2/3
DO YOU FIT THEIR MOULD?
4/5
HIGH ROLLER
6/7
INFLUENCE
8
LOUIS VUITTON
9
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE FREE
10/11
CONSUME
12/13
THE FINAL CUT
14
GUCCI
15
SHE DINES WITH THE NIGHT STARS
16/17
CLAIM BACK YOUR INDIVIDUALITY
18/19
VALUES OF YOUR BRAND
20/21
REFRESH RATHER THAN CONSUME
22
THE BIG IDEA
24
CONTRIBUTORS
Brands are trying to cultivate your loyalty, Millennials are the ones to cultivate but the boomers are the ones with greater spending impact in the market place right now. Brands are so focused on millennials that they are risking disenfranchising many of their loyal, boomer customers. But realistically you’re going to be the future boomers, with greater disposable income, and at that stage you’ll already be 24 Gucci bags in and craving your next fix. The way in which luxury brands are presented to us, draped onto celebrities and enjoyed by the rich, makes a luxury wardrobe visual evidence for success. Brands do this strategically they make you into a ‘striver’, a survey carried out by Agility PR discovered 57% of 18-
34-year olds are strivers; striving to be part of this community that shows success by what they wear. Brands won’t make it easy for you, their higher price points mean you must have high income to be able to endorse a brand. Therefore, most don’t have the choice but to strive to buy into the brand; and those who already have the option to be able to afford it are simply striving to purchase the more expensive items; to represent their so called ‘success’. You’re being trapped into striving to enter a community which will never deem to fill your desire of portraying that you’re ‘more’ than your counterparts, where does it really end. Are you being exclusive by buying into a brand? or joining a community with a vicious cycle?
Be a shepherd, not a sheep, baa.
THEY MUST BE
The Dotmasters are a London creative collective, led by Leon Seesix, with a rich body of work that has developed from his initial graffiti painted on the streets of Brighton in the early ’90s. They take a sideways look at a populist media with a typically British sense of humour. His work is impeccably detailed – halftone, stark black and white street works contrast with photo-real stencils. The work featured here titled ‘High Roller’ depicts a Gucci shopping bag, discarded and covered in red ink. The street pieces, which have now been converted into prints, were found around areas of flytipping and trash around East London. The placement entails two concepts. The first being, the other end of the consumption chain, placed in locations alongside trash is there really any
difference when fashion items, and other ‘consumable’ products all end up in landfill once they become irrelevant. The second being the way in which different people perceive different goods, one person’s high-end fashion is another’s trash, in a world that is so saturated in consumption are the lines between rubbish and high end blurred? Is there room for difference when production causes such a detrimental effect on our surroundings, socially and environmentally. Over the years, The Dotmasters output has included fashion ranges, soft furnishings and toys, as well as a growing catalogue of large-scale murals and citywide interventions. He exhibits internationally in locations as diverse as Miami, Dubai, Morocco and Tokyo, as well as across the UK.
Yes, you can have a job through posting on Instagram, a social media influencer is a user on social media who has established credibility in a specific industry or specialise in knowledge on a particular subject. A social media influencer has access to a large audience/has a substantial following and can persuade others by creating an impression on their followers. Around 3.028 Billion people actively use social media - that’s 40% of the world’s population. Inevitably these people look up to influencers in social media to guide them with their decision making, whether that be what to cook or what new makeup to buy or what is the latest seasons must haves. According to ‘Hubspot data’, 71% of people are more likely to make
a purchase online if the product or service comes recommended by others. This may be driven by millennials inherent distrust of brands and traditional advertising. They simply tend to believe what their peers say, seek their opinions and often validation, but in the case of social media, access into influencers lives can be so intense they appear to become peers. People with around 250,000 followers can be given anything of £3,000+ per post, as well as normally receiving the promoted product from the brand they are promoting. So if you have a big following, want free designer items and can make yourself seem like you live a brands ideal of a person rather than your own moral values, get posting now!
DO YOU LIKE MY PURSE?
