I recently met with the lovely Leon Bailey Green. He is an online marketing and branding consultant. He is also the director of marketing for OSOYOU.
OSOYOU is one stop shop which helps shoppers navigate their way round the internet. If you’re looking for a little black dress OSOYOU is going to give you a selection from many different shops - my search results gave me “18,947 items “! Of course this is a lot of dresses but it’s really only about 30 pages and I could have refined my search. So really it’s just not a lot of click-throughs to find the perfect dress!
Dawn Bebe is the Managing Director of OSOYOU and if it wasn’t for her and all her persistence and hard work we would not have Grazia!! She’s responsible for bringing Grazia to the UK! It’s one of my favourite weekly reads
Cyprus Crocs are the focus of their new ad campaign “What a Croc!” I laughed when I saw the ad. It’s great to see humour in advertising. I didn’t really like the original Crocs. I like comfortable shoes but there is a line I just can’t seem to cross. Anyway it’s likely that this ad campaign can turn Crocs into a fashion brand rather than just a trend.
The company was founded in 1999 and changed its name to Crocs, Inc. in 2005. It’s based in Niwot, Colorado and has 29 shops and 174 retail kiosks world wide. They sold 50 million pairs of Crocs around the world in 2007 - pretty good for a trend!
It was great to run into one of my favourite Hannah’s - Hannah Almassi from Grazia!
A press day is when a PR presents the new collection to editors and stylists. Most PRs carry more than one brand and some brands are done in house. During the press day you can create a list of the clothes you’d like to feature in your up coming shoots for the next season. Everything we are looking at is autumn/winter 08. This might be the only time the pr has the whole collection in their showroom, as the clothes will always be coming and going to different shoots. For the higher end brands usually there are no duplicates so the one collection is shipped all over the world and used by all the magazines worldwide etc. Some brand have a press office in Europe and North American, they might even have variations in the collection to suit the different markets.
It’s the prs job to get the garment as much press as possible - but not just any press. I don’t really believe that all press is good press. Every brand has a list of preferred magazines & types of celebrities that it wants to be associated with, but of course many brands/prs can be very accommodating.
At these events there is always lots of chocolates and delicious things to nibble on! I may have had one to many flake bars…
This was Vivienne Westwood’s first show in London in 9 years. There maybe many reasons for her showing in London but maybe one of the strongest reason is to speak out and create action in the UK about the 277 prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. plans to prosecute Guantanamo Bay prisoners at military tribunals. “Fair trial my arse” were the sentiments of the show: the slogan was printed on a pair of “prison” orange knickers worn by one of the models. It’s refreshing to go to show that mixes fashion and politics. We forget how powerful fashion can be - as an organization - it doesn’t mean we all have the same political views just because we’re in the same industry but it does mean that we have a bigger voice then we think we have and we shouldn’t be afraid to use it.
Her information pack contains information petitions and charitable donation to support “Fair Trial My Arse” you can go to www.reprieve.org.uk.
For some reason I’ve starting thinking of Constance Lytton - my mind wonders… Anyway Constance Lytton was born in 1869 to a privileged family: Robert, the first Earl of Lytton and Edith Villiers. In 1908 Constance Lytton joined the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and in 1909 she took part in a demonstration at the House of Commons where she was arrested and imprisoned. As soon as the authorities realized who she was, she was released, she was angry that she was given special treatment so she disguised herself and took a new identity: Jane Wharton, a London seamstress. At another demonstration Constance (Jane) was arrested and this time sentenced to fourteen days and when she refused to eat she was forced fed eight times. Again Constance was released when the authorities realized who she was. Constance wrote articles and pamphlets on women’s rights for the WSPU and wrote a book on her experiences in the suffragette movement called Prisons and Prisoners. I really admire Constance Lytton, she used her social position to change the world she lived in and maybe somehow that makes me think of Vivienne Westwood. There are very few people in this world who really say and do what they think and they know it’s not without repercussions but they know it’s the right thing to do and they do it.
I love seeing the crowds at shows! (This is the same venue as Basso and Brook)
Sophie Ellis Bextor and Richard Jones
Amechi Ihenacho looking quite dashing with his lovely sister!
The lovely Hannah Almassi from Grazia.
I have always been a fan of big hair and this season we’ve seen lots & lots of crimped hair!
Yummy fashion! Cadbury has hosted a Chocolate Couture Collection, complete with fashion show, for the last few years. Click on the picture above for a link to the latest collection. I’d feel bad wearing any of this after inevitably eating my buttons…
Louis Vuitton won their lawsuit regarding the Britney Spears’ 2005 video for “Do Something” for the use of Louis Vuitton’s “Cherry Blossoms” design on the dashboard of the Hummer in the video. Britney Spears herself wasn’t found guilty, but Sony BMG and MTV Online were ordered to stop broadcasting the video, and were fined 80,000 euros (USD$117,000).
First of all, let me just say it again: counterfeits and fakes are just wrong. A big question for fashion and prop stylists is what can and can’t you use in a video or advertising? If Britney was carrying an authentic Louis Vuitton bag in a video would that be ok? It’s all about marketing and product placement.
I’m always happy when I see a great collaboration and I really hate when I see a partnership just for the sake of marketing. There’s something lazy & ugly about it. I had a blue LeSportsac in high school and it wasn’t fashionable: just very lightweight & practical with lots of pockets & zippers. I’m still partial to lightweight bags. Most people don’t realize how luggage obsessed fashion stylists really are. I usually have lots of cases for a shoot, so for work I never, ever get to travel light. LeSportsac is collaborating with PETA-friendly designer Stella McCartney and the results are great! I saw the collection at the press day in London. This is the “Editor Bag,” designed for the fashionistas at fashion week. It’s lightweight (of course) and has room for magazines and press releases and there is even a special inside pocket for a can of diet coke! Most of the colours are soft and pretty with the exception of the Evil Bunny Rucksack! Naturally it’s a big seller in Japan!!
I had to take a picture of Elizabeth Kiester, the Chief Creative Director for LeSportsac. She’s just arrived from New York and looks amazing! A true fashionista!
ABC has it’s own YouTube page, which features among other things Mika’s promo music video for Ugly Betty. The whole marketing strategy is a fusion between TV, Internet and fashion and it actually seems to work!
Here’s the 30 second promo version:
…here’s the full promo version:
…and finally here’s the actual music video version:
