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.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on November 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2)
Filed under Cullers, Europe, Fashion, Lego

Is Lego promoting 'outdated gender roles'?

Over in Sweden, Lego has been accused of sexist advertising toward children. The country's Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising (ERK) has cried foul over Lego catalog ads that show a girl in a pink room playing with a castle and ponies and a boy in a blue room playing with fire trucks and a fire station. ERK says this use of pink and blue constitutes a form of gender stereotyping that's degrading to both men and women. Lego defended the images, saying that boys and girls are seen playing together elsewhere in the catalog. Two U.S. sites, Parent Dish and Mom Logic, have also gotten uppity over the ads. What I don't get is how some people think the fairly recent, 20th-century concept of assigning pink to girls and blue to boys is an old-fashioned gender stereotype. Doesn't something have to fall out of fashion before it's considered "old-fashioned"? Maybe someday we'll return to the Little Lord Fauntleroy style of the late 1800s, where small boys wore lacy collars and little velvet suits and had long curly hair. Until then, Lego might avoid the issue altogether by sticking to a nice, environmentally fashionable green.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Published on October 27, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Controversy, Cullers, Lego