Be broke, for
The Fashion and Leather Goods business group includes Louis Vuitton, the world’s leading luxury brand, Christian Dior, Fendi, Loewe, Céline, Kenzo, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, Thomas Pink, Pucci, Berluti, Rossimoda, Loro Piana, Rimowa and Nicholas Kirkwood. This exceptional group of brands, born in Europe and the United States, has 1,769 stores around the world. LVMH supports the growth of these brands by providing them with shared resources, while at the same time respecting their identity. In 2017, the Fashion and Leather Goods business group posted revenue of 15.472 million euros. Realistically when majority of the designers in the world are being controlled by one organisation, that ‘shares resources’ is it worth
spending your hard earning cash on a particular brand, when a cheaper alternative has been made in the same place by the same people. On average in 2017, the year that LVMH made €15.5 million, the UK wage was £27,271. It raises a question that, should you be paying money you’ve worked hard for a label, over another label; that came from under the same roof. Purely for the image that comes with that brand, for that season anyway.
Consume is a pop art series that is a biting satirical take on pop culture, politics and products with a blunt social commentary on greed, corruption, narcissism, materialism, consumerism, hatred & bigotry. The artist here has taken into consideration different elements of society that he finds to be tainting the way that society functions. These traits act as a taint onto the way in which we communicate with each other and see each other due to the perception of the way that a person’s image is built, though not only their personality attributes but also their image they create. Yet they are the values that allow high end fashion to be able to retain their business and grow as companies.
Through pop culture, consumerism and materialism, brands are presented in being linked to particular celebrities and therefore the lifestyle that they live, through a purchase of an item of that brand, you can tap into that lifestyle momentarily. As depicted in the piece, the cover is iconic with the audience of pop-culture, as is the glamourous lifestyle that is associated with the particular cover person. A lifestyle which anyone from that following can instantly link to particular super luxury products. The work captures the visual links that can be instantly made from simply viewing a ‘iconic’ pop figure to the idolisation and aspiration of endorsing brands at the same level.
BREAK THE INTERNET
The upmarket clothing line, Burberry, famous for its checked design, has destroyed £90m worth of products in the past five years. £28.3 Million of which this year alone, to align their new product range with their new rebrand, and not allow space for counterfeits. In the case of Burberry, trademark items from coats and bags to perfume are frequently incinerated, although the company insists the procedure is done with specialist incinerators that harness the energy from the process. But is it considered the waste of time, energy and resources that the products took to produce in the first place, simply to be incinerated? Other brands also dispose of their excess stock, anything that is deemed ‘unsellable’; but not
because of their incapability to add an extra layer and offer warmth, but because they style isn’t relevant for ‘the trend’. “During my brief tenure as an Urban Outfitters sales associate in 2013, employees were required to destroy “dime-outs,” the company’s term for merchandise that didn’t sell. My then-boyfriend, who also worked at Urban Outfitters at the time, told me he was regularly instructed to drill holes in unsold vinyl records, pour green paint on unsold Toms shoes, and that he once destroyed a couch that was deemed unsellable.” It isn’t just the high-end brands who endorse this practice, they’re just the ones that waste the most valued products for no reason, that supposedly have their mark-up due to ‘quality’.
YOU LOOK LIKE A RIGHT
Thanks it’s,
Rachel Victoria, 2018.
She dines with the night stars, Nothing less, She’ll never go back down to Earth. Burberry, Her best friend, Never a miss. Her eloquent chequered Statement, Makes Burberry all the reason to Be seen with, More than an acquaintance. And as she bathes in honey She can’t taste the sweetness on Her lips But what does it matter if you Can’t taste? When Yves Saint Laurent Kisses you. Her Luxurious pink nude leaves Her stain on the night,
A mouth you can not forget. Yves Saint Laurent makes the Perfect lover, To have on her lips. And as she nearly drifts to sleep, She realises she doesn’t want to Be alone, And no other man compares To Calvin Klein. She wants to wear him, All night long. His bold name Everyone knows So much pride comes with feeling Him on your skin, And that is why She only dines with the night Stars.
If you think about the clothes you wear, what do they say about you, isn’t that why you purchase into brands in the first place? To say something about yourself? Make your own brand from a collection of your own signature pieces. Fashion brands create fashion based on couture ideas, which are then translated into garments which are embellished with logos and prints. Before these stages they garment are still are telling the story the designer wants, are you buying a piece that outputs a view of your choices to a larger social environment or are you buying a piece that has a logo. These are different, if you want to claim back the style to visually encompass your identity learn about materials, colour and shape.
What works? Cultivate the mind of thee brands and use it to your advantage! There is no need to spend a tonne to be stylish. Through buying into these brands you’re promoting the ideals they present, that a consumer of luxury can only be those with a lifestyle that matches, the materials and energy should be used to create garments… to be burnt. Surely creating looks that work for you represents a lifestyle choice much more than joining a community of mass-produced ready-made ‘exclusive’ fashion. Can you really say much about yourself and your identity when it is decided by companies making €15.5 million a year for the pleasure to decide it for you.
