Tiffany & Co. 'About Love' 2021 : Beyoncé & Jay-Z by Mason Poole

[lucy92]

I dunno how this will turn out for Tiffany seeing as she just dropped her Ivy Park range. They are now in the same conversation with Ivy Park, not an ideal situation for a luxury jewellery brand.
Sure they may get tons of engagement thanks to the fashion line, but how does Tiffany benefit from all this?

Tiffany is now also in the same conversation with Jay Z's new gambling business and Beyonce's soon to be launched CBD line.

All 4 announcements/launches happened this week:

The launch of Jay Z's Fanatics Partnership. Jay Z just applied for a gambling license. The idea is start with sports gambling and then maybe open a casino.
The soft intro to Beyonce's CBD merchandise in Harper's Bazaar (The story mentions she's developing the product. The launch will happen next year)

 

[KoV]

So many business ventures! Celebrity endorsements are only worthwhile, in my eyes, when there's a sense of exclusivity. The more pots they've got their hands in, the more brands they're willing to hawk, the less interested I am and the less value they bring.

Side note: I always find it amusing that so many of the "eat the rich" types turn into "get that bag!" types, when the rich person in question is a celebrity entertainer they like.

 

[WAVES]

I’m not impressed whatsoever but it’s always good to see a Basquiat painting.

 

[mikel]

I don't see any homage to "Breakfast at Tiffany" in this.

The overall campaign might not be a direct Breakfast at Tiffany’s homage, but you can’t deny that Beyoncé’s look is clearly inspired by that movie.

 

[KoV]

I’m not impressed whatsoever but it’s always good to see a Basquiat painting.

It seems there's a bit of backlash already against the use of his painting. Maybe they'll combat it by showing the painting publicly?

 

[aracic]

^Why backlash? It's so ugly. Sticks out like a sore thumb between them, I don't understand its purpose.

 

[lucy92]

^Why backlash? It's so ugly. Sticks out like a sore thumb between them, I don't understand its purpose.

It's purpose is to produce a halo effect over the Tiffany brand and Beyonce/Jayz.

Both Tiffany and Beyonce/Jayz get to associate with a critically acclaimed artist of significant cultural value.

I can see why there would be a backlash if the estate of Basquiat wasn't properly compensated for the license. And it should be reminded his sisters are not wealthy.

The real winner here is the private owner of the artwork (who himself got a separate license fee) and who will flip the artwork down the line.

 

[dior_couture1245]

I hope Beyoncé can have fun again. After Lemonade everything she have done seem so serious. You still can be in power, in control of your image but you still have fun.

I haven’t like Beyoncé since “Dangerously in Love,” tbh for this very reason.

She’s so insufferably serious and stoic…despite being someone who comes across in interviews as having very little, if anything, to say. She’s more a vehicle for other people to use that a visionary creator, herself…that’s my impression.

So, I’m not really about that Bey-hive life where I “YAAAS QUEEN WERK MAMA” her with a sassy finger snap when she so much as blinks.

If this was supposed to be about “Love,” why couldn’t it have been more intimate, charming and loving moments captured of them together. Instead, it’s both of them mean-mugging like bosses on Shark Tank.

 

[Lola701]

It seems there's a bit of backlash already against the use of his painting. Maybe they'll combat it by showing the painting publicly?

I’ve read that it will be displayed in the Tiffany store…

 

[WAVES]

why the backlash? that they’re so filthy rich they own a Basquiat?
thought that was the point of the campaign! to wanting to be like The Carters.
I’d own one too. and a Hockney, a Pollock, a Rego, a Frida Kahlo, a Picasso, a Hopper… I could go on and on…

I read on Twitter that Beyoncé’s the first black woman to wear the Yellow Stone even if that Photoshop here is telling us otherwise
AND
that Tiffany & Co. will donate a 2M$ to scholarships and and programs.

 

[Frederic01]

This is incredibly tacky and cheap looking, let's be honest. For a start, the tuxedo Jay is wearing is poorly constructed and not pressed correctly. (Why is he cosplaying Basquiat here by the way?). Beyonce's dress is so vulgar with those cut-outs at the derriere, it's an insult to the original Givenchy-Hepburn reference.

Secondly, the fact that the Basquiat painting is used as a backdrop is so pretentious and gauche. The fact that LVMH is trying to imply that it was an "homage" is an insult to Basquiat's legacy. I am shocked at what they will stoop to with their marketing to generate clout.

As for the colour of the rare piece of artwork, Alexandre Arnault, Tiffany’s executive vice president of products and communications, told WWD that they believe the use of Tiffany Blue is not a coincidence.

“We don’t have any literature that says [Basquiat] made the painting for Tiffany,” he said before adding “my guess is that the [blue painting] is not by chance”.

Bravo to whoever wrote this on Twitter!

The use of the painting was also declared “tone-deaf” by another person, who added: “Basquiat wasn’t the type of person or artist to approve of his pieces being used in an ad from multiple billionaires (uncontextualised, at that). His art was all about pain and beauty in low places, so, it comes across as a tone-deaf and flippant flex on his legacy.”

Source: independent.co.uk/life-style/jay-z-beyonce-basquiat-tiffany-b1907516/

 

[congacon]

darn this ad fits for selling walmart's jewelry. seriously tiffany doesn't need beyonce. someone likes lupita or charlize theron would do wonder. so cheap.

 

[Phuel]

The use of the painting was also declared “tone-deaf” by another person, who added: “Basquiat wasn’t the type of person or artist to approve of his pieces being used in an ad from multiple billionaires (uncontextualised, at that). His art was all about pain and beauty in low places, so, it comes across as a tone-deaf and flippant flex on his legacy.”

