Daily Archives: April 2, 2017

The Zeitgeist Movement

Presents the

The 9th Annual ZDay

The 2017 Main Event will take place:

at the New Globe Theatre inBrisbane, Australia

on March 25-26th, 2017

Click Here For Tickets

Join international activists and presenters as we discuss how science and technology are leading the way towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Discuss how the current money-market system we live in is responsible for issues such as poverty, corruption, pollution, homelessness, war and starvation and how our understanding of the system can help us become the change we want to see in the world.

Casey Davidson, The Zeitgeist Movement Australia National Coordinator will be hosting the event, joined by change-makers from all over the world.

You will also have the opportunity to join in

We look forward to meeting you on our journey towards global unity and abundance.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING TICKETS:

As Australia is a long way for many of our regular main event presenters, as well as some other well-regarded changemakers who support TZM, we're reaching out to the wider Zeitgeist community to make contributions through ticket sales and phantom tickets (that's for people who can't actually get here but would like to contribute). If you would like to provide a more significant contribution, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (to avoid eventbrite fees).

The Australian chapter of the Zeitgeist Movement are just people - we all work just like everyone else to make ends meet, but put our hard earned dollars into making this event a reality. We have managed to cut costs where possible - thanks to Paul from the New Globe Theatre for providing a free amazing venue and others who are volunteering their skills and knowledge. We also provide free food and exchange services wherever we can, to promote the values we stand for. However, some costs, such as flights for international guests are unavoidable. We need to raise about $25,000. Please think about this when considering your ticket choice. We are also providing some free tickets for people who are avid supporters of the Movement but are in a difficult financial situation. If you'd like to appy for a free ticket, please completethis funny quiz and we will email you with your results and possibly your ticket.

Go here to see the original:

ZDay Global - The Zeitgeist Movement's "Zeitgeist Day ...

See-now-buybye? And then there were four. Of the five major brands that have beat the drum for see-now-buy-now within the last 12 to 18 months, one has drastically shifted course from the strategy in the last two weeks, specifically Tom Ford. That leaves Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry and Rebecca Minkoff as the main poster children for the movement. The industry at large was never wholly sold on the idea of see-now-buy-now, so how does Fords defection bode for it?

It depends on whom you ask.

Ford alone might not be enough to scare off the power brands that have embraced the concept, but there is a growing sense that the momentum that drove see-now-buy-now into the zeitgeist for the September 2016 shows has dwindled. For now, all of the remaining designers who have implemented see-now-buy-now fashion shows are planning to go forward with them, at least in the short term. That doesnt mean there isnt some degree of wait-and-see going on.

Right now, its doing well, said Ralph Lauren, who radically shifted his model beginning in September, staging a see-now-buy-now collection show even after he had already shown and produced a fall 2016 collection the previous February. Lauren noted that opting for immediacy drew new online retailer partners to pick up the collection. As for the most recent lineup shown in February, he said the reaction has been positive but its still early days, with only roughly six weeks of selling on which to base feedback.

If you call me in two months, then I might say it slowed down; I dont know, said Lauren. Its working right now. If it doesnt work, I wont do it. I dont think its written in blood. Lauren does plan to stage a see-now-buy-now show in September.

Burberry was one of the earliest adapters of see-now-buy-now, shifting to a seasonless, twice-a-year show strategy in September 2016. The company plans to continue with the model, which is working well, although sales figures for the runway alone are never disclosed. Burberry confirmed that a number of items sold out online and in-store following both see-now-buy-now shows, including the military-style jackets from the September show, and the Bridle bag from the February one.

Christopher Bailey, chief creative and chief executive officer, has always taken a flexible position. We dont have all the answers and were working through this, he said following the September show. There are lots of things to learn, were going to take stock and look at it in a very pragmatic way.

Two brands that are resolute on the subject are Tommy Hilfiger and Rebecca Minkoff. Both mounted grand-scale productions for their most recent fashion shows in Los Angeles, turning them into massive consumer events rife with programming, celebrities, influencers and retail partnerships, creating social media bonanzas in the process.

Its fair to say that no one has invested in see-now-buy-now as an experience the way Hilfiger has. His version of it fully branded and titled Tommy Now began in September when he took over the South Street Sea Port in New York City for a fashion show/carnival called Tommy Pier, to which 1,000 consumers were invited. The scene escalated for Februarys extravaganza, Tommyland, a music festival-themed event, including a concert by Fergie, that drew 2,000 consumers in addition to 1,000 other guests to Venice Beach, California.