Before you revamp your style, sort through your clothes and try on some items. To play with different looks, try pairing your favourite garments with other items you typically wouldn’t try. Why just fit into one category for a few weeks, and then be ‘forced’ to change it once the next seasons new looks come out? Invest in timeless pieces, most designer fashion are statement pieces, that only make a particular statement for a limited amount of time, before being deemed irrelevant. Investing in staple pieces will allow you to experiment with different looks with clothes you already own, which can be changed to fit in with what the current trends, if that’s your thing. If you are going to be part of a high end fashion community, why not consider purchasing into a brand that do not discard consumers for not being a particular social status,
size, look, or part of a particular lifestyle. Many fashion brands have begun to think into the way their clothing is produced and perceived by the public, as the consumer has begun to become more inquisitive to the social environmental factors their fashion has. We encourage everyone to ask more questions about the social and environmental impacts of the clothes you want to buy when you’re out shopping. Get into the habit! Educate yourself before you hit the shops. Research the brands and products you might want to buy before you go shopping. Are you comfortable with the level of information you can access? If not, ask for more evidence from the brands you love, and if they can’t provide it; are you happy endorsing a brand to present yourself in a particular way, that don’t even produce the product ethically?
There are different ways of being able to refresh your style than heading off to Old Bond St. and spending 90% of your monthly wages on one item. Restyle the statement pieces you have that you think no longer works, online tutorials are great for it, and normally you don’t need be literate with sewing to start. This is a great way to reduce the amount of fashion your disposing off, overall around 11793401620 Kg of clothing items are thrown into landfill each year, give your clothes a new lease of life; don’t end it. Second hand shops are where most clothes go to begin their new life, vintage stores stock mainly branded clothing that they feel is worth them keeping hold of, if it’s worth them keeping hold of, it’s
worth you getting your hands on! Companies like Best.Vintage and COW repurpose designer clothing as other items, shirts to dresses, that kind of thing, making each piece truly unique. Something the designers could be doing and re-selling at a cut cost, rather than burning, and killing our planet. Every time your purchasing items from these high end brands you’re giving them the ability to have the ‘untouchable’ status to do this, yet we wouldn’t accept it in any other industry. We are working against deforestation, the use of fossil fuels and the production of plastics as they’re killing our planet! So why would you still want that Balenciaga bag? Isn’t their industry just as much destroying our home?
This magazine is aimed at showing you that glamorous designer products are so much more than they seem! They’re evil, selfobsessed, money hoarding, planet destroying accessories, ready to wear products, couture. Not only does the industry take and abuse resources, in overly producing products that people don’t entirely consume, but it enforces an entry rule of particular status to take part. There are more sustainable ways of creating a fashionable look without abiding by the must-have rules of the rich and famous. The entire ideal of being part of a high fashion community through endorsing their products is a cliché in itself. Surely by being within a highly sophisticated community, there is a basic understanding of making conscious choices that don’t substantially affect the environment, their wallet, and most importantly the morality of choices for those inspiring to be part of it too. Through endorsing a brand, you are giving them the power to not only dictate the person you are, through the choices that the brand makes, which you are now visually representing; but also the power to dictate the person new consumers
must be. If the brand doesn’t like the people that are buying into it, they can simply change themselves to only make their ideal consumer the people who have access, a process that could be deemed… ‘doing a Burberry’. The Burberry rebrand changed their audience, and the burning of £28.3 million worth of stock “re-concentrated” the brand. Without the interest in the brand, they would not have had the power to do this and be able to still proceed as a ‘upmarket’ fashion house. Burberry are not alone. Other upmarket brands such as Cartier, Mont Blanc, Louis Vuitton - and even all the way to Victoria’s Secret - see the destruction of perfectly good clothing as regular practice to be an influential brand. Surely, in a world where people are struggling to clothe themselves, these garments could be put to better use. This magazine’s intention is to open your eyes to alternative possibilities and see that by buying fashion branded items, you’re not being individual, or joining an elite community; you’re endorsing immoral and destructive practices, and all to have others aspire to join you in the battle towards consuming on an unhealthy level.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
@mydoormatt
@courtneyrichmondphotography
DESIGN:
callumoreillydesign.com
Leeds Arts University
2018