DISTRESSED DENIM
Front Cover
Sanjana Ragu N0613708 Fashion Communication & Promotion
Contents Introduction to denim
Page 3
Brand and retail annalysis
Page 4, 5 & 6
Retail - VM & Store display analysis
Page 7 & 8
Cultural and social analysis
Page 9, 10 & 11
Historial analysis
Page 12, 13, 14 & 15
The big idia/ My communication Page 16 & 17
Referances and Illustrations
Page 18 (back side)
I T R O D U C T I O N Distressed denim popularised in the 90’s with grunge rockers has now become a staple in everybody’s wardrobes. Distressed jeans are definitely the most on-trend way to wear denim this season. It is a multipurpose item suitable for anyone’s style. Designers and retailers have picked up on the revival of this trend, except this time its no longer grungy or rock. It noticeably connotes
The selling power of the
raising star Does using raising models in adverts help in brand and retail communication?
Looking at the denim campaign by Guess, they sure have jumped on the band wagon of distressed denim. The model, Gigi Hadid is the face of almost all brands. The fact that Guess have chosen Gigi as their model makes buying their products a lot more aspirational. She is in her early 20s, wearing a ripped/distressed jacket, with a pair of shorts with raw hems suitable to wear at the beach. Her makeup is very natural but the fact that she is wearing only a jacket without a top, leaving her upper torso completely naked denotes sexuality sells and reinforces women today to express themselves in a provocative way. Guess is a mid market brand targeting at mid 20’s to 30’s demographic, who enjoy buying a bit more luxurious products without breaking their wallets. Over the last few years, the ‘boho’ vibe has been a big trend. On this advert, Guess have picked up on this and set the narrative to have a beachy vibe to anchor the boho trend. The model has been placed on a beach, sitting on sand with her posture quite seductive. The rips all over the jacket anchors the current trend. Topshop for the last two seasons have been known for their distressed denim. In fact, they are one of the first few mass market brands to incorporate the distressed trend.
As a brand, their target market ranges from 15 to 35 demographic. The advert is studio setting, using model Cara Delevign. She is shown wearing jeans distressed all the way from the top of her thighs to the bottom of her knees. Her makeup is exaggerated smokey denoting seductiveness. Though she isn’t positioned sexually, the fact that her bare legs are seen through the ripped jeans signifies the provocative dressing nature of women today. The style of these jeans connotes edginess and hip, targeting teenagers whose style this season can be described as ‘cool’ incorporating the edginess. Even if customers aren’t aware of the trend, they are more likely to buy products from Topshop as it is a brand that follows trends more often than not creating trends. Both these brands, TopShop and Guess, though from a range of different fashion markets it is apparent that regardless of their market positioning still quite religiously follow trends. This is also a clear example of the trickle down and bubble up theory, where brands get inspired by the range of fashion market. It is clear that both adverts are using sex appeal to sell products
BIG
“If shopping doesn’t make you happy, then you’re at the wrong shop” Fashion retailers are high in demand nowadays as customers not only shop for products but time and time again also buy into the experience of shopping as well. New retail shops are popping up everywhere from street shopping to malls and the craze of shopping brings new retailers into the game. To stay on top, stores lean towards visual merchandising like in-store displays, store window, interiors etc; to promote their brand. Over the years, store window display has become one of the most important tools for visual communication and is the best use for marketing. Store windows display what is on trend and also what is new in store that season. Selfridges store window displays the summer trends, on Bond Street, London, UK. This window connotes that Selfridges have picked up on the trend of the ‘jean revival’.
This window connotes that Selfridges have picked up on the trend of the ‘jean revival’. The window showcases all the available services provided in store as the mannequin is sat on a pile of individual jeans that are dissimilar, with a measuring tape around it and a pair of scissors in the hand; almost like it is in a tailoring shop with all the jeans thrown around. The mannequin is shown wearing double denim, with the bottoms being a pair of distressed denim, denoting the distressed trend. The background of the window is a clear denim blue signifying the narrative. Selfridges have in fact started a whole new denim section on the third floor, where they not only sell denim from different brands but also sell bespoke denim products. This anchors the fact that customers have also noticed the distressed trend and wanting products that aren’t similar to others.
Fashion retailers are high in demand nowadays as customers not only shop for products but time and time again also buy into the experience of shopping as well. New retail shops are popping up everywhere from street shopping to malls and the craze of shopping brings new retailers into the game. To stay on top, stores lean towards visual merchandising like in-store displays, store window, interiors etc; to promote their brand. Levi’s & Co for example, have used visual merchandising to attract customers to their most popular pair of jeans the 501’S. Using bulbs for interiors is a big trend at the minute, though overused, Levi’s store has made it eye catching to denote the popularity of 501’s. Lighting is one of the most crucial tools to visually communicate in a retail store. It is placed right in the center of the store so that as soon as customers walk in they spot it
right away. has a variety of threads that are used on Levi’s jeans to signify to customers the use of their materials on their products. Right below it is all the different labels that are used on their products through which anyone looking at a pair of their jeans, know its from Levis. The labels, threads and other materials are all placed on the denim they use on their jeans. What interests a customer is the touch and feel of each material that represents and signifies the durability of their products compared to other brands. The visual merchandising on both the stores denote the trend of the jean revival and distressed denim. Levis on one hand shows off its durability and materials for denim; Selfridges shows off the key trends and services. In summary, customers absorb the creative coordination and placement for marketing, buying into the trends through visual merchandising.
