Old Navy "never basic tee" (2016) 1:00 (USA)

What do you get when you add Nasim Pedrad + Rockabilly, Jay Pharoah + Rocker, Kumail Nanjiani + Surfer, Cecily Strong + Hippie and Jay Pharoah + Cowboy? You get a really bad ad with a bunch of borrowed interest and zero idea. Not like Old Navy has ever been known for doing ads that are idea-based, but this one is really weird because it feels like it really wants to be a Gap ad.
What a thing to aspire to.

Parisian Gentleman – Real Heroes (2016) :90 (France)

Parisian Gentleman - Real Heroes (2016) :90 (France)
As I was waiting for the subway the other day I people watched. There was a large man with long stringy poorly dyed black hair, eyeliner, giant boots and a black leather like coat almost touching the ground doing his best death metal look. Several young men in jeans and candy coloured polo shirts. Some kids who dressed as if they belonged in a anime movie. Bearded flannel shirt wearing hipsters. People with white and silver metal sneakers. Sagging adidas pants. Jeans, jeans, and more jeans. And then there was this one man who strolled past me in a perfect fit simple light grey suit, with a great cut, three buttons and two side vents. His perfect blue-grey suede shoes had a colourful stitch to the sole, and his blue-grey suede belt matched this. His tonic tie colours nodded to the same stitch. I was following his walk from one end of the platform to the other before I realized I was staring and looked away. Among a sea of cartoonish fashions, his perfectly tailored spring look stood out like a beacon in the morning commute.

So yes, lets bring back elegance. It’s a rare thing these days. Perfect fools Parisian Gentleman want you to know that the real heroes these days are the elegant people. A rare breed indeed.

Harvey Nichols features 100 year-old model in ad to run in Vogue

This years June issue of Vogue, will celebrate the iconic fashion mag’s 100th birthday. So Harvey Nichols created an ad with Bo Gilbert, who was born in 1916, as their main muse. And she looks fantastic.

Björn Borg "Training for Mars SS16" (2015) 1:00 (Sweden)

Bjo?rn Borg has created an out-of-this-world experience to showcase its SS16 collection of sportswear, swimwear underwear, shoes and more. All on Mars! Okay not really but in a Mars-inspired setting.

Ted Baker "Wonders never cease" (2015) 4:00 (UK)

Every so often I’m a sucker for fashion advertising. And this amazingly bougie piece for Ted Baker is fantastic. The storytelling is so simple and it is shot so beautifully in London’s Natural History Museum. They have created a Ted Baker world, where models appear smart as much as sophisticated, and the clothes fit the surroundings. Thsi is for their FW 15 collection, by the way.

AINZ & TULIPE "Interactive shop window" 2:00 (Japan)

Case study time. Problem: Lots of non Japanese-speaking tourists visit Japan every year. One of the top three souvenirs they purchase is make up. How do you ensure they get the right product?
Through facial recognition technology. Apparently the interactive billboard can tell you are not from Japan and detect your language of preference.

Chanel – Chance Eau Vive / Bowling – The film (2015)

Chanel brings a little glamour to bowling in this ad directed by Jean-Paul Goude. It’s the big Lebowski dream bowling scene meets high fashion, as models bowl away the other old “Chance” fragrances with the new “Chance” fragrance. This is Olivier Polge’s debut perfume, an interpretation on the original Chance, the green spirited scent his father and predecessor, Jacques Polge, made in 2002. Chance Eau Vive has grapefruit-blood orange accords, jasmine and white musk, and the fashionable bowling is meant to show how Chance Eau Vive makes the bowling team with the other Chance scents. Like all fashion ads, it looks great but makes little sense.

Mitchell & Ness "Deon Point" (2015) 1:35 (USA)

Mitchell & Ness created this docuseries for its Hi Crown Fitted line of headwear. In this series, Deon Point, General Manager of Concepts, talks abotu how he likes to wear his hat.

