American Eagle soars in paradise

Perennial paradise clothing company American Eagle Outfitters is back at it for the summer season.  Their new background is filled with palm trees:

And the images for the clothes and accessories are full of paradise icons:

Adolescents are bombarded with so many of these images.  I won’t even get into the actual model profiles, but it looks [...]

Jumping the fashion shark

Sorry for the post drought.  I am on the second of two trips and also remodeling a small 200-year-old house.  I have been collecting as much as ever, and more posts are on their way.
Luckily, my dear friend Kristin, as she lies in bed healing from surgery, dredged up one of the strangest fashion ads [...]

J.Crew Spring in a Modernist Neutra Setting

J.Crew has taken a strong visual turn with the spring March 2008 catalog:

It’s distinct for its use of landscape architecture and architecture to contrast just a hint of what the model is wearing.  There are no happy, jumpy groups of people (at least on the cover) with white linen jackets in stupid little row boats.  [...]

Chanel Allure Homme Sport vs Perry Ellis 18

Two men’s cologne ads from the same GQ have similar ocean settings but give off totally different images.  First, you have this fluffy escapist one from Perry Ellis 18:

The poor girl looks like she realizes that the fake boyfriend she’s hugging is on the wrong team.  Not again!  Could it be the white drawcord pants [...]

Imperial Junkie ~ jeans for urban paradise?

Nothing says "urban street wear" like a bunch of cliche exotic animals in an ad:

I’m in the bayou.  Oh wait, maybe it’s the jungle.  Or am I in a meadow with my butterfly net?  I’m floating like an imperial junkie.
Ouch!!  The monkey bit me.  Am I wearing women’s jeans?  Oh, look, a pretty Bird of [...]

Are Havaianas flip flops on their way up?

In my rage against sports Crocs in August of last year, I predicted that Havaianas Zori-style sandals would likely to become the summer footwear of choice this year.  The company is certainly slowly pushing their way into the market.  This ad is from the March 2008 issue of Complex:

They’ve got the palm trees, flowers, [...]

Coconuts kill?

This T-shirt popped up this morning:

Duck!
The headine that linked to this was, of course, that "coconuts kill more Americans each year than terrorism."  We must stop the killing.
Of course, the Joel Best publishing through the University of California Press says that they don’t.  Or more precisely: "Do 150 people actually die in this way? It [...]

Monsterhoodies ~ Shark

The following is the fashion equivalent of the Wii Shark Gun:

It’s a sleeve that covers an otherwise perfectly useful tool.  Go ahead.  Bite my head off for saying it.
See them all at Monsterhoodies.com.
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Mitt Romney Meets the Flip Flops

Whether you hate politics or not, you might find it interesting that Tim Russert pulled out a pair of flip flops on camera this weekend while interviewing Mitt Romney and confronted him on some of the issues that he has changed his mind on over the years.  Who knew the beachwear item would end up [...]

Customers who bought Liz Claiborne Curve also bought…

After the last post on Liz Claiborne Curve fragrances, I figured that it was important to delve more into the image of a Curve user.  What better place is there than than the Amazon "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought" section to explore the difference between what the ad tells us to believe about [...]

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