The
BigChange
People buy into trends and fashion statements not only within the fashion sector but also outside of fashion. There are cultural and creative platforms, where ideas and meanings from fashion trickle down to other platforms. It is interesting to see how distressed denim has been communicated and received in a broader context as a whole. Looking further into women dressing more provocatively, Foucault suggested that “sexuality was not repressed but was more of a social obsession”. This reinforces a negative stereotype of femininity. This social obsession has caused woman today to express themselves in more promiscuous ways. The first thing that comes to mind in broader creative context is Selena Gomez’s music videos. She is a celebrity that started of in the Disney industry. She has thousands of fans that have been following her since they were kids,
watching her show Wizards of Waverly place. Now she’s a grown into a really popular music artist. Over the years, her songs have had stereotypes attached such as innocence, purity and immaturity but recently her songs have been more sexually appealing not just by what she wears but also her lyrics. Her most recent hit ‘Good for you’, reinforces the idea of having to look sexy and provocative for men to like her. She says “I just wanna look good for you, gonna wear that dress you like, skin tight, do my hair up real nice, I just wanna look good for you”. This denotes to the fans that have been following her for years to have to dress sexier and more provocative for them to look good. In the music video, she is wearing a skin tight jean that is ripped all the way from the top of her thigh to the bottom of her legs. This represents distressed denim being worn as trend but also connotes the cultural significance attached to them.
Distressed denim sometimes only has one connotation, which is, denim product having fraying, holes or loose hems. However, through my research, I found people using their old denim and making creative things out of it, using techniques like patchwork, quilting etc. For example, in interiors, they have used recycled denim and made a couch cover and cushions to go with it. Instead of making the couch look intact and clean, they have used raw hems to make it look more distressed. As another example, there are also people making art out of denim. This picture of a city is painted on a canvas but what makes it interesting is the use of old denim on it. This is a use of mixed media and anchors the trickle down effect. This connotes that no matter what creative platform, trends from fashion are always followed. Some over arching visual codes on all the images that I found with distressed denim outside the fashion context, is that trends are followed with a blind eye not just in the fashion world but in other media platforms such as art, music, interiors etc.
Throughout fashion in history, people are always divided into two sectors, ones that conform and the ones that rebel. In simple terms, conforming is following all trends and being a ‘trend sheep’, and rebelling is dressing out of the box and challenging current trends. Fashion has had a big voice with social and economic issues. It is interesting to know how denim products have changed over the years, “You have to know the past to understand the present” – Carl The first denim jean was introduced by Levi Strauss in 1853, who came to America from Bulgaria during the gold rush. He was more interested in creating a durable jean for men to work in those conditions. Levi first opened his store in 1953 with the trademark, Levi & Co. These jeans were most popular as they were known as every working man’s ensemble. This over time changed to a uniform for cowboys who wore denim overalls made by Levis. Women in the early 50s were known to rebel against their fashion at the time. It was proclaimed that they work at home doing the laundry, dishes and in general take care of the house hold while the men went out to work. It was also known for women to wear dresses and skirts to be ‘faminine’. Jeans were used a symbol for rebellion and gender equality. Women would borrow their husband’s or brother’s Levi 501s and wear them to make a statement. This was all at the same time women were fighting for voting rights. Levi recognized the passion for
women to wear jeans and brought out their first Lady Levi’s in 1960. James Dean popularized blue jeans in the film Rebel Without a Cause in 1955. He paired the blue jeans with a leather jacket and its no surprise that it was immediately copied by men. On the other hand, Marilyn Monroe was seen with a group of cowboys in her movie The Misfits wearing a female version of James Deans outfit. Several years after gender equality, it was the era of the distressed denim. Wearing denim with holes or rips in them wore frowned upon. People at a high social class would wear trim and clean denim, where as distressed denim was associated with gangsters and underground musicians. It was only in the 1980’s that artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna made it acceptable to wear distressed denim. However, after a decade that trend faded. After two decades, it has now back in our lives known as the ‘distressed jean revival’. Distressed denim products are now worn to represent sexuality and promiscuous nature. ‘The longer the skirt the worst the economy at the time’ - the hemline theory. This theory was deemed right when women only wore skirts and dressed but now after gender equality, it is no longer about the hemline but about the amount of skin shown. Sticking to that theory, this era is mostly about showing more skin, even with denim denoting that fact that the economy is at it’s best.
Let’s start a new era to communicate denim
Though my research about retail, it is clear that customers absorb not just the product but also every little detail that goes with it such a visual merchandising, promotion etc. Keeping that in mind, I have chosen the path of product to experience as my first idea for my communication. Fashion shows and events play a big role in the industry, hence, I have created an invitation using denim. Looking at the brand Replay, their main focus for products over the last two seasons have been denim. One of the main trends that has been taken on board by them has been the distressed denim look. I have collected a few images of their denim campaign and images from their fashion shows displaying distressed denim; leading towards an idea for an invite for bloggers, press, customer who would like to attend a fashion show help at New York. The idea is for the invitation itself, is where the background of the invitation is the texture of distressed denim in the same colour as on their products, connoting the main trend focus and colours of the products. The invitation also has the brand logo and details about the show. This allows for an in-depth experience of the products and letting costumers see what’s forcoming at the
show and the trends designed by the brand. As my second idea for my communication, I went along the line of visual merchandising and on the same path as product to promotion. I thought it would be quite interesting to create a cardboard cut out without the faces like we see at amusement parks or at festive markets. The idea is to take a picture with someone face with someone else body mostly used as humor. Using this idea, it might be quite interesting to gather images of women wearing through out the last few decades illustrating to the customer, changes in denim fashion throughout history. This might be placed either in the window or in-store, where customers would be able to take picture standing behind the cardboard cut outs with only their face seen and someone wearing 60s or 70s style jeans. This not only is a way of promoting what the latest trend in the current year is but also a way to provide an experience to the customer who walks into the store. It is also an educating mechanism to the customer about denim style thought history. To illustrate this idea, I have used images of women wearing jeans from different eras and used Photoshop to cut out their faces.