I have an unhealthy obsession with trawling through LIFE magazine’s photo archives, and last year while in a thrift/knick-knack store in Atlanta I purchased this edition of LIFE from 1955.
It’s with great restraint that I refrain from posting photos of the entire magazine and stick to just the car advertisements. Having recently watched Cadillac Records I think it’s poignant to post these images. The most captivating adverts from the mag, they portray an exciting era in America’s social history. 1955, a time when the States were buoyant with prosperity and the sense of opportunity in a post-war era. Cadillac Records uses the automobile to underpin notions of prosperity, the desire to ride in, own and exude wealth through the Cadillac is at the heart of the desire for success that centers the film.
This same desire for success and wealth during the suburban drive is apparent throughout these images. LIFE magazine is a fantastic chronicler of American society and even within it’s advertisements the sense of an unheralded era of prosperity during the 1950s offers a great social insight.
With television now seemingly the best medium to export compelling lengthy narratives, Martin Scorcese joins forces with HBO to create a new period TV piece entitled ‘Boardwalk Empire‘. With The Sopranos and The Wire opening the doors for acceptability on the small screen, numerous talents have made the switch from Hollywood. Actors and actresses have historically switched to the stages of London’s West End and New York’s Broadway to further artistic integrity and to develop their craft as thespians, but now a new challenge awaits. Extended television dramas have unleashed an opportunity to take a narrative much further and delve deeper emotionally with plots and characters.
The TV world has always had fantastic writers and some great plots, but increasingly jeopardized by a lack of financial backing. In the states over the last ten or so years this has changed and with the potential introduction of product placement in the UK we may well see British drama enter an unheralded era of creativity.
With David Simon’s new show Treme airing several weeks back in the States, the void left by the big two HBO dramas has now been filled for now and with Scorcese’s work rapidly approaching, the Youtube trailers certainly wet the appetite for a period drama of the highest merit. Period dramas have often lacked zest and zeal in the past, and with Mad Men taking period drama to new heights in television, the connotations have now been firmly removed from my own preconceptions where previously costume and period settings have firmly been lodged at the bottom of the pile.
Boardwalk Empire is a 1920s Prohibition epic, written by Emmy award winner Terence Winter one of the driving force behind The Sopranos and with Martin Scorcese at the helm, backed by a 50 million dollar budget, This surely can’t fail. A recreation of the story of Enoch Johnson a historic political mob figure who ran the Jersey Shore in the 1920s, his story transcends to the screen with Steve Buscemi taking the lead role. Scorcese is without a doubt the grand wizard of gangster movies and this is set to have as big as an impact on television as HBO’s other critically acclaimed exports.
I have so much respect for the Creative Control project, it’s testament to how free from constraints, with a little budget and a few connections you can create the most captivating content. If you don’t know about Damon Dash’s latest endeavor you can check my post from back in November last year. He’s brought together fantastic creative minds, stuck two fingers up at what he has proclaimed “wack world” and has put together an inspirational project and platform for young creatives.
This documentary sponsored by Stella Artois as apart of The Ritual Project gives me a lot of faith in a number of things. Working in an industry that is awash with mediocrity, creativity and branding ripped apart by ROI, buzz-words and a continual dictation by industry commentators, it’s become so contrived. Marketing, advertising, promotion whatever you want to call it, just isn’t what it was, or could be. Everyone now is an online promo expert, referring to themselves as guru’s or evangelists, none of which sit comfortably with me. A marketing genius, isn’t a genius. Einstein, Sartre, Gandhi, Che, these guys were geniuses.
Stella have sponsored and commissioned an incredible piece of work here. It’s poetic, it not only takes us back to a time when craftsmanship was key, talent was essential and perseverance were at the epicenter, but also makes us question what we see and do today within advertisement.
As a child I always wanted to work in the creative industries, knowing very little about what that statement may have entailed, I just had a captivation and obsession with magazines, music, sleeve notes, end credits, the details in everything I saw, somehow joining the dots between fashion, publication, music, art and advertising hoping that some day I would be apart of it. This video inspires me greatly and the agency Mother should be immensely proud and so should Stella for their commitment to the project. For me, working in a digital agency, it isn’t the digital element which excites me, it’s the coming together of offline activity, making that process digital and blurring the distinctions and the boundaries between the two. This has been achieved here with a hark back to the glory days, where delicate, painstaking artworkers, creatives, copywriters and eventually painters put something lasting together, branding a wall by hand. We see the remnants of this work across our towns and cities, shop fronts and stations, warehouses and walls of the last one hundred years. It’s beautiful.
