WE ONLY HAVE TWO FEET HOLLY HAINSWORTH
[N0630460]
TUTOR: PETER WRIGHT MODULE: DCCT20001: DESIGN, CULTURE & CONTEXT P a g 2016/2017 e 1 BA (HONS) FASHION DESIGN
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How the increase in low culture and consumerism is impacting our wants and desires in the materialistic world of popular culture?
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CONTENTS Rationale ....................... 7 Spectacle of Consumption ...................... Power of Advertising
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Celebrity Endorsements ......................
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The Fake Authentic
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List of Illustrations
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List of Citations
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Bibliography ...................... 29 Page 5
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‘In the attempt to compensate for the fading of the real, we make a fetish of the supposedly authentic.’ (Ward, 2003, pg.74) For many years, I have fallen victim to a range of trends influenced by celebrity endorsements. With trainers becoming more of a fashion statement than the functional sporting footwear. The art of trainers has significantly become more important than the function. From Adidas Superstars making a come-back from the 60s to Kanye West’s limited edition Yeezy trainers, it appears that the latest footwear is bringing music, culture and fashion together. I confess I have even bought into the latest shoe craze. It just seems odd to me, that trainers have created such popularity, with ill-favoured colours and styles gaining fashion attention.
The all-consuming self is something that has evolved through the rise of consumer culture, branding and over the top merchandising, whilst selling a lifestyle with their products.
We give footwear more value beyond their use due to commodity fetishism, yet all trainers have the same use-value. One pair completes our needs, but will not fulfil our desires.
My visual product examines the influence that low culture and the rise of consumerism has on popular culture and our desires of being authentic.
The desire of being authentic is something that we crave. Owning something different and unique with a rarity factor or a collectable, is something most people want. Linking it to a higher level of worth to which it appears authentic. Although the fake authentic becomes a reality. Mass produced and reworked from the past are just examples of how the loss of authenticity is missed in today’s society.
Word Count: 250
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SPECTACLE OF CONSUMPTION
Fig. 1. Primark Lace Up Pump (2014) By Primark 2014: Online Page 8
‘The most obvious answer is that ‘authentic’ products and services offer the best value for money since they are superior in quality, more reliable in use and likely over time to maintain their value, or even increase it.’ (Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 28)
Fig. 2. Jimmy Choo - Miami leather and fine glitter trainers (2016) By Selfridges 2016: Online
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‘At the heart of the new consumer lies a desire for authenticity in this quest they are prepared to put themselves to considerate inconvenience.’ (Lewis & Bridger, 2001: 10)
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Fig. 3. New shoes – Yeezy : Fashionistas queue outside End in Newcastle (2015) By ncjMedia 2016: Online
“I’ve merely been succumbing to the Western drag of materialism - which you have to have the strength of elephants to resist” (Kinsella, 2000: 65)
Fig. 4. Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 illustration advertisement (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online
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POWER OF ADVERTISING ‘Given the central role of objects in the constitution of human societies, human culture and human meaning, one can provide an answer as to where the power of advertising comes from: it derives not from the ingenuity of advertisers but from the need for meaning.’ (Jhally, 1987: 197)
Fig. 5. Adidas Originals presents Future House (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online
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‘In the spectacular society we are sold the sizzle rather than the stake, the image rather than the object’ (Mirzoeff, 1999: 27)
Fig. 6. Adidas Shanghai Store (2015) By Start Design 2015: Online Page 13
‘The hedonism of modern consumerism is to be understood as a search for the interdependence of pleasure and meaning in the endlessly renewing temptations that the market makes available. The logic of modernity is that fashion is not irrational exploitation but an existential search for distinction in a deeply secular culture.’ (Chaney, 1996: 17)
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Fig. 7. Unleash your imagination and bring something new. (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online
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CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
