Phuel
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 18, 2010
- Messages
- 5,760
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Back then, dismissing Frida’s as Zara was just an insult for her lack of originality, when the truth was her quality was never Zara-level. As separates, Frida’s offerings were very solid: Nothing innovative of course, just commercial but still very high-end, even high fashion standards; I’ll take Lola’s word that Frida's pants were… utter pants. Frida just never had the masterclass storyteller vision of Tom to present a tightly edited collection on runway and for campaigns: She was always just following the mood of the moment, and unfortunately by her time, decadent glam was falling out of flavor.
Her campaigns brought that OTT glam and smoulder that unfortunately by the time, had become oversaturated, overdone and frankly, taken for granted because normcore and clownwear had begin infesting fashiondom. Whether her sort of aesthetic is your personal preference or not, it takes skills and experience to produce. That it was Mert & Marcus overchoppping the imagery of an already 5’11 and size 0 woman to unreal proportions was typical of that era in high fashion. But that was just it; high fashion imagery were meant to be unattainable-- where everything was so unreal, surreal with standards so high that it was bound to topple like the fashion equivalent of the Tower of Babel. And here is this 2024 Gucci, the epitome of the lowest standards of not giving a creative fcuk-- and every look, and every design has already been done by Zara LOL Even model agencies’ digitals back in Frida’s days would reject these shots of utterly unenthused faces, blatantly looking like they’d rather be anywhere else but sitting for one of the biggest brands in the world. This is the most entry-level product shoot that any junior photographer is qualified for.
Nowadays, I will gladly take Frida and Mert & Marcus’ standards anytime, anywhere, anyday. There’s no joy, no attitude, no story, no distinction, not a whiff of personality, and nothing covetable to this sad campaign. WIth these bluechip brands in 2024, corporate meddling has a lot to do with why they’re so pathetically generic. The marketing department these days are dominated with the most basic types— and the basics will only ever hire other basics (even with lead of recruitments’ recommendations of someone with a tad of creative ambition being override), so the result is a hivemind of basics implementing their demands with the bland branding— or more specifically, the pathetic marketing phenomenon that is blanding. The mandated headcount is the least of its issue.
Her campaigns brought that OTT glam and smoulder that unfortunately by the time, had become oversaturated, overdone and frankly, taken for granted because normcore and clownwear had begin infesting fashiondom. Whether her sort of aesthetic is your personal preference or not, it takes skills and experience to produce. That it was Mert & Marcus overchoppping the imagery of an already 5’11 and size 0 woman to unreal proportions was typical of that era in high fashion. But that was just it; high fashion imagery were meant to be unattainable-- where everything was so unreal, surreal with standards so high that it was bound to topple like the fashion equivalent of the Tower of Babel. And here is this 2024 Gucci, the epitome of the lowest standards of not giving a creative fcuk-- and every look, and every design has already been done by Zara LOL Even model agencies’ digitals back in Frida’s days would reject these shots of utterly unenthused faces, blatantly looking like they’d rather be anywhere else but sitting for one of the biggest brands in the world. This is the most entry-level product shoot that any junior photographer is qualified for.
Nowadays, I will gladly take Frida and Mert & Marcus’ standards anytime, anywhere, anyday. There’s no joy, no attitude, no story, no distinction, not a whiff of personality, and nothing covetable to this sad campaign. WIth these bluechip brands in 2024, corporate meddling has a lot to do with why they’re so pathetically generic. The marketing department these days are dominated with the most basic types— and the basics will only ever hire other basics (even with lead of recruitments’ recommendations of someone with a tad of creative ambition being override), so the result is a hivemind of basics implementing their demands with the bland branding— or more specifically, the pathetic marketing phenomenon that is blanding. The mandated headcount is the least of its issue.