The results have been huge for Hilfiger. I would say its been nothing short of incredibly successful and beyond our expectations, said Hilfiger. We think were really rewriting the rule book, at least for us.

He has the data to back it up. Within 24 hours of Tommyland, sales on tommy.com increased by more than 150 percent versus September. Theres been double-digit year-over-year growth across the womens business globally for the second season in a row. And following the February show, more than 50 percent of the traffic to tommy.com in North America and Europe came from first-time visitors for the brand.

Were even seeing a halo effect on sales numbers across all our divisions globally, said Avery K. Baker, chief brand officer at Tommy Hilfiger. Its created an incredible amount of visibility and excitement in general in the brand from consumers around the world.

Tommy isnt the only key name in Tommyland. Theres another star pulling customers into the brands orbit, a big one: Gigi Hadid. The see-now-buy-now shows include Hilfiger Collection as well as the popular Tommy x Gigi capsule that Hilfiger codesigns with Hadid, his brand ambassador.

In terms of hot models and hot models as influencers, Hadid is It for the moment. Her only competition is her little sister Bella and Kendall Jenner. Hilfiger had an eye for her relatively early, securing Hadid as a brand ambassador in December 2015. Her profile has only grown, and he knows it.

Gigi has been has been a big magnet, said Hilfiger. Were certainly selling out of the Gigi collection first, but it has been beneficial to the entire brand and particularly our womens business.

But what happens when Hadid isnt the hottest thing anymore, or more likely, her contract expires? The terms of Hilfiger and Hadids agreement werent disclosed, but no doubt the brand is thinking about how to extend it and how to move on when the time comes. For now, We have a great relationship with her and its phenomenal to have the association, said Hilfiger.

If she didnt reach the Hilfiger stratosphere, Rebecca Minkoff was up there. She was one of the pioneers of see-now-buy-now, getting onboard with a consumer show in February 2016 and gradually scaling up in production. Her February show was a major endeavor, for which she took over an entire Los Angeles shopping center, The Grove, for a day. The actual runway show, which seated 500, was the finale to a day of programming that included a Nordstrom and Zella activewear-sponsored yoga class, manicures by Essie, hair and makeup services by Glamsquad, a Lauren Conrad pop-up, a question-and-answer session with Keke Palmer, and a Q&A between Minkoff and Clique Media Group cofounder Hillary Kerr. The entire event was open to the public.

We were thrilled with that experience, said Uri Minkoff, the companys cofounder and ceo. The idea of releasing product at the right time in an experiential fashion with tremendous partnerships of other brands and properties and influencers they really got an overwhelming amount of digital impressions, media, support and the resulting sales numbers. Were just blown away by it. For us, the model is really working.

There are significant differences between Ford, Lauren, and Burberry and Hilfiger and Minkoff, not least of which, the fact that the former three are traditional luxury brands, while Hilfiger and Minkoff cater to a contemporary customer. The contrast in audience is huge. Consider the guest list at Fords elegant, intimate, highly exclusive see-now-buy-now fashion show in September held at the former Four Seasons restaurant in New York. There may have been a handful of people who also attended Hilfigers event mainly a few editors, Hadid and her fellow models.

Otherwise, the consumer who is drawn to a Coachella-esque fashion show on Venice Beach is probably not the same one shopping the Tom Ford collection rack. All parties are aware of this.

Being in business for 35 years has been exciting for me, said Hilfiger. As the founder of the brand, my fear has always been to lose the youthful consumer. Ive always been afraid of the brand aging. This allowed us to reengage with a youthful consumer, and I would say, reset our business.

When Uri and Rebecca Minkoff decided to head to The Grove, there were several factors involved weather-suitable for the clothes that were about to drop; the fact that California, and Los Angeles in particular, is Minkoffs strongest point of e-commerce but the location was also chosen for the people it would attract. It comes back to, when youre really looking at a consumer-related show, youre looking at scale of audience, right? said Uri. How much audience can you reach that you can mobilize and that you can move? It could be that theres a big, large spectacle. It could be a location. It could be the people that are involved. There needs to be some sort of an element of, how do you garner as much of the right type of audience as possible thats going to convert?