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Fig. 8. Converse Advertisement (1977) By Record Mirror. unknown: Online
Fig. 9. Adidas Superstar Celebrity Campaign (2014) By Adidas 2015: Online
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‘Savvy ad agencies have all moved away from the idea that they are flogging a product made by someone else, and have to come to think of themselves instead as brand factories, hammering out what is of true value, the lifestyle, the attitude.’ (Klein, 2001: 195–196)
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Fig. 10. Kate Moss modelling Adidas Gazelle Trainers – being used for 2016 advertising campaign (1993) By Denzil McNeelance 2016: Online
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THE FAKE AUTHENTIC ‘Although selling what used to be essentially a mass produced and mass-marketed commodity, it artfully recreates the authentic look and feel…’ (Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 23)
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Fig. 11. Nike Factory, Vietname (c.2012) Unknown Author 2014: Online
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“That which withers in the age of mechanical reproduction is the aura of the work of art” (Benjamin [1936] 2016: Online)
Fig. 12. 1990’s Adidas Superstar ‘shell toes’ trainer shoe (1990) By Just Seventeen unknown: Online
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Fig.13. Never a step too far #SUPERSTAR (2016) By Adidas Originals 2016: Online
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‘If you can have genuine fakes, can you also transform kitsch into authentic art merely by changing the way it is made?’ (Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 26)
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Fig. 14. Fake Yeezy Trainers (2016) Own Photograph
Fig. 15. Real Yeezy 350 Boost Trainers in Pirate Black (2015) By Adidas Originals for Kanye West 2015: Online Page 25
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE]
Fig. 1. Primark Lace Up Pump (2014) By Primark 2014: Online via https://www.primark.com/en/product/ black-lace-up-pump-trainer,R35397116978725 [Accessed: 3 December 2016]. Fig. 2. Jimmy Choo - Miami leather and fine glitter trainers (2016) By Selfridges 2016: Online via http://www. selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/jimmy-choo-miami-leather-and-fine-glitter-trainers_834-10132-MIAMIFGS/?previewAttribute=Black%2Fblack [Accessed: 3 December 2016]. Fig. 3. New shoes – Yeezy : Fashionistas queue outside End in Newcastle (2015) By ncjMedia 2016: Online via: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/yeezy-boost-350-kanye-wests-5948225 [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. Fig. 4. Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 illustration advertisement (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online via http://www.adidas.com/us/yeezy [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. Fig. 5. Adidas Originals presents Future House (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online via: https://www.facebook. com/search/photos/?q=adidas%20future%20house [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. Fig. 6. Adidas Shanghai Store (2015) By Start Design 2015: Online via http://www.startdesign.com/our-work/ adidas-experience [Accessed: 9 December 2016]. Fig. 7. Unleash your imagination and bring something new. (2016) By Adidas 2016: Online via https://www. instagram.com/adidas/ [Accessed 5 December 2016]. Fig. 8. Converse Advertisement (1977) By Record Mirror unknown: Online via http://www.edu.lolc.co.uk [Accessed: 26 November 2016].
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Fig. 9. Adidas Superstar Celebrity Campaign (2014) By Adidas 2015: Online via http://www.independent. co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/adidas-launches-superstar-campaign-video-featuring-rita-ora-david-beckham-and-pharrell-williams-9967710.html [Accessed: 5 December 2016]. Fig. 10. Kate Moss modelling Adidas Gazelle Trainers – being used for 2016 advertising campaign (1993) By Denzil McNeelance 2016: Online via http://fashionista.com/2016/06/kate-moss-adidas-gazelle [Accessed: 28 November 2016]. Fig. 11. Nike Factory, Vietname (c.2012) Unknown Author 2014: Online via http://www.theglobaledition.com/ vietnamese-6-year-old-promoted-to-manager-position-in-nike-shoe-factory/ [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. Fig. 12. 1990’s Adidas Superstar ‘shell toes’ trainer shoe (1990) By Just Seventeen unknown: Online via http://www.edu.lolc.co.uk [Accessed: 26 November 2016]. Fig.13. Never a step too far #SUPERSTAR (2016) By Adidas Originals 2016: Online via https://www.instagram.com/adidas/ [Accessed 5 December 2016]. Fig. 14. Fake Yeezy Trainers (2016) Own Photograph. Fig. 15. Real Yeezy 350 Boost Trainers in Pirate Black (2015) By Adidas Originals for Kanye West 2015: Online via http://www.adidas.com/us/yeezy [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. Front Cover: Nike footwear illustration, Nottingham (2016), own illustration. Page Footer: Nike pair of trainers, Nottingham (2016), own illustration.
