SS10 VM Geek chic/90's Prep - DKNY, River Island, Topman

Embrace the martian...

More visual trends, this time within the universe of menswear...
I have noticed a strong influence of space and 90s preppy-American, Seattle style space visuals within current visual merchandise.
Places where I have seen the space theme just land are:
Nottingham Contemporary 'Star City Exhibition'
Star Wars X Adidas Collaboration
River Island, Birmingham
Topman, Birmingham
DKNY, Birmingham
3 White Walls Gallery 'Space Lands Exhibition', Birmingham

A key menswear VM trend, from what I saw in Birmingham specifically, orbited around the idea of alien invasion and space theme. The 3 White Walls Gallery was running a great exhibition called 'SPACE LANDS' by Paul Freeman, coincidentally, which I thought had some really nice photographs which could be used (within in-store promotion, lookbooks, VM etc) by brands which are carrying this message.

DKNY were portraying this theme with the words 'Just Landed' used in their shop window. There was a sense of delivery/industry with packages containing clothes, slightly deconstructed and damaged, perhaps dropped of by a couple of fashion conscious aliens (or am I talking out of Uranus!) The use of a green strobe light within the dark back drop looked different but would have been more exciting with several rather than just the one.

River Island.

Topman.
KiD CuDi - Man on the Moon (The Anthem)
Kid CuDi - Enter Galactic

Kid CuDi - My World

KiD CuDi - Embrace The Martian

MORE INTERACTION - Carphone Warehouse, Birmingham

WELCOME. TO. THE. FUTURE.

This advertisement caught my attention because of the use of video animation within an averagely boring, unexciting shop window. Brands using video is becoming more and more frequent as a form of 'conversational marketing' and being more intriguing to the consumer rather than normal, one dimensional, print advertisements. This Carphone Warehouse example was also more interactive becuase of the wording of the promotion ("Touch To Play") and the animation also read "choose the colour of your life" which is also more personal and collaborative with the consumer. How long untill there is video advertising inside magazines/brochures/lookbooks!?
Fashion brands are becoming increasingly video-savvy with the increase of catwalk streaming to their websites/blogs showcasing seasonal catwalks and fashion shows.

The Burberry Autumn Winter 2010 streaming was billed as the world’s first truly global fashion show, taking place on the penultimate day of London Fashion Week, beamed live in 3D to five global cities, and streamed to the rest of the world via 73 websites, including Vogue, Grazia and CNN, which all picked up the video feed in a global simulcast. It was undoubtedly the most widely distributed fashion show a luxury brand has ever staged, potentially reaching an audience of more than 100 million users. (For further reading click here). In a fitting tribute to Mr. McQueen’s futuristic fashion vision from last September, more brands than ever before experimented with live-streaming, digital innovations and new e-commerce models for their Autumn Winter 2010 catwalks, in respect of a true innovator and forward-thinker.

Alexander McQueen digital tribute at OnOff, London. Source: The Business of Fashion

Aspecto, Birmingham

I only realised this chain of stores existed when I came to uni in Nottingham and ever since have become quite a fan. There is a nice mix of clothes and feature some key players within the urban 'progressive streetwear' realm. The Birmingham store sits within the ground floor of the Pavillion which is more well-known for its Disney store and places to eat rather than decent shops... perhaps this reflects Aspecto's brand image of being slightly off-centred and out of the blue!?
I like the way that Barbour is stocked and arranged so tightly amongst streetwear brands such as Money and Stussy and Clarks (classics!) footwear is on show next to Adidas Y-3's, to me this store portrays today's streetwear/urban inspired consumer in the way that there is an unforgiving attitude to collaborating old with new and taking inspiration from past trends and key styles, mixing them up and spitting them out as something fresh and unique. I feel from looking at the type of consumer I see myself aspiring to or within the urban cult there is a stronger sense of individuality and spotaniety in the way in which people dress/express themselves using clothing. There is a clear move away from the stereotypical XXL, big-brand-bling vulagrity and 'cheese' of the 90s (thank god) which can definately be seen within the music. Artists such as 50 Cent, The Game and the whole commercial club-style hip hop icons have slowly deminished and now we are left with the uprise of (what was) the underground of back-pack rap & elctro-hop with artists such as Kid Cudi, J Cole, Drake, Theophilus London and the super-individual characters such as Will.I.am and Kanye West which now inspire the fashion industry more so than ever! It is now cool to be seen in Oxfam or 'vintage shops' or to borrow your Dad's loafers and deck shoes.

