Filed under: Attitude & Aptitude, Brand Suicide, Comment, Crap Marketing Ideas From History!, Crap Products In History, Fashion, Insight, Marketing Fail
Dear Gucci …
First it was gameshow host geek chic.
Then it became 1970’s cowgirl with matching suitcase.
Now it’s this …
Seriously, what the fuck is going on?
I appreciate the fashion industry is – like tech – locked in a cycle of needing to look like it’s always going forward, but apart from the fact this ‘fashion’ looks awfully like it comes from about 20 years in the past, it all counts for nothing if the end result is the sort of thing you’d only seen worn by people play Widow Twankey at the local pantomime.
I appreciate I am to fashion what Lindsey Lohan is to Broadway Theatre, but I can’t help but think even Tesco’s make more appealing fashion than this.
But maybe that’s the point …
You see years ago, we were working with IKEA and as part of our investigation, we went and talked to an interior designer in Miami.
One of the things she told us was how she felt IKEA had made her wealthy clients want more ostentatious looking homes.
When we asked what she meant, she said that the rich have an inherent need to feel there is a clear separation between them and ‘the common herd’ and as IKEA had basically democratised stylish interior design, the wealthy had responded by wanting their houses to look over-the-top to ensure the gap between them and the mainstream was maintained.
In essence, IKEA had pushed the wealthy to look more ridiculous.
With that in mind, maybe that’s what is happening to Gucci.
Because everyday fashion retailers now offer the sort of nicely designed clothes that were once only the domain of the wealthy, the top-end fashion houses feel they need to produce clothes that allow their customers to separate themselves from the masses, even if it means they will look ridiculous as a result.
I seriously daren’t imagine what is next?
A range based on the fashion of Ms Piggy, maybe?
Don’t laugh, it could happen …
28 Comments so far
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AbFab fashion.
Comment by George August 3, 2016 @ 6:27 amYou know you just took what I wrote in the headline of this post and repeated it back to me. Are you trying to recreate this ad?
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNCrMEOqHpc]
Comment by Rob August 3, 2016 @ 7:51 amthat would mean youre the fucking geeky looking bastard with the big hair and shit shirt. go back 30 years and i see what you mean.
Comment by andy@cynic August 3, 2016 @ 8:17 amDead ringer for George though
Comment by Bazza August 4, 2016 @ 12:24 amTesco’s influence hasn’t worked on you has it.
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 6:31 amI’m probably more of a reject shop kind of guy.
[I said it before you]
Comment by Rob August 3, 2016 @ 7:51 amIf forgotten about that shop. You are definitely Mr reject shop.
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 8:06 amDidn’t Asda supermarket have a range of clothes by an ex high street fashion designer to try and up their image?
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 6:33 amhttp://tinyurl.com/gll6sym
Comment by George August 3, 2016 @ 6:36 amNo jokes about the brand name please.
Would you buy clothes from a guy from Lancashire who was arrested for DUI? I think you have found the real reason I left the UK.
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 6:41 ami remember when they called it asdale. fucking asdale. might as well have called it “fucking poor”.
Comment by andy@cynic August 3, 2016 @ 6:46 amI bought some shorts from Asda when I was in England a month ago. 2 quid. That’s probably the highest prices piece of fashion in my wardrobe.
Comment by Rob August 3, 2016 @ 7:52 amEasily.
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 8:06 amkind of gucci to help old fucks stay in employment by giving iris apfel and her twin sisters the modeling gig.
Comment by andy@cynic August 3, 2016 @ 6:45 amAs a whole that photo may appear a bit overwhelming, but nobody’s going to wear all of it at the same time.Certainly not in Nottingham.
In real life, many of those pieces may individually be much better than you think. And the coat on the left is obviously amazing.
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 6:46 amjohn dodds.
Comment by andy@cynic August 3, 2016 @ 6:54 amfashion expert.
for marketing middle management weekly.
I dream of reaching the heights of middle management.
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 7:09 amWatch out Gok Wan.
Comment by DH August 3, 2016 @ 7:05 amBy the way, Marcus was far too generous about yesterday’s “post”.
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 6:48 amThe Ikea project was my first with cynic which means over 10 years have passed. That is scarier than the Gucci fashion.
Comment by Pete August 3, 2016 @ 7:22 amDid anybody realise the interior designer was justifying her career choice?
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 7:26 amI’m not sure I understand what you mean John? If you are saying she said these things to highlight her credentials as an interior designer, I would have to disagree. There will always be some self interest in what people communicate in an interview, but she wasn’t telling us what she was recommending to her clients, but what her clients were asking her to do for them. That said, I do remember her continually reminding us how good she was at her job.
Comment by Pete August 3, 2016 @ 7:44 amYou mean more than every person who has to explain what they do to someone else?
Comment by Rob August 3, 2016 @ 7:53 amI take both your points. I asked the question because my instant reaction was that lots of wealthy people differentiate themselves with restrained good taste (for want of a better phrase) while tackiness is not restricted to the nouveau riche.
Difference from the IKEA masses does not have to mean Campbell-esque extremes.
Also she was based in Miami!
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 3:56 pmShe was based in Miami because that’s where the project was for. And of course people differentiate themselves in many ways, but that doesn’t mean her experience was wrong, acknowledging she may also have been appealing to a particular segment who like tackiness. Like 92.64% of rich Miami folk. (By Campbell standards)
Comment by Rob August 3, 2016 @ 4:04 pmI wish I’d kept my grandmas clothes, Gucci would pay me a fortune.
Comment by Bazza August 3, 2016 @ 9:12 amInteresting revelation. Did they not fit?
Comment by John August 3, 2016 @ 3:50 pm[…] written how mental Gucci have been in the past few years in both their fashion and their marketing – though on this last point, it’s been quite […]
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