Youth sells: How a suite tries to charm teens
Common and, as marketers believed, the win-win principle "sex sells", it seems it's time to reinterpret. The highest "sales" in the fashion industry today are not in sex - although, of course, it is still high on the marketing hierarchy, but in youth. And no, these are no longer related concepts.
“Millennial fever” was picked up even by the stamps, which always kept apart, were, relatively speaking, above that. Three years ago, it was impossible to imagine that Prada would decide to dress up a teenager on the red carpet of the American Music Awards: there were almost no big brands there, the audience of the award was too young for them. But times are changing.
Last year, an Italian brand unexpectedly dressed everyone in the ceremony for Selena Gomez - she, of course, is no longer a teenager, but most of her fans quite fit this definition. And in this he drew attention to the 17-year-old Yara Shahidi and the 15-year-old Sadie Sink - Max from the second season of “Very strange cases”. For each of the girls, the ensemble was created from scratch, which in itself is quite an honor. Shahidi also got a second, catwalk bow: knee-highs, a shirt with a striped collar, shorts and a coat embroidered with various small things (Kaya Gerber went on during the show). That is, Shahidi was the first celebrity who brought out the outfit from the spring-summer collection of Prada, intercepting it from the fans of the brand with much more seniority - like Nicole Kidman or Jessica Chastain. Even though both actresses are now at the peak of their form, and Yar Shahidi you may not have seen on the screen at all.
However, career success is not the criterion by which brands today evaluate their young wards. The face of the advertising campaign at the same Prada in the new season was the British actor Joe Alvin. He made his debut on the big screen last year, in Ang Lee's "Long Way to Billy Lynn during a break in a football match." This is not to say that the film was a great success, but Joe was still famous. Now TayTay fans, among whom are still mostly schoolchildren, leave comments on the Prada instagram account with lines from idol songs and, naturally, huskies.
Michele chopped off a whole series of costumes not for the 30 Seconds to Mars soloist, but for his colleague Harry Stiles - from the One Direction boyfriend who had been paused.
Why the marketing principles of the brand have changed so much; it's easy to guess: The Business of Fashion two years ago said that Prada is not doing very well. Then, in the first quarter of 2015, the brand’s sales level fell by 44%, and everything that has happened since then looks like an audience mobilization strategy. And the audience of a certain property is very, very young.
On it also put competitors. Do you think the main Gucci men's line ambassador is Jared Leto? No, Michele made a whole series of costumes not at all for the 30 Seconds to Mars soloist, but for his colleague Harry Stiles, who came from the One Direction boy band that was paused and is doing a solo career today. Harry is almost twice as young as Jared - and as many times more popular when measured in Instagram followers. At the same time, Gucci doesn’t even require a monogamy from a young musician: on the Victoria's Secret show, for example, he performed in the Givenchy menthol costume - another brand that actively recruits teen idols into its ranks, be it a baby-driver Ansel Elgort Chinese Timmy Xu.
The previous generation of celebrities from among teenagers and 20-year-olds looked very different. If you find photos of Hilary Duff, Aaron Carter and Lindsay Lohan in 2003 format, they will have their own things: jeans, T-shirts, boots - even if it's a film premiere. Just imagine: a denim dress, in which 19-year-old Britney appeared on the arm with Justin Timberlake at the American Music Awards in 2001, was nameless. Fashion houses did not fight for the right to wear even a pop princess, not to mention celebrities of lower rank. But the wardrobes of the current star teens and 20-year-olds are completely Chanel, Dior, Rodarte and Miu Miu. It is with these brands that the stylists of 16-year-old Rowan Blanchard, 18-year-old Kiernan Shipki and 19-year-old Emily Robinson work.
Boys from the cast of "Very strange cases" in their 13-16 years of age are familiar with the concept of made-to-measure firsthand: their costumes sit on them like a glove. And, of course, it is difficult to ignore the new image of 13-year-old Millie Bobby Brown, after moving to Calvin Klein, the young actress was bailed by Raf Simons himself. It is in her example that dissonance is especially noticeable: brands are ready to work with adolescents, but not ready to dress them as adolescents. This is a strategy for the future, but considering how fast the client of the suite is getting younger, it’s not so far. Brands want instant recognition of their sneakers, bags and sweaters - and working with star teens, they get it.
The fashion industry seems to have turned into a hunter of youth and its “coolness” - and became ashamed of its “adult and unfashionable parents”
And it's not just about fashion brands. American Vogue has put seventeen women on the cover this year. The age of ten of them is 25 years and younger. Only four over thirty. And only one - over thirty-five. The magazine made an unambiguous hint: exchanging the seventh ten, you can only be on the cover in one case - if you are Meryl Streep, the owner of three Oscars with the perspective of the fourth ).
The fashion industry seems to have turned into a hunter of youth and its “coolness” - and became embarrassed by its “adult and unfashionable parents.” In their role are mature buyers, the existence of which fashion is now struggling as if trying to deny. Although they are just the majority.
The fashion industry has always experienced affection for youth and excellence (and no one is obliged to ignore them). But the harsh laws of the fashion market, where the elderly were unequivocally preferred by the young, full by the thin, and the poor by the rich, were much criticized for discrimination. The last seasons that fashion demonstratively holds under the slogan of diversity, it would seem, forever shaken the old rules. All the more surprising today is the exceptional fashion interest in schoolchildren and their idols.
Photo:Calvin Klein, Prada