In an increasingly throwaway culture, where content, words and music are strewn across a digital space in search of what’s next, you really should harp back to yesteryear, where 50 year old pieces are still visible, weathered and warn, they tell a narrative of the urban environment, of consumerism, of individuals and of society. Where are we making our mark now, and who is going to see it fifty years from today?
An exciting new project from Honda came to light this week with the launch of their Dream Factory. Very much in it’s infancy but the project is a celebration of innovators and pioneers. Those included within the project have the power and desire to follow their dreams and act with great conviction. This is something that I admire greatly, to have the guts to say, No! I’m going to do it my way, by my rules and selfishly stand up to the masses and carve a niche which can not only be appreciated from the informed and educated underbelly but can also make a crust.
The cultural engineers picked by Honda have been contributing to a limited edition book which is to be launched in May at the Dray Walk Gallery.
So the other week I tweeted about some pretty special blogs out there that probably a lot of people within my circle aren’t aware of. They may well be, but I think that it’s only right to heap even more praise on these places of interest and spread the word further about what’s getting me excited in the blogosphere. In an extended post recently I commented on those fantastic individuals who are pushing boundaries and creating inspirational content and building brands out of blogs. These places are pretty well known, but I’ve come across a couple of gems in recent times that I think you’ll dig, so here are the first three with more to follow.
Ryan has impeccable taste, an Atlanta native who works (and please correct me if I’m wrong) for Street Local and Standard. With a penchant for authentic Americana and a knack of finding some great pieces in thrift stores his fashion posts are on point. With Ryan it’s very much about him, his tastes and experiences, this I like a lot, with many logs, this one included talking quite objectively, it’s refreshing to read personal deliberation about what they’re wearing and into. Make sure you check it out.
I do not want to reveal too much about the identity of the chaps behind this place. They’re pioneers in every sense of the word, and British street culture and fashion wouldn’t be the same without them. They work for a brand with heritage steeped in London’s history since the 80s and have inspired and mobilized a community in London. Covering Workwear, E-Bay finds, graphics, history this is the place for the connosiour. Whenever I go to their office I’m in awe of the bookshelves and the pieces that adorn their walls. The blog is a digital manifestation of that place.
Anyone who knows me, is fully aware of my devotion to Man City, arguably their isn’t a stronger force in men’s fashion and street culture in the UK than the Football Casual. Casuals and Football fans have continually reinvented the looks adorned my men on the street, and men look to the terraces for their inspiration. Now the terrace (as it’s no longer there) doesn’t have the same vigour and cutting edge style demur it once had, but it’s history and impact is still for me, the most importnat part of British men’s fashion of the last twenty-years. Anthony writes for, edits and is involved with the biggest menswear publications in the UK and has been doing so for many years. He’s a Liverpool fan (don’t hold that against him) who recounts his experiences on the terraces and the clothes he wore with great zest that take you right back to 1982. Oh and his latest post on stylish Football managers is a great read!
Make sure you head over to Garbstore next Friday for this special spring celebration. A sale will be taking place at the West London store throughout the week with an exhibition of four Japanese artists. The final event on the Friday will see shopping accompanied by music and Japanese food to seal the deal. See in the cherry blossom season with style and cop a lovely Garbstore piece. You know it makes sense, easily one of my favorite brands around at the moment.
Tomorrow I will be attending this exhibition, I’ve been intending to post about this for a week or so now, but one thing leads to another and you know the rest. I own an amazing photography book entitled ‘Americans (1940-2006)’ and features photographs by such names as Larry Clark, Gordon Parks, Ed Templeton and Robert Frank amongst others. Documenting the social landscape from 1940 until 2006, this collection of images is probably my favorite coffee table book I own. I’m particularly excited to see Jacob’s images as they’re inspired by Robert Frank’s work of which I’m a huge fan. I’ll report back on the exhibition and photograph ‘Americans’ also, it truly is an amazing book which I think you’ll enjoy. If you can make it down, pop along.
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