London's Attractive Shop/ Window Displays

I went in to Central London today shopping and it never fails to amaze me how aesthetically pleasing the window displays look, particularly around Christmas time. As shown below Harvey Nichols especially caught my eye with it's disco themed window display. The outside of the building was covered in these colourful, shiny circular things which were attached to a small hook (as shown in the image on the right). I had never seen anything like this before and I found it so amazing to think of the time and effort that went in to decorating this. While I was taking these photos a shop assistant was hooking more of the circle decorations on to the building replacing ones that had been taken off. This evidently shows the absolute effort that went in to this and that goes in to shops and their window displays in general.

 Their actual window displays were as amazing and I found the present display (on the right) very good. It was boxes of their products stacked in a way with a massive ribbon prop to look like a massive present. I thought this was a clever idea and it certainly caught my eye.




As I walked past Alberta Ferretti in Belgravia, London I was stunned by their window display. It looked so classy and in general aesthetically pleasing and this matches the brand's image perfectly. I liked the fact that it only had two manikins wearing the same shade of green dresses in the centre of the display so it does not look over crowding and cluttered. The actual display behind it gives something unique to it so the manikins stand out and this display would attract people to go in to the shop without having to have lots of their products on display.

I was walking in Brompton, London and saw the Emporio Armani store across the road. Immediately it caught my eye because of the eagle logo that was designed lit up going across the outside of the store. I thought this was a very clever idea and it makes the shop look very prestige and classy which matches with the brand name well.

Summative Brief Task 2..

My rough notes

The next part of my project was based on cultural communication. It was looking at 3 ways that fur is used beyond just in fashion clothing but in a broader creative context. I chose cosy interiors, vehicle products and fur print designs. I researched these and then wrote a comparison of these also. I found this task more challenging than the previous tasks as even though fur is used in many non-fashion things, actually choosing which images are most appropriate to compare took me a while to decide.

Task 2b - The broader cultural contexts

This task involved me analysing fur against its broarder cultural contexts. As shown above I made notes on what I was going to research and what the results of this were. Overall I researched and explained how fur clothing has changed and developed throughout the years. I chose to look at fur in the 20's, 70's and 00's. It was interesting discovering who wore fur before compared to today and the reasons for this. I included images of this and wrote a comparison and explanation for this also.

The Thin Line of Eye Shadow Extremes

As a lover of make up I am constantly watching online make up tutorials. I find it so fun discovering new techniques and make up ideas from others that I can try out to see if it suits me. One main thing I have been focusing on improving my make up technique with is eye shadow. While looking through magazines or watching TV I always find that good eye shadow makes people look so amazing and really makes people's eyes stand out. However, from watching these tutorials it is evident that there is a thin line between eye shadow looking good and classy, and it looking way too extreme/ over the top.

https://www.pinterest.com/explore/navy-makeup/

However, extreme, over the top eye shadow is often used in advertisements for eye shadows or even other non make up related things. This is to get people's attention and it makes the advertisements look unique.

babushanaraen.wordpress.com

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/432486370445922834/

These are two examples of random advertisements and modelling shoots involving these extreme eye shadows. I think even though I would not wear my make up like this going out, but it does present the colours that are being sold well. The bottom image 'True Colors' in particular does this well as the colours look very attractive and the way they have been blended in together shows how the different colours do match well together, without having to show it literally only on the eye lids but instead across the face.

