Louis Vuitton window. Hamburg 12/2011. This photo aside from its eye-candy colors and whimsical circus motif flirts a little with the precariousness of brands with consumers. Brazenly, LV as in life, manages the luxury market tightrope, impossibly, in 4 inch heels.
“I love fashion. That’s why I do it. No one is forcing me to do this. And nobody forces anyone to buy it. It’s a real love affair.”
More on Freitag. This is their “How To” use their Leland shopping bag. I think I’m in love with this bag. And the gator. More: http://www.freitag.ch/Fundamentals/Messengers-Classic/LASSIE/pi/F75
Taken at the Freitag store in Hamburg. Display was functional and showcased products while maintaining the aesthetic style of their customer. More: http://freitag.ch/ LOVE this company!
This was taken circa 1929 in Paris by photographer Marius Gravot. The photo is one of a collection entitled Boutiques, 1929 featured at the Eyes on Paris photo exhibition at Deichtor Hallen, Internationale Kunst und Fotografie in Hamburg, Germany.
Sorry to self indulge but I love this! Created by Kimbolt.
Funny, fashion, energy and all the gold paint in London.
VERSACE FOR H&M: BEHIND THE SCENES
What we’d do to be fashion hamsters on Donatella’s golden wheel. What tasks we’d perform! We’d sell our ruddy souls I tell you!
Jason Shoup’s interview with Cricket Vauthier was featured on Pluggio.com and ran September 8-9, 2011.
Interviewer’s Note: We have a special interview with Cricket of ReallyCricket- in two parts! The first part is a discussion of consumerism, what it means, and why it’s important to understand how it impacts society and culture. Tomorrow we will run Part 2, which focuses on social media.
Before we start, can you tell us the story behind your name?
My name is actually Cricket and the idea behind ReallyCricket emerged after years of hearing the response, “Really?” upon being introduced and showing my driver’s license. I also like the double entendre of the phrase “really cricket” referring to something as being the real thing.
Well then, Cricket, what does your business do?
ReallyCricket Consulting works with companies and business owners on retail strategy, marketing, leadership and consumer intelligence.
How did you get into this line of work?
I had an amazing career in department stores like Lord & Taylor, Foley’s, Macy’s and Neiman Marcus for over 20 years as general manager and wanted to use my expertise with others. I like to teach, so it seemed a natural transition. Many times, even within the same organization, another perspective is invaluable in moving business to the next level, whether it’s from merchandise planning, P&L, operations, marketing, customer service and/or talent-development.
How did you use social media in your line of work?
The future of customer-reliant business runs through social media. I spend a lot of time in this area in particular with clients who are just coming on board. I give a lot of talks about CSR, CRM and the changes to the retail industry that are occurring even as we speak.
It seems like a real watershed moment, doesn’t it? Things are so different from what they were just 10 years ago, even less.
Such a pivot hasn’t occurred since the Industrial Revolution. I also teach college courses on consumer culture, history of consumer culture, social media as an emergent media and corporate social responsibility. My tweets serve both sides of retail, business and theoretical.
What is your definition of consumerism?
Consumerism is essentially “grouping and moving”. Social media lends itself to this premise especially. If it can be entertained that we collectively move in the direction of anything, pick one: information, products, ideas or collectively, culture. The using or intake of each of these is a form of consumption. We see the physical effects of product consumption, so it is typically the one that most people latch on to when trying to conceptualize consumption, but information, particularly via social media is consumed voraciously.
Makes sense so far.
Here’s a fun food-for-thought: a principle called Levy Flight which is used to explain the patterns used by foraging animals to select and or abandon food. It uses a form of chaos math, but really it is determined largely on need, want and perceived danger. The herd moves or doesn’t move accordingly. Online activity mimics this as well as consumer traffic to particular brands and stores.
I read something similar in one of Thomas Friedman’s books, where he talked about how investors, globally act as one big herd.
Consumption as we have come to know it is often attributed to the US, but it can be traced to the early Renaissance, with the emergence of greater self-awareness, and it flourished post Protestant Reformation, circa 1517.
Wow!
It’s bigger than Happy Meals and Louboutins.
That certainly puts it in perspective :) You write about consumerism- why the fascination with it?
Consumerism is a cultural by-product of society. Its impact is vast and determines everything from how much we pay for gas to wetland erosion to foreign and domestic policy. Anything made, sold, read, purchased, shipped, shared, worn, recycled, eaten and discarded plays into this. Why one buys this over that, why one perceives one product or brand over another is rolled into this psychology, or sociology, its both really. If I can tweak Descartes; I think, therefore I am, therefore I consume.
http://pluggio.com/blog/2011/09/09/interview-part-ii-cricket-talks-social-media/ Follow Jason on Twitter at @Tweets4SmallBiz
Taken on a ring-road around an aging mall, Valley View in Dallas, TX, this carnival seemed to serve as a parallel to the one it was intended to supplement. In the end, they both drew fewer crowds.