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LIST OF CITATIONS [IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE]
(Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 28) (Lewis & Bridger, 2001: 10) (Kinsella, 2000: 65) (Jhally, 1987: 197) (Mirzoeff, 1999: 27) (Chaney, 1996: 17) (Klein, 2001: 195–196) (Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 23) (Benjamin [1936] 2016: Online) (Lewis and Bridger, 2000: 26)
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BOOKS:
BIBLIOGRAPHY [IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER]
BAUDRILLARD, J., LEVIN, C., 1981. For a critique of the political economy of the sign. Austin, TX, United States: Telos Press, U.S. BERNAYS, E.L., 1972. Propaganda. United Kingdom: Kennikat Press, USA. CHANEY, D., 1996. Lifestyles. London: Taylor & Francis. BREWARD, C., EVANS, C., ed., 2005. Fashion and modernity. New York: Berg Publishers. JHALLY, S., 1987. The codes of advertising: Fetishism and the political economy of meaning in the consumer society. London: F. Pinter. KINSELLA, S., 2001. Confessions of a Shopaholic. New York, USA: Delta (imprint of Dell Publishing). KLEIN, N., 2001. No logo: No space, no choice, no jobs. London: Harper Perennial. LEWIS, D., Bridger, D., 2000. The soul of the new consumer: Authenticity - what we buy and why in the new economy. London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing. MARX, K., Translated, M.N. and Nicolaus, M., 1973. Grundrisse. Foundations of the critique of political economy. New York: New York, Random House [1973]. MIRZOEFF, N., 1999. An introduction to visual culture. New York: Routledge. SIMS, J., 2011. Icons of men’s style. London: Laurence King Publishing. TOMLINSON, A., ed. 1990. Consumption, identity, and style: Marketing, meanings, and the packaging of pleasure. New York: Routledge. WARD, G., 2003. Postmodernism. London: Hodder. WARD, G., 2014. Understand Postmodernism. London: Hodder Education.
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ARTICLES: INDEPENDENT., 2015. Adidas launches superstar campaign video featuring Rita Ora, David Beckham and Pharrell Williams. The Independent [online]. 9th January 2015, Available via: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/news/adidas-launches-superstar-campaign-video-featuring-rita-ora-david-beckham-and-pharrell-williams-9967710.html [Accessed: 5 December 2016]. ANDERSON, K., 2016. Yeezy does it! 25 times Celebs wore Kanye’s kicks. Vogue Magazine [online]. Available via: http://www. vogue.com/13397523/yeezy-season-3-celebrities-boost/ [Accessed: 25 November 2016]. BBC., 2005. Why I love Africa. BBC [Online]. 8th September 2005, Available via: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4220762.stm [Accessed: 6 December 2016]. DIXON, A., 2015. Why have these desperate shoppers started queuing 48 hours early?. The Mirror [online]. Available via: http:// www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/yeezy-boost-350-kanye-wests-5948225 [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. SAYS, P., 2014. Vietnamese 6-year-old promoted to manager position in Nike shoe factory. The Global Edition [online]. Available via: http://www.theglobaledition.com/vietnamese-6-year-old-promoted-to-manager-position-in-nike-shoe-factory/ [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. THOMAS, Z., 2015. Are your sports shoes worth what you paid for them? BBC [online]. Available via: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ business-34586124 [Accessed: 25 November 2016]. THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD, 2013. If the shoe fits: Footwear, identity and transition. [online]. Available via: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/iftheshoefits [Accessed: 25 November 2016]. SUTHERLAND, E., BROWN, H., GEOGHEGAN, J., HOUNSLEA, T. and MCGREGOR, K., 2016. Why trainers have overtaken heels in the UK footwear market. Drapers [online]. Available via: https://www.drapersonline.com/retail/why-trainers-have-overtakenheels-in-the-uk-footwear-market/7013025.article [Accessed: 30 December 2016].
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ADDITIONAL SOURCES WEBSITES: ADIDAS., 2013. History. [online]. Available at: http://www.adidasgroup.com/en/group/history/ [Accessed: 1 December 2016]. ADIDAS ORIGINALS., 2017. Adidas Originals presents Future House 17.03.16 - 22.03.16. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/ search/photos/?q=adidas%20future%20house [Accessed: 4 December 2016]. DESIGN, S., 2016. Leading a revolution in retail customer experience \\\ start. Available at: http://www.startdesign.com/our-work/adidas-experience [Accessed: 9 December 2016]. LEBIEDZIEWICZ, K., unknown. Land of lost content - world’s largest archive of 20th century popular culture. [online]. Available at: http://www.edu.lolc.co.uk [Accessed: 26 November 2016].
BLOGS: BOBILA, M., 2016. ‘ADIDAS AND KATE MOSS ARE MAKING THE GAZELLE SNEAKER HAPPEN’. Fashionista [online blog]. 27th June 2016. Available at: http://fashionista.com/2016/06/kate-moss-adidas-gazelle (Accessed: 28 November 2016).
VIDEO: ADIDAS., 2015. Adidas Future Advertisement Campaign. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CupTwyj3JrI [Accessed: 25 November 2016]. TheSpiritualfreedom., 2011. The trap of materialism. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtwXryPNciM [Accessed: 25 November 2016]. WorldCMTube., 2013. Adidas originals all originals represent TV CM ad commercial WorldCMTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ow6wXUCxFHQ [Accessed: 16 November 2016].
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