialite, model [and] ex-girlfriend of Ryan Adams." Oh, that Jessica Joffe. In the clip, I'm pretty sure she flashes the most intense (and longest-lasting) "come hither" stare in the history of cinema (or at least online video). Her eye sockets must've ached afterward. She also undresses in public and steals a necklace, but since this takes place in New York, no one seems to care. In fact, the jewelry's sitting in a street vendor's tray, so it was probably hot in the first place. |
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Published on November 13, 2008 | Permalink
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Maybe Hanes, not MJ, needs a new sidekick
—Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on October 13, 2008 | Permalink
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Levi's wants it both ways, and it's working!
Levi's artsy, monochrome Cutwater campaign celebrates the "average woman," comfortable with herself and her Levi's jeans. Meanwhile, the brand's sophomoric EVB-produced viral effort urges the gruffer sex to "Unbutton your beast," as if we needed the added provocation. My first thought: Oh, those denim jerks, they're trying to have it both ways. My revised opinion: Those button-fly geniuses, they're trying to have it both ways—and succeeding! Both campaigns are perfectly tailored (ha!) to their respective audiences: empowering and sympathetic for the ladies, disposable and "naughty" for the gents. The ads aimed at women are cinematic, for the sex that insists on schlepping out to the movies on Friday nights. The work targeting men lives on the Web, because that's where we watch our porn. I mean, where we check out movie schedules to plan fun Friday nights for our significant others. What's more, both campaigns have received their share of mainstream and trade-press attention, touting the Levi's brand well beyond the paid-media investment. So, kudos, Levi's! Too bad the economy's shot and soon no one will be able to afford jeans. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go unbutton ... I mean, buy some movie tickets for the weekend. (Phew, nice save!) —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on October 8, 2008 | Permalink
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Nastia Liukin, all-around fabulous endorser
Vanilla Star Jeans has scored Nastia Liukin as the star of its back-to-school campaign for tweens. (Getting a little late for back-to-school ads, doncha think?) With their slogan "Smart girls rock," you might think they'd choose someone known for ... oh, I dunno, being smart? But apparently the Vanilla Star definition of intelligence means having the "ambition" to "live the dream." It's one of the most delightfully vague girl-power statements I've heard in ages, and I have no doubt that tweens adore it. Vanilla Star's president, Mark Levy, claims that in these ads, VSJ "is proud to embrace an 'anti-jean' company philosophy by opposing the trend of exploiting young teens' bodies in its ads." You get that? They're against jeans, and Liukin's body is not being exploited. (Just ignore the impressive splits in those second-skin jeans.) You can check out the posters on the Liukin-filled Web site, but be warned, there's about five different nasty, scripty fonts on there, and you can't stop the music from looping. You can also watch a short video (under "Scholarship") that proves Liukin doesn't have a future in acting. —Posted by Rebecca Cullers |
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Published on September 3, 2008 | Permalink
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Don't even think about looking at her jeans
Here's another Levi's ad from Cutwater, which did the model-in-reverse spot from earlier this week. This second one's cute, but it's a little long, as in Gone with the Wind long. Did they really need a full minute and a half to get the concept across? By the time the girl gets knocked out, I'd stopped caring, opting instead to wonder who's responsible for the music—it sounds like Max Raabe. Also, speaking as a man here, how are jeans that punish me for looking at hot chicks (and vice versa) a worthwhile investment? Maybe the creative were drinking too much of this when they came up with the idea. |
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Published on August 29, 2008 | Permalink
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Levi's steps back to reveal the average girl
Let me get this straight. Levi's "Onion Peel" spot by Cutwater, breaking this coming Monday during Gossip Girl, shows the reverse transformation of a corset- and fishnet-wearing supermodel into an average gal in Capital E jeans? I sat through the 90-second Fellini-esque monochrome clip thinking: She dolls it up again at the end ... right? No way. She's beautiful just being herself. Her Levi's-branded self, but it's advertising, after all, and it's about as deep a message as we're likely to get in an apparel spot this year. Um, Levi's ... there is a sequel where she dresses all sexy again, or undresses, which would be even better? ... Right?! ... Here's a spot that Fellini did direct. It's not for jeans, but it should appeal to guys because it's simplistic, colorful and silly. Mmm, yes, that's the stuff. My brain just stopped working. The man was a genius. Bravissimo! —Posted by David Gianatasio |
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Published on August 27, 2008 | Permalink
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Louis Vuitton wages war on peace activist
—Posted by David Griner |
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Published on May 5, 2008 | Permalink
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Keith Richards joins Louis Vuitton campaign
—Posted by Tim Nudd |
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Published on March 5, 2008 | Permalink
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