Mercedes-Benz on the runway

Thoughts welcome on the LFW advertising offering from Mercedes-Benz:

I’ve been meaning to post this ad for a while but, if I’m honest I haven’t quite figured out if I think it is freshingly and strikingly simple, or just plain dull.

On first sight, it struck me as a very straightforward concept, that perfectly conveyed the brand partnership between the luxury car dealer and Fashion Week. The runway as a road, M-B as the only vehicle suitable to transport you down it – or, as a metaphor for life’s runway. Thus the glamorous audience feasting on the fashions falling off the runways of London Fashion Week are perfectly poised to see M-B as the only car to be seen dead in this season (or, hopefully a little longer, considering the investment).

I tore it from Stylist and it has sat on my desk ever since. And during that time, I’ve actually grown to be disappointed with it. The simplicity that had first so impressed me – the thought of how easy it would have been to construct and shoot – suddenly struck me as lacking the luxe I expect from an M-B ad. The lighting was so garish, the chairs so basic, the whole set so uninspired.

That infamous YSL quote of fashion fading and style remaining eternal is an interesting one to ponder in this creative context. I would punt that M-B would far rather associate themselves with style than fashion, but ordinarily their sponsorship of Fashion Weeks around the world does this well. But the ad creative above positions the Fashion Week runway at its most stark, most functional and lacking the lustre and style that we so hope to see from the M-B brand.

That said, maybe I’m reading far too much into it. Ads weren’t designed to be analysed, they were designed for instant impact; to convey a message in the time it takes for the eye to process a concept to the brain, and the brain to draw upon all its reserves of previous experience to interpret a message. My instinct liked it, my inner-annalyst did not.

I’d love to hear what you think.

THAT Balmain dress

So sequins and texture are dominating the high street right now. Why? Because they also stole the show at London Fashion Week last month. But there was one key statement piece that every fashion weekly and Hollywood superstar – from the established rock veteran to the teenage ingenue – seem to be adopting as the look of the season.

THAT Balmain dress.

The frightenly low waist-skimming neckline and statement shoulder pads define it from the multitude of sequinned numbers currently pouring forth from fashion houses and retail stores alike.

Where might you have seen it? For starters, the superb giant LFW special issue of my own personal weekly fashion bible – Sunday Times Style magazine – showcased it in all its glory in a runway shot:

© Sunday Times Style

On the same weekend, Sunday Telegraph’s big monthly fashion bible – ST – also flagged the Balmain sequins in a muted colour shoot:

© Sunday Telegraph ST

And then, the following week’s Style magazine (launch issue for their new look) featured a big splash interview with rock chick Courtney Love – and guess what they put her in for one of the looks?

© Sunday Times Style

(Perhaps thankfully discarding the slashed-to-the-waist version for the more modest front cut – both can be viewed in the Automne-Hiver 0910 collection on Balmain.com)

And then, a top starlet and fashion inspiration in my world, Blake Lively, rocked up at an Emmy after party in the very same. She even changed out of her classic red Versace awards gown before the party. A clear stamp of approval if it were still needed.

But sadly, not all of us can fork out the required £6,930 for the real thing. Fear not – Warehouse have a copycat number that is guaranteed to fly off the shelves this season. For a mere £90 as well. The danger is that you are likely to rock up at various Christmas parties this winter and experience the embarrassing she’s-wearing-the-same-dress-as-me horror, but given how widely the Balmain original is being touted around, celebs will probably be experiencing the very same. So you’ll be in good company.

When headphones became jewellery

I’ve been loving the flurry of luxury brand advertising dominating the glossy pages of all national newspaper supplements from last weekend onwards, marking the onset of London Fashion Week – or #LFW as Twitter users have re-named it in a hashtag frenzy of fashionista gossip.

No doubt a few more highlights might make the pages of this blog before the week is out, but one particular Links of London ad caught my eye in the Sunday Telegraph’s brilliant ST Fashion. As preposterously be-jewelled neckpieces provided ostentatious frosting to the sharp tailored lines of the suited collections strutting down the runway, Links seemed to be offering something a little different.

So ubiquitous have the dangling ear pieces of ipod headphones become – on school kids and cityworkers alike – that Links has decided to cast them in silver and hang them from a pretty chain. Thus creating a funky of-the-moment statement piece that fuses modern pop culture lifestyle with the striking bold style that we have come to expect from Links’ unique design.

© Links of London/Telegraph Media Group

It took a second look, but in the end it charmed me.