London calling - On beauty - inside and out
When you Google Abercrombie & Fitch, the tagline for the link to their official website describes their ware as "the highest quality, casual, all-American lifestyle clothing for aspirational men and women". (Question: Would you buy anything from a...
When you Google Abercrombie & Fitch, the tagline for the link to their official website describes their ware as "the highest quality, casual, all-American lifestyle clothing for aspirational men and women". (Question: Would you buy anything from a company that describes it customer as aspirational?). It's a step up from GAP (though I personally find the latter better, it's a bit more anonymous) - and a few down from Polo Ralph Lauren, the kind of clothing I tend to associate with Frat Boys and Sorority Girls in Middle America (in my head, the girls are called Kimberley, or Britney, or something similarly obnoxious). Basically, it's mediocre clothing made for those who still believe that there is an American dream to buy into. The fact that over the years, A&F have opened more than 800 stores in the US is a scary indicator of how many people still buy into that baloney.
In order to disguise the mediocrity of the stuff, A&F present it in catalogues where it is worn by beautiful young men and women, and then photographed by Bruce Weber - a man who has made himself a fortune by making already beautiful people look even more beautiful. (Basically, together with Herb Ritts, Weber is the man who gave men of my generation supreme inferiority complexes, and made a gym membership mandatory.) I know people who collect the said catalogues and treat them like coffee table books. I know others who treat them like the kind of publications you get on the top shelves of newsagents here, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, A&F have chosen London as the site of their first European store, in what used to be the Jil Sander store in Burlington Gardens, just behind the Royal Academy. I've not been to see what they've done with what used to be a shrine to the Jil Sander school of minimalism (as seen by the designers who succeeded Ms Sander after the Prada buyout), and to be honest, I can't see myself rushing there, especially since reading in the papers that all the staff in the shop have been employed because of their looks. Apparently all members of staff were recruited from model agencies, so when you do go into the shop, you're greeted by bare-chested males, that kind of thing. Just what you want when you already know you're paying a lot more than you should for a T-shirt that bears the A&F logo somewhere.
Now I've never been one to take it against those lucky enough to be touched by the Wand of Pulchritude at birth. I've met and worked with some incredibly beautiful people, the majority of who have been extremely pleasant and amiable (of course, there are exceptions, but then there always has to be!). But when a retail outlet employs staff purely because of looks, I feel uncomfortable. With the clothing industry under continuous scrutiny - particularly because of its reputed connection to eating disorders - it's not something that should be encouraged. As if the catalogues weren't enough!
On a better note, something really nice happened to me on the way home from work this evening. After leaving the office, I stopped to buy some sweets to make my walk up the Kings Road a bit more exciting. There was a man in front of me who took ages to leave the cash desk after paying for his goods, so after I paid for mine, instead of waiting around to put my change in my wallet, I just put everything into my trouser pocket, and walked out.
Twenty minutes later, when I got off the train at my station, I heard someone behind me shout "Excuse me, you've dropped something." At first I thought it was my scarf, which I lose on the Tube regularly. Instead, there was a young lady behind me handing over a £10 note that had fallen out of my pocket.
At a time when all we hear and read about is how much crime there is in this city, it's reassuring to know that there are still people who care enough to do what this young lady did.
In order to disguise the mediocrity of the stuff, A&F present it in catalogues where it is worn by beautiful young men and women, and then photographed by Bruce Weber - a man who has made himself a fortune by making already beautiful people look even more beautiful. (Basically, together with Herb Ritts, Weber is the man who gave men of my generation supreme inferiority complexes, and made a gym membership mandatory.) I know people who collect the said catalogues and treat them like coffee table books. I know others who treat them like the kind of publications you get on the top shelves of newsagents here, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, A&F have chosen London as the site of their first European store, in what used to be the Jil Sander store in Burlington Gardens, just behind the Royal Academy. I've not been to see what they've done with what used to be a shrine to the Jil Sander school of minimalism (as seen by the designers who succeeded Ms Sander after the Prada buyout), and to be honest, I can't see myself rushing there, especially since reading in the papers that all the staff in the shop have been employed because of their looks. Apparently all members of staff were recruited from model agencies, so when you do go into the shop, you're greeted by bare-chested males, that kind of thing. Just what you want when you already know you're paying a lot more than you should for a T-shirt that bears the A&F logo somewhere.
Now I've never been one to take it against those lucky enough to be touched by the Wand of Pulchritude at birth. I've met and worked with some incredibly beautiful people, the majority of who have been extremely pleasant and amiable (of course, there are exceptions, but then there always has to be!). But when a retail outlet employs staff purely because of looks, I feel uncomfortable. With the clothing industry under continuous scrutiny - particularly because of its reputed connection to eating disorders - it's not something that should be encouraged. As if the catalogues weren't enough!
On a better note, something really nice happened to me on the way home from work this evening. After leaving the office, I stopped to buy some sweets to make my walk up the Kings Road a bit more exciting. There was a man in front of me who took ages to leave the cash desk after paying for his goods, so after I paid for mine, instead of waiting around to put my change in my wallet, I just put everything into my trouser pocket, and walked out.
Twenty minutes later, when I got off the train at my station, I heard someone behind me shout "Excuse me, you've dropped something." At first I thought it was my scarf, which I lose on the Tube regularly. Instead, there was a young lady behind me handing over a £10 note that had fallen out of my pocket.
At a time when all we hear and read about is how much crime there is in this city, it's reassuring to know that there are still people who care enough to do what this young lady did.