The thinking behind immediate fashion is that customers are tired of seeing images of collections on Instagram and online that are unavailable for six months. Theres no doubt theres merit to this concept, but its hardly so simplistic and it varies up and down the fashion echelons. Ford himself said he still believes in the see-now-buy-now idea. Doesnt everyone want everything now? he said. But there are systemic scheduling conflicts.

The store shipping schedule doesnt align with the fashion show schedule, said Ford, noting that he kept his fall collection off the sales floor until the day after his show in September, insisting that his retail partners do the same, and lost a month of selling time as a result. The means didnt justify the end. We had merchandise sitting in stockrooms all over the world.

Perhaps no one has been more vocal about his belief in see-now-buy-now than Ken Downing, senior vice president and fashion director of Neiman Marcus, which is Fords top stockist in the U.S. Downing said the retailer experienced no downside to holding the see-now-buy-now collections until the runway shows had gone live. We, as a retail organization, saw great success not only from the fall mens and womens collections that walked the runway, said Downing. We saw a halo effect with our beauty business fragrance and in color and makeup. And because not everything was shipped that was shown on the runway and those goods continued to arrive in stores, it gave our sales associates impetus to reach out to the customer and bring them back into the store, so we saw great success from it.

Downing said every brand that participated in see-now-buy-now Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Burberry, an Alice + Olivia capsule, Rebecca Minkoff saw positive results in store. He is not happy to hear of anyone backing away from the concept. Technology isnt slowing down, nor is the customers desire for immediate gratification, he said. The industry needs to catch up and wake up.

Some houses have gotten into instant fashion on a smaller, more manageable level, such as Michael Kors. I have consistently believed that for most of our collection customers, the current calendar of showing in advance works for their lifestyle and the majority of their shopping habits, said Kors. We have offered a limited group of products in limited quantities for the past three seasons and have found that it is an interesting addition to our retail mix that appeals to our most avid fashionista client. Each season we will continue to assess what kind of mix we think is most captivating for this client.

For many of the smaller houses that dipped a toe into see-now-buy-now for spring, it was short-lived. Loewe had a few items available for spring, but didnt revive it for fall. Paco Rabanne also participated in see-now-buy-now on an item basis for spring, but declined to comment when asked about its plans to continue it for fall. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler tested see-now-buy-now in February 2016, launching Early Edition, a capsule of eight runway looks and four versions of the Hava handbag, all produced in limited quantities. The experience didnt yield the results theyd hoped for and it ended up being a one-season thing.

We work by instinct, and we try to respond to the moment we are living in until the last minute before the show; anticipating and locking down the collection months in advance was simply impossible for us and put too much strain on our organization, said Hernandez. While the Early Edition collection brought increased visibility to our New York stores and led to new customer acquisition, ultimately we decided see-now-buy-now was not our companys way forward, said McCollough. Instead we decided to shift our design calendar in order to deliver fashion to stores earlier. We continue to believe that our collections need a longer time on the floor at retail for full-price selling.

To that end, Proenza Schouler is moving to the Paris couture schedule beginning in July.

Its difficult to put a finger on a single problem. If you dont have a significant built-in audience and direct-to-consumer channels, its simply not worth it to conduct business in this way. There are supply-chain issues, scheduling buys before the shows, fending off the press. Uri Minkoff said he saw the transition as a two-year process of rethinking the business, and the company is about a year into it.

But there are other issues, too. Designing a collection and shelving it for six months before styling a show and revealing it to the public zaps creative spontaneity. Theres also a question about how much the luxury client cares about waiting for product.

At the high luxury and luxury level, they dont, said Robert Burke, chairman and ceo of consultancy Robert Burke Associates. Theyre used to it and theres a certain anticipation. I dont think its nearly the issue that people thought it was going to be. Burke pointed out that except for Burberry, the European houses were never interested in participating.

Camera della Moda president Carlo Capasa said, Those who do have instant fashion, its just a small part. Its not easy in terms of timing to produce the pieces and it is also risky, how much can you sell? Designers want to create desire and be influential. Instant fashion is more for brands that are more marketing- or product-oriented, or driven by merchandisers. But those that have the ambition to influence the future and work on research are not into it.

To a large extent, when were talking about the brands for which see-now-buy-now is working, were no longer talking about a fashion show in the traditional sense. Its a product launch and marketing extravaganza. If executing on a level such as Tommyland or Rebecca Minkoff-takes-The-Grove is essential to success, is it