Specialty Clothing Retailers This Fall...

1. ''Today brands are built emotionally,'' Ms. Lastrina said. ''You have to get a message across and show what the brand ideology means to her life.''

I find this quotation to be very suitable to get across the whole point of the article. It definitely expresses the idea that reflective design is a powerful marketing tool in advertising - targeting the ideal consumer and expressing to them just why they would be interested in the product with reflective elements showing through the design of the advertisement.

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The advertisement campaign I chose, which I feel is iconic, is the very strange and somewhat vintage aesthetic that the Marc by Marc Jacobs high fashion label has used as long as I can remember. The specific run of ads that are featured here are from a recent ad campaign featuring Victoria Beckham. Beckham is a style icon as well as a sex icon, so her modeling for Marc Jacobs combined with his naturally quirky style gives the brand both sex and unique appeal. The images of her popping out of shopping bags is unusual and definitely sparks a reaction in the viewer, whether one of inspiration or confusion; but most importantly, it is something that clearly echos the statement above which identifies reflective design as one of the most important parts in selling name-brand clothing that is found in boutiques or specialty stores as opposed to department stores.

3. Brand image has everything to do with which brands certain people will and will not buy. Brands specifically market to certain kinds of people, using music or sex appeal or classical fashion to appeal to tastes and needs of all different types (just, not at the same time). Some brand images cause me to steer clear of buying their clothes - I tend not to shop at departments stores because a lot of the clothing is all focused on the brand name, and not on any actual remarkable style or silhouette of fashion. I feel the people define the clothes, because people are the ones deciding what to buy; and just because you wear Hollister one day does not mean you can't wear Marc Jacobs the next, even though one is commonplace and one is crazy. The clothes may appear to define the person if a person finds a style that they feel comfortable and happy wearing all the time, but just because they dress in a certain way it does not necessarily indicate a certain thing about them (for example, I may wear an ugly Salvation Army sweater, but it is because I am cold and desperate not because I am poor or especially partial to ugly sweaters) (well okay I am both of those things but that is beside the point).