A result of styling becoming much more eclectic with a more open sense to what is deemed fashionable/accepted (which is now pretty much anything)... even Jay-Z came out of semi-retirement to rebrand himself from his old image into a more fashion savvy, upmarket, modest fashionista wearing "ALL BLACK EVERYTHING" This shift has seen a gap in the market for stores such as Aspecto and Size? and local inde's to move into, stocking an eclectic mix of classic and fresh streetwear brands.

That was then...

This is NOW...
"Oversize clothes and the chains... we off that" <<(Listen.)

Alife Hi-tops £20!! @ Size, Birmingham

I don't really know what's going on here! I was stunned to find the highly respected, New York streetwear label ALIFE on sale for £20!
(I couldn't take a photograph of the shoes in the store so you will just have to take my word for it). Usually these would be retailed within the region of £100-£150 (RRP) especially this 'all-over' model which is more limited than the standard colourways. http://www.wellgosh.com/acatalog/Alife_Everybody_High_Wine.html

Have Size? Birmingham gone and hired an ex-British banker to mark up their stock?

If you are a fan of the Alife brand or street wear or fancy bagging a bargain or fancy making a cheeky little ebay profit then i definately advise you go down to Size? Birmingham and check out their 'recession-conscious' footwear sale. They also had the other red/white colourway also for £20 and many other big brands such as Pointer, Nike, Clae and Reebok also for around £20-£25. It's a steal!

This can't be good for Alife's brand image within the UK market which it is fairly unkown to, in comparison to the synonymous repect with the brand name in the US. Pricing (supposedly) high end, market leading brands at the same price as Primark can be detrimental to the brand and its price&quality reputation since we tend to always see high price as high quality as consumers. £20 for a pair of Alife trainers isn't speaking true to the brand image or helping it gain the same type of respect that it has across the Atlantic in the US market. I feel that there is real potential for this brand to grow in the UK especially with the growth in retro, ultra-individual, ghetto-chic trends we are currently seeing at the moment especially in streetwear.

> Get Alife here.

Harvey Nichols, Birmingham

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGRxjcsUOro

"When I shop at Harvey Nicks, everyone thinks I'm a star..."

The Birmingham Harvey Nicks is very nice. Set in the stylish and artistic Mailbox, it is clearly the dominant store, the name can be seen across the tall glass windows at the front of the store from well outside the Mailbox. I've only ever been to the London flagship store which I feel does have a better, more eclectic collection, naturally, but the Birmingham store measured far higher in terms of customer service. There was an unexpected welcoming feeling when I entered the store (even had the door opened for me by some meathead in a dapper suit!) and the staff genuinely looked happy to be there, not with "the pretty bird behind the till... flipping through Marie Claire", as picked up by the Mitchell Brothers.

The 'new normal' of retail stores looking to try and sell more of an experience and identity was also evident with the use of catwalk videos being played on wall-mounted monitors. This makes the whole environment feel more personal by increasing the amount of interaction/communication from the store to consumer and is more sophisticated than a standard poster. The Birmingham store was also advertising their exclusive Fashion Show on posters and flyers in-store. The show is on Tuesday 2nd March 2010, from 6.30pm and will begin with a champagne reception followed by a runway featuring the key looks from menswear and womenswear Spring/Summer 2010 collections... Nice little bit of PR and marketing for their SS10 collections. For more info, click here

The choice to put Harvey Nicks in the Mailbox away from the main department store competitor, Selfridges, gives the city a bit more stretch in terms of offering an attraction further outside of the city centre. Also this speaks for the 2 stores with Selfridges and the more youthful, commercial Bullring within the heart of the city centre and Harvey Nichols offering more of a sophisticated and artistic setting within the Mailbox. The Visual Merchandise was looking interesting... it was as if the Chapman Brothers had directed the scenes of deconstruction and mannequin massacre which also rang bells of Victor and Rolf's highly conceptual SS10 womenswear collection. The mannequins were styled to look dismantled and deconstructed within a similar backdrop of chaos with the tables and chairs bent and manipulated. It looked like a bomb had gone off in a 50's style kitchen. The whole construction/deconstruction theme looked emminent in B'ham VM with River Island and the DKNY stores using similar ideas with broken boxes and packages. (Watch out for the blog entry on this stuff later)