Mitchell & Ness "Russ Bengtson" (2015) 1:35 (USA)

RTO+P creates a docuseries for Mitchell & Ness titled Gentlemen of Streetwear, to promote their Hi Crown Fitted line of headwear. In this one, Russ Bengtson, Senior Editor of Complex Magazine, talks about sports and fashion. All I can think of is this is a grown man wearing a baseball hat every day and I can’t wait for that tread to fall out of fashion already.

adidas Originals "#OriginalSuperstar with Pharrell" (2015) 1:00 (USA)

Recently, adidas Originals dropped a spot featuring a bunch of super star celebs insisting they weren’t superstars. Now adidas Originals brings us a choddy, in which a bunch of superstars tell us they aren’t doing what they do for applause or appraisal but just for themselves alone. Pharrell has handpicked these “superstars,” who each read a line in a manifesto in one long montage. There are some great graphic treatments which keep it visually interesting.

By the way, those stars in question are musician Pusha T, Grigoriy Dobrygin, a Russian actor/director, Yoon, a designer from Japan, VJ Mian, VJ/designer from China and Smithe, a Mexican illustrator. And of course, Pharrell.

The spot is atmospheric, dark and set to the kind of moody orchestral music that feels at home in a Jason Bourne movie. It’s quite a stark contrast between the Originals house party campaign that ran from 2008 till around 2013 or so. Those spots all featured celebrities from all walks of life, too, but they were usually hanging out with cool kids in houses and street corners. And while that campaign was all style and no substance, at least it was fun. It felt like anyone could join in the fun. And the tagline reflected that: Celebrate Originality.

Now it’s as if adidas Originals has gone from being the the center of the party who welcomes all to being this moody kid who sits in a dark corner, holding you at arm’s length, demanding you treat him with Respect™ because he is a Serious Artist™, but don’t start putting expectations on him because he does what he wants, and whatever you do, don’t ever call him a Superstar.™ That’s more like Selfhate Originality.

Target "The perfect swim fit" (2015) 2:36 (USA)

Marie Claire Senior Fashion Editor Zanna Roberts Rassi holds an informal poolside panel with bloggers Nashelly Messina of Fabulatina, Nikki Minton of My Style Diaries, Sarah Boyd of Simply Stylist, and Chantè Burkett of Everything Curvy and Chic. Editor + Influencers = branded content. It’s that simple.

Keds has Taylor Swift as their "Girl power" model in relaunch campaign

Keds footwear brand are relaunching and the star of their “female empowerment” campaign is none other than leggy Taylor Swift.

DSM Dyneema "The Dyneema project" (2015) 1:50 (The Netherlands)

Way back in 1963, a scientist accidentally discovered world’s lightest and strongest fiber. After years of development the fibre is ready to be incorporated in fabrics -and ready to change the world of streetwear, sportswear apparel. This fiber, by the way, has created ultra strong ropes, bulletproof vests, F1 seat belts, America’s Cup yacht sails and even a medical kit.

Amsterdam-based production company, Mike Teevee, has made this teaser film to celebrate this revolutionary product and to try to get premium brands to engage and collaborate with Dyneema. The stunts in this film are genuine demonstrations of Dyneema clothing. No special effects. No fake glass.

I want one of those jackets, man.

Forever 21 Unveils a Giant, Crazy Machine That Re-creates Your Instagram Photos in Thread

If you want to see your next selfie brought to life as a real-time mosaic of moving thread, Forever 21 and Breakfast are happy to help—and the results are pretty stunning.

About a year and half ago, the Los Angeles-based clothing retailer hired the Brooklyn agency to build from scratch a giant, digitally synced adjustable billboard made of cloth, wood and aluminum, to name a few materials—the contraption includes some 200,000 parts, with 6.7 miles of fabric. And now, it’s is ready to launch.

Now through next Tuesday, the machine will be up and running 24 hours a day, rendering versions of Instagram photos hashtagged #F21ThreadScreen while cameras stream it live at f21threadscreen.com—and send users auto-edited clips of their photos being recreated.

