It has been London Fashion Week again and to mark this kaleidoscopic event a Sunday newspaper printed a special, big fat, bumper edition of their fashion magazine. Flicking through the 182 pages there wasn’t much about the up and coming bright young things, but instead there was plenty from the major luxury fashion brands launching their autumn ad campaigns. Is it me or do the ad people have a tin ear? Okay, I have been a bit naughty and photoshopped the top picture (original photo below), but, really, what are the Burberry folk signifying?
According to the charity ‘Streets of London’;
8,000 people sleep rough on the streets of London every year. They come from every walk of life, and many of them want to find work.
Maybe I have misinterpreted the images, but sitting on grey city steps in oversized winter coats and knitted hats with what looks like giant shopping bags, (okay I note they all look pristine), reminds me of homeless, bag ladies. Surely that can’t be right.
Burberry aren’t the only ones with brittle, nonstandard photos. In need of something a little different Gucci have stepped off planet – literally.
Yes, look closely and it’s aliens now modelling for Gucci.
Mind you the most startling ad in the whole magazine was, now wait for this, modelling for Louis Vuitton, an OLD person. And, she is the only old person in the whole 182 pages.
Admittedly, this beautiful old person is the internationally famous, French film star Catherine Deneuve. At 73 years old she is over three times the age of the other models featured in the various campaigns. And, as a final comment, according to this Sunday newspaper’s own circulation data for 2017 (so far), 70% of its readership are 45 years old or older, with nearly a third of its readership Senior Citizens!
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Agnes Ashe 
I always find the fashion world a bit off the planet. When the Guardian ‘All Ages’ feature on Saturdays routinely has models sporting skirts and shirts costing over £500, well, how does that relate to me and my world?
Yes, I know what you mean.
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Thank you – and will check out your blog.
Interesting one! but not, sadly, surprising… I suppose it depends whether you think fantasy is harmless fun or liable to turn into intellectual fungus.
Alien fantasy is fine with me, but not convinced by the bag ladies campaign. Think it is ill-judged.
I think the fashion world is trying very hard (in their own way) to stay relevant to the ordinary world and failing it. Sad.
Yup, ‘sad’ sums it up perfectly. 😐
It all goes over my head. I take a glance at the prices on the fashion features and simply turn the page. It’s not relevant to me. But I do take your point about the bag ladies, almost trying to make the look and lifestyle desirable. To me the styling just looks messy, as if you had to grab whatever was available from the charity bin. Or perhaps they are saying you will want to buy so many of their clothes you will need this huge bag to carry them home in?
Yes, we all need huge bags – not. The trouble with fashion it’s so about endless novelty and unfortunately the idea of heirloom pieces seems to have receded again. The best you can say is that some of this expensive clothing will eventually find its way to a charity shop and directly make money for a good cause.