Source: independent.co.uk/life-style/jay-z-beyonce-basquiat-tiffany-b1907516/

OMG I can't LOOOL

Really didn’t want to say anything about this campaign, cuz frankly— it’s so predictably, straightup messy, tacky AF. But that’s always been my opinion of Beyonce.

However, to accuse them of somehow desecrating Basquiat’s work by flexing it alongside their billionaire selves in the most bourgeoisie of brands is hilariously clueless, and absolutely feeds into this silly notion that artists are somehow beyond reproach and deify as demigods above mere mortal and material longings, when they're anything but that. And especially Basquiat.

Basquiat himself was slyly aware of how he was exploited by the gallery owners as some primitive, naive and ingenue out of their white saviour complex— and he gleefully played along and took advantage of these opportunities. He was hardly naive to art history since his mother had exposed him to fine art since he was little. Like every creative that came up through the 80s— including his ex Madonna, they exploited every opportunity to be famous, and for fortune. Once he was accepted into the art world, he was wearing Armani and Comme, and collaborating with Warhol. Hardly the stuff of "pain and beauty in low places” LOOL And I have no doubt he would have collaborated with Tiffany had he been presented the offer. This silly myth that he would have resisted showing his painting alongside the Carters/Tiffany is so naive I can’t even keep my eyes from rolling so far behind my head. Get real. He was a smart and astute opportunist that pined for fame and fortune— and Armani and Comme (… and Madonna), like any of us.

 

[Summer Day]

Not sure why this campaign has elicited this much hate. I don’t find it to be a bad campaign at all.

 

[YohjiAddict]

At one point Basquiat was so synonymous with the art-gallery-chic style that he walked the Homme Plus show, he was the pop-star of the art world and cashed in on that. I agree that he was well aware of the art world as a money-making machine and his relationship with Warhol tells it very clearly. I think it's tacky to use a painting as a backdrop in this particular campaign, weirdly it does work when Vuitton uses the Louvre galleries as a backdrop for their shows even though they're very similar tactics.

 

[Ivancica]

I expected tacky.
I got tacky.
So there should be no disappointments here.
And yet...

 

[Lola701]

Not sure why this campaign has elicited this much hate. I don’t find it to be a bad campaign at all.

I think it has more to do with the people starring in it than the campaign itself for a lot of people.

They represents the incursion of the world of Hip-Hop in this big American institution and people are still uncomfortable with this idea. He is a rapper and her an R&B singer…And they are mainstream. A lot of people (me included sometimes) don’t like the idea of mainstream in fashion.
There’s no outrage when Alicia Vikander becomes the face of Vuitton…Nobody knows her despite her success.

And I think also a lot of people don’t like their narrative of a « Power Couple » in music…Even if it wasn’t created by them, they embodied that.
Overall, it’s mostly classist.

But I don’t think any campaign for Tiffany or any jewelry brand has generated so much conversation. The campaign itself is disappointing but having those two together is a great idea.

I must admit this campaign made me go to their website. I have some Elsa Perretti stuff but for me, Tiffany is about good everyday jewelry and Elsa Perretti…But it’s also a very « American brand » that I’m only interested in when I’m in the US.

But back to the campaign, Thank god it’s not the Kardashian/Jenner..(see, I’m being classist here)!

 

[tigerrouge]

This looks like a story about material possessions being no substitute for real love.

 

[velvetandsilk]

Secondly, the fact that the Basquiat painting is used as a backdrop is so pretentious and gauche. The fact that LVMH is trying to imply that it was an "homage" is an insult to Basquiat's legacy. I am shocked at what they will stoop to with their marketing to generate clout.

IMO is new marketing strategy -jewellery and art/ important NYC persons.
Equals pi will eventually be displayed in Tiffany’s flagship boutique on Fifth Avenue, which is currently undergoing renovation, Arnault told WWD. Several sources told Artnet News the painting most recently sold to the Arnault family (Alexandre is the son of LVMH chairman and mega-art collector Bernard Arnault) for a price in the range of $15 million to $20 million. A representative for LVMH did not immediately respond to Artnet News’s request for comment.


Although WWD reported the painting had never been seen before, it isn’t entirely unknown to the art world or market. According to the Artnet Price Database, the painting was offered at Sotheby’s London in June 1990, just two years after the artist’s death at age 27, with an estimate of £180,000 to £250,000 (about $300,000 to $420,000) but failed to sell. (Anyone considering making the purchase at the time who is familiar with Basquiat’s current auction prices is likely kicking themselves over that one.)


Six years later, the blue canvas came to auction again, also at Sotheby’s London, this time with a significantly lower estimate of £100,000 to £140,000 ($170,000 to $235,500). It sold for £155,500 ($253,000).


It didn’t take long for Twitter sleuths like Greg Allen to track down the work’s most recent previous owner: the Sabbadini family, a Milan-based clan behind the eponymous jewelry house. A 2018 feature in W magazine shows mother and daughter Stefania and Micól Sabbadini posing in front of the painting, which hangs above their sofa.


Basquiat’s auction record currently stands at $110.5 million, set at Sotheby’s in spring 2017. Bernard Arnault, one of the top contemporary art collectors in the world, staged a widely lauded retrospective of Basquiat’s work at his Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in late 2019.
news.artnet.com

 

[velvetandsilk]

I think they were going for Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast in Tiffany’s.

Tiffany is putting major firepower behind the yearlong campaign featuring the Carters, which includes a short film that depicts Beyoncé singing “Moon River” to her husband.
wwd.com