Here’s the live stream:

The mechanics alone are wildly inventive, if not borderline insane—6,400 wooden spools feature rainbow ribbons that spin to change among 36 colors, according to computerized directions, with each spool ultimately serving as a single pixel in an 80-by-80 “pixel” image. Ultimately, the renderings themselves are just shy of hypnotizing, with the shifting palettes creating an iridescent effect as the images morph.

“Forever 21 was looking to experiment with something quite different than what they’ve done in the past,” says Breakfast co-founder and chief creative officer Andrew Zolty. “They gave us a rather open brief, and from the start we knew we wanted to build a web-connected experience that anyone could try from anywhere in the world.”

He adds: “We focused on thread, with it being the most basic element of fashion and quite versatile. We also focused on Instagram, as it’s the most artistic/creative of social networks, and Forever 21 has a massive following on there. [With 7.5 million followers, it’s 45th most followed account.] The idea developed from there.”

Here’s the behind-the-scenes video:

In broad terms, it’s familiar territory for Breakfast. Three years ago, the shop built a black-and-white pixel-based street billboard that silhouetted passersby for TNT. It’s also no stranger to building unique hardware with social media tie-ins—it created Instaprint, an event photo booth business that prints Polaroid-style photos based off Instagram hashtags, and offers to hand-craft bigger mosaics out of the individual prints. And in 2014, the shop picked up an Innovation Lion at Cannes for Points, its Internet-smart street sign.

But the F21 machine—11 feet high, 9 feet wide and 3 feet deep, with several times the number of parts in a modern automobile, all custom designed—is its biggest build yet.

“If we designed a car, we could redesign a single part and replace it if necessary,” says Zolty. “With this screen, when a part didn’t turn out quite right, we’d be sitting on 10,000-plus of them most often. You also may not know there is a problem until 5,000 have been installed. Re-creating and installing that part isn’t really an option, so you have to figure out a way? to keep moving forward while also solving the problem.”

Evian partners with Le Slip Français for limited edition collection

Evian and Le Slip Français have partnered for a collaborative pop up collection for babies and grownups alike. Starting this month, the 100% made in France evian X Le Slip Français collection, can be found on Le Slip Français as well as in stores. There you’ll find adult and baby versions of the same T-shirts. I’m a sucker for merchandising. Neat idea.

Levi's "Alicia Keys" (2015) :30 (USA)

Alicia Keys extols the virtues of women being themselves, being badass, and having their own style. As long as they wear Levi’s, that is. This spot is for the women’s collection.

Trussardi Designed These Fashionable Cans and Bottles for Coca-Cola's 100th Birthday

It’s been a full century since Coca-Cola approved the Root Glass Company’s contour bottle design that would become the soft drink brand’s trademark. So, to pat themselves on the back, Coke is teaming up with Italian fashion house Trussardi for a limited-edition collection of stylish aluminum cans and glass bottles.

I hadn’t heard of Trussardi before this, mostly because I don’t have $927 to throw at a leather jacket. But they’re a pretty big deal as far as high-end fashion goes, and have Lady Gaga and Katie Holmes wearing their clothes and designer bags and stuff.

The Trussardi cans will officially be introduced to the world at Expo Milan 2015. Maybe soda bottles aren’t the best case to show off haute couture aesthetics, though, because these designs aren’t any more impressive than the specialty street art/graffiti-inspired stuff Coke has put out in the past.

Maybe if they’d used their Hawaiian shirt pants as inspiration, I’d be more impressed.

Via Design Taxi.



Le Slip Français "Very Love Trip" (2015) 2:50

There’s a French mannequin out there who fell in love with another mannequin who got carted off to L.A. That’s the basis for this case study for Le Slip Français, a French underwear company with the big dream of opening a shop in L.A. On a side note, it’s amazing how many hipsters have discovered underwear. There’s a brand here in L.A. called Me Undies that must spend a shit ton on billboards. Everywhere I look I see their instagrammy images. And that’s just one of like four or five that have popped up all of a sudden.
Sorry, I digress. So in order to generate awareness about Le Slip Français, BETC sent a mannequin on a cross country tour of America until he got to L.A. As he narrates the story you realize in typical french fashion, that the idea of monogamy is a foreign concept but whatever– from New York to Vegas he goes until finally, like all young dumb and naive people, he sets his feet on the grimy syringe-laden shores of Venice Beach.
Oh yeah, all along the way they also had a Kickstarter to raise $30,000 to open a shop. Hopefully it’s not on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, as 30,000 won’t even cover one month’s rent. Should have added an extra “0” to that.
Bonne chance, Monsieur Sous-Vêtements.

