Inanimate Objects

Before going into my analysis of objects, I would like to start by stating who the two people were who gave me the object suggestions. I thought I might get some creative answers from asking my boyfriend and his best friend, both artists. My boyfriend first suggested “deer head mount” which I replied was not quite inanimate enough since it had once been living and I did not know if I could utilize it. To this he replied: “It’s good because it is inanimate now and wasn’t earlier, it’s a paradox.” My boyfriend then suggested skinny jeans for a “totally inanimate” object. His friend replied to my question with a question: “What are you doing currently?”…I said that I was needing his help with my project and once again requested the name of an object. He stated that his question had a point, so I complied and briefly explained the assignment. He replied: “Then think about the desk and letters you type, the 90% of your brain you don’t use. A book or DVD unused…the toilet. Dental floss. The objects that only have life when activated. The future is inanimate.”
I thought all of this insight was interesting to say the least, even though I did not quite know where to begin. So let’s see where this all leads….

First Object: SKINNY JEANS
Skinny jeans are slimming (on some people), trendy, look good with big shirts, have developed into “jeggings,” are youthful, comfortable, dressy, can be black, blue, grey, red etc., originally “hipster”, accentuate the leg shape, look good with flats or heels, dying out to be replaced by a different silhouette, “artsy”, Urban Outfitters, Olsen twins, bought my first pair in high school and was teased for them (since then, all of those people who teased me now wear them), Gwyneth Paltrow, celebrities, fashion magazines, skin tight, stretchy, high-waisted, good to tuck into boots in the winter, Audrey Hepburn, Vampire Weekend, indie musicians, “cool.”

Second Object: DENTAL FLOSS
Removes plaque and food from teeth, keeps your breath fresh, is superrrr skinny almost invisible, is translucent or white, comes rolled like yarn, easily tears against the metal contraption on the container, makes your teeth feel “individualized” and clean, makes your gums bleed, is a necessity for healthy teeth and dental hygiene, one container seems to last an eternity, hated to floss when I was younger, is essentially string, looks like fishing line…

Ways to combine the two objects:
• Sew pieces of denim together using dental floss to make skinny jeans
• Create a dental floss container-holder out of stretchy denim
• Create floss out of denim threads
• Hang skinny jeans on a floss line to dry
• Replace a button on jeans using dental floss
• Put floss in a pocket of the jeans
• Hold too-big-jeans up with floss as a belt or suspenders
• Cut up jeans and use floss to sew pieces together to make a purse or pouch
• Use dental floss to loop through the button hole to create an extension on too-small jeans that you can now button through the floss-hole
• Create embroidery designs on the skinny jeans with the floss
• Create a hanging device with floss to display skinny jeans in a store to give the appearance of floating
• If working at a retail store, tie up folded skinny jeans (with the size tag showing) with floss so that people don’t mess up the stack every time they look through them
• Use floss to tie up the bottom of boot cut or bell-bottom jeans to create the appearance of skinny jeans



Products/Services:
• Some of these have to do with altering your jeans on the spot. This could be especially useful for stylists for magazines who need to use readily available resources to adjust clothing to fit models. Maybe some kind of kit could be created including a floss material for this exact purpose.
• Since floss is a skinny material, and skinny jeans are a fashionable trend, maybe incorporating the two in a marketing strategy could encourage flossing. For example, a “skinny jean” floss with the floss cartridge made of denim. This could be especially helpful in encouraging young girls (13-18) to floss their teeth.
• The idea of creating a button-hole extension to give a little room for too-small jeans came from my roommate who uses a pony tail holder for the same reason. Maybe some kind of product could be created for the purpose of expanding jeans (I mean who doesn’t need to loosen up after a big meal at Santa Rita Mexican restaurant??). People would much rather buy this kind of compromising device then a. spend $50+ dollars on a new pair of jeans and b. admit that their skinny pair of jeans are going to have to be replaced by their “fat jeans” in the back of the closet.
• Create a skinny jean called the “flossy jean” to reflect how skinny they actually are…this might already exist?Create a specific pocket in skinny jeans to hold floss to constantly remind people while they are out and about to floss after meals
• Create a floss container in the shape of skinny jeans.
• Create a floss advertisement or a skinny jeans advertisement showing Audrey Hepburn (or a complimentary actress) dancing around (like in the attached image) where she is sporting black skinny jeans and looking so flossy with her waif-ish figure.

Creative Director and Customer Insights

When people ask me what I want to do with my life, my answers tend to be pretty scatterbrained. I know what my interests are: traveling, fashion, styling, culture, acting….but I’m not sure where I fit into the mix. I have dreams of being an editor or an actress or a Vogue stylist but who knows where I’ll end up.
The other week in the Wall Street Journal Magazine I read an article about a woman named Angela Ahrendts who is now the CEO of Burberry. Her story is pretty amazing….she started working at different jobs including merchandising executive at Liz Claiborne and earned her way to the top. She, along with Burberry’s Chief Creative Officer, Christopher Bailey, have completely transformed the iconic brand. Long known for its recognizable plaid pattern, Burberry needed a makeover after years of counterfeiting and a not-so-classy clientele. Ahrendts and Bailey completely transformed the fashion house into an esteemed luxury brand now comprised of less than 10% plaid. Their story is a successful one (bringing in about 2.2 billion in sales), and reflects the importance of customer insights. It definitely took some customer research to decide to expand the product line (duffle bags, cosmetics etc.), and to eliminate the most recognized part of their company (the plaid). Essentially they completely redeveloped and revamped the their image.

When I read the article on Ahrendts it inspired me to pursue a career similar to hers (in my dreams would it be this successful). I like problem solving and think that I would love the challenge of taking on a company and completely remarketing it. If a company needs to be transformed that usually means it is in some kind of financial or PR trouble. To adapt a company to survive the marketplace, customer insight is imperative. You have to know what people dislike, what they’re looking for, what their perception of your brand is, what their perception of other brands is. This is especially important in the fashion industry. Trying to understand price and value concepts of clothing can be tricky. You must also know the customer you cater to, whether it’s a luxury-oriented consumer or a budget-oriented consumer. In the instance of Burberry, they identified their current customer market and desired to change their target market to a more sophisticated, proper persona. A motivator in this transition was the company’s awareness of the reputation that their customers have on other people in the marketplace. If C-list celebrities are wearing your brand then A-list celebrities won’t want to be caught in your clothing. The executives at Burberry also realized (most likely through customer insights) an older persona as their primary customer and wished to make the brand appear more youthful and cutting-edge. As a result they used Emma Watson (from Harry Potter) in their amazing advertisements.

When I interned at Ralph Lauren I was given a similar task to brainstorm how to give the brand a younger image. In order to do this I interviewed friends to gain insight on their view of the company. Turns out that most people do perceive Ralph Lauren as a clothing line tailored to an older market. In the celebrity dressing department this was especially important information to gather because the director (my boss) wanted young, sexy, popular celebrities to choose Ralph Lauren for their premiere gowns etc., but it was always a challenge to work with the clothes because of their outdated feel.

I hope to create a cohesive paper from all of this brainstorming about the responsibilities of a creative director, specifically within the fashion industry, and how much they rely on customer insights. I am excited to learn the methods of research they use to gain information on customers and target markets (maybe style scouts, fashion blogs, etc.). I hope that this paper will introduce me to even more job opportunities within this bracket, and prepare me for interviews coming up in the next year!

Link to the WSJ article on Angela Ahrendts that I would highly recommend glancing at:
http://magazine.wsj.com/features/the-big-interview/earning-her-strips/2/