Old magazines? You say, wrinkling your nose at the idea of paying for out of print and out of date fashion news, now here this. If there's one thing a hardcore fashionista loves, it's collecting old magazines. Since stumbling into this industry, I have met all sorts of collectors. People who have never let a Vogue or Nylon slip through their clutches, who search for elusive under the radar mags to add to their collections. The debates about the future of print may continue to rage, but there is certainly no question surrounding the value of its past and history.
So as long as supplies last, with every purchase of the current issue of Dazed, you can help yourself to a vintage copy of the mag (the oldest on hand was c. 1995, the mag launched in '92). Since Dazed started out as a limited fold out poster, Material also have cover posters on hand for £30 a piece--the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and a picture of Justin Timberlake, fresh out of 'Nsync, were the two most popular on the luanch night.
I personally wound up with two copies, 1997 and 1995, and was not surprised, flipping through them, to find the editorial a lot edgier, a lot grungier (whisper it with me now: full of S-E-X). One of the issues even had a shoot entitled "Backstage Toilets" with dark, moody shots of catwalk gazelles squatting backstage in their twelve inch heels. Also really interesting to note, the advertising. From a consumer perspective, one who was consuming glossy editorial like Seventeen back in the mid-90's, I don't think brands' marketing ploys have changed much. Advertising is advertising, peoples' heartstrings haven't changed and a ploy will always be a ploy. However, looking in particular at two Diesel ads, I realized how much marketing strategy has evolved over the last decade and a half, internet or no internet. I guess it's like losing a lot of weight over time, those close to you don't see it, but bump into an ex or a long lost friend and it's like WHAM! different person.
1995: Looks to history, in particular Neil Armstrong's walking on the moon, to make an ironic statement about consumer culture and way of life in the 1990's. The bitterness in the tone, the mocking irony of how man's progress in space hails the advent of a technological utopia is somewhat unsettling in an advert for denim....
"...Our presence on the moon will make our planet a better place. We will have no more wars, no starvation, no evil of any form. Within ten years we will eliminate the possibility of an energy crisis as every household will have its own nuclear power-plant in the basement. People will also grow wealthier everyday and a wee's vacation on a space station or honeymoon on the moon will become common. People aboard space shuttles--the buses and trains of the future--will fly out to the luxury hotels of the solar system, and we will be the happiest people of all time."
1997: What have we here? This is an unsettling image making a strong social statement (again, using denim and tees??). A black family sits gathered round the Christmas tree in the stereotypical American white upper middle class living room--and the living room pictured here is STARK white to emphasize the fact. Oh, yes, and there's the white butler in the corner too. The snarky tagline suggests to me that the ad is mocking the blind nature of consumerism at its most carnivorous during the economic boom of the Clinton heyday. The brand is making fun of its own customer base's obsession with, well, the act of consuming. It's almost the antidote to the cackling optimism of the previous advert: all the money and status in the world, be you white, lack, green, won't make you happy. An adherence to material things, technology, so on, will just lead you into the malaise of the monotony of everyday life...here described by Diesel as "chronic depression."
"'A Diesel T-shirt? Just what I've always wanted!' The first signs of chronic depression are often extremely well disguised."
2010: I think the campaign title says it all: be STUPID. Bikinis, wild animals and simple monosyllabic slogans. How far we've come.
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