Comfyballs – Legalize Comfyballs – (2015) :40 (Norway)

Comfyballs - Legalize Comfyballs - (2015) :40 (Norway)
I should probably have delegated this ad to one of the boys since it’s… all about “the boys”. A small Norwegian startup is making extremely comfortable men’s underwear that hold your hairy space hoppers snug in place, you know so that spunk tanks don’t rattle around like marbles in an oak barrel. From the little I know of the world of giggleberries, comfort in the undercarriage starts with a well designed pair of underwear. However, the young startup has a bit of an issue, they’re “fighting the US Patent office which claims the brand name is indecent (using the word “balls”)” with this campaign. Sales are up, and Comfyballs are hoping to make an appeal at the next junction. So here we have a glorious 2001 homage style close-up on the courage-bags, to celebrate the berries.

If the brand name “comfyballs” is rude, then what was the Axe cleaning campaign?

Fascinating Time-Lapse Videos Show How High-Fashion Retouching Is Really Done

It’s become conventional wisdom that Photoshopping of models creates an impossible standard of beauty. But one retoucher seems inclined to vindicate the process somewhat by peeling back the curtain on what really goes into it.

Rare Digital Art, a firm that’s worked with top fashion magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair and brands like Intermix and Yves St. Laurent, has created three 90-second time-lapse videos to show the painstaking work required to digitally polish a portrait.

The first video is arguably the most dramatic, purporting to capture six hours of retouching. Watch as Elizabeth Moss, Rare’s founder, transforms the model bit by bit, making over her hair, skin, nails, fingers, nails, lips—even straightening her teeth. In the second—covering four hours of work—Moss thickens the model’s hairline, and lightens her eyes (a fate spared the first subject, but only because she was wearing a blindfold). In the third, a mere hour and a half compressed, the model gets a new shape for her face.

The clips make for an impressive display of craft and a clever, lean-in sales pitch for a service that, right or wrong, is tangentially vilified by the popular narrative about positive body image (on which even large consumer brands like Dove are eager to capitalize). Moss tells PetaPixel she made them because “the quality of the other before-and-after retouching videos available online are pretty terrible and not at all representative of what is typically done on high-fashion editorials and campaigns.”

She adds: “With all the talk about Photoshop use or overuse, I thought it would be interesting for people to see how we actually add pores to skin (we do this in the second and third videos, sampled from the girl in the first video).”

On one hand, it’s a little thin to play off what’s essentially an ad for her company as if it’s a public-service announcement in defense of the profession. Adding what might be considered slight imperfections to an image in pursuit of making the whole a more emotionally manipulative facsimile of a real human doesn’t exactly address the core criticism lobbed at excessive retouching—that, in the end, it distorts audiences’ perceptions of themselves, and undermines self-esteem by showcasing ideals that don’ reflect reality. (Then again, when do they ever?)

At the same time, probably by design, much of the work here seems harmless. Who, other than craftspeople, cares if the creatives change the hairstyle, lighting and lipstick color in postproduction rather than in camera? Other aspects do seem more bizarre. Is it really necessary to narrow the third model’s cheeks so she looks more gaunt?

The answer, obviously, is somewhat subjective, and almost irrelevant. Even if it’s worth questioning who gets to make the decisions about what defines beauty, and to challenge them with alternates, those decisions aren’t about representations of truth. They’re about selling fashion products, or selling magazines that are vehicles to sell fashion products.

Even if more and more people acknowledge that, and view media through that filter, appealing to vanity and base desire still seems like a pretty good way to make a buck.