Adidas Fights Back

Over the past few years Adidas had faded out considerably and its competitor 'Nike' sales had taken off dramatically. However, Adidas has come back fighting and particularly within recent months it has become a popular brand to be wearing today. The three stripes is yet again back on trend with people particularly wearing the original black Adidas jackets and the Superstar trainers.
I found it interesting noticing this difference as this time last year everybody at my college was wearing Nike Air Max trainers, whereas, at uni before the holidays it was clear that people were mostly wearing Adidas trainers instead. This may be due to the fact Kanye West left Nike for Adidas to create the Yeezy Project collaboration. However, it is questionable whether this is enough to keep Adidas' name on trend or whether this is just a temporary 'in the moment' thing for Adidas.
It is also interesting because this come back for Adidas is another example of the fashion cycle. In the 90's Adidas was a popular brand and as a young child I owned adidas shoes and clothing. However, as I got older and particularly the last couple years I have been loyal to Nike only buying my sportswear from them, but this changed last month when I bought myself an original black Adidas jacket and Original Superstar trainers.
I think the difference between Nike and Adidas trainers is Nike are more for sportswear (whilst doing exercise) whereas Adidas I would wear more as a fashion item. This is because Nike are more exercise appropriate as they are lightweight and have better support for it whilst Adidas have a flat sole.

Summative Brief Work Begins..

The images above show the first part for my summative brief work. For the first task I had to find two different images of fur advertisement campaigns from different market levels. I chose images from Bally, a couture market level store and Topshop, a mass market store. It took me quite a long time to actually find the images to compare because I wanted to make sure they were different images but with some similarities that I would be able to link them together.



Similarly, the next task involved me comparing two images of visual merchandise from different market levels also. I chose to compare the window displays of John Lewis and Bergdorf Goodman. Yet again I did spent more time choosing the images to compare than the actual comparison but this was because I wanted to make sure I had valid things to compare.

STYLES' NEW STYLE OF FLORAL CONTINUES

www.mirror.co.uk

www.mirror.co.uk

Yet again Harry Styles was seen wearing a floral 'curtain looking' suit at the X Factor Final at the weekend. He certainly stood out from the rest of the boys wearing red floral wide trousers with a blazer and black shirt. Although many people have been giving Styles jokingly negative opinions of this comparing them to granny curtains, the floral print is definitely catching on in menswear.

Men floral coats, shirts, ties, trousers, shoes and other accessories have become fashionably acceptable for men to wear as they are selling out in many shops including on ASOS. Perhaps Harry Styles' fashion choices have become an inspiration for menswear and all joking aside of people's comments referring it to curtains, maybe men do like this new floral trend!

adamsapplelist.com

My First Summative Brief!

As part of my FCP course we have been given our first Summative Brief.

My project is based on fur so I will be researching lots on fur and the trends related to it.

The brief will involve me blogging updates of what I have found out and done as I go along, so you can keep updated if you are interested!

PANDORA CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

As I was driving through London on my way back to Nottingham I was looking at all the Christmas decorations and one thing in particular stood out for me. I noticed there were a strip of trees along the length of a road with lights and a lit up 'Pandora' name. I thought this was a attractive yet clever form of advertisement for Pandora as it caught my attention and would make the name known to encourage more people to visit the store close by. 

This is especially clever to have in a large city like London as everyday there are millions of people in town, either walking or in a vehicle, so it would be seen by a huge number of people. London is known for having amazing Christmas decorations so I liked the fact Pandora took advantage of this idea of using Christmas lights to promote their brand.

OLD SCHOOL FASHION IS BACK

A number of people, myself included have admitted to wearing their parents jackets from 20 years ago. This was brought to my attention partly after reading in the Daily Mail that David Beckham embarrassed his son online revealing the 16 year old borrows his clothes. Brooklyn had posted a selfie with the caption 'rocking the old school Ralph Lauren' to which his dad commented, 'That's my jumper'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I found this story amusing as I have started borrowing some of my dad's old jackets including his oversized denim jacket which he bought over 20 years ago. My sister also borrows our dad's jacket and she wore it so much she went out and bought one very like it for herself, which suited me so I can wear my dad's jacket more without fighting over it. It was ironic when I came home and met up with some of my friends who also admitted to be wearing their dad's jackets from many years ago.

This is a clear representation of the fashion cycle of how fashion trends come in and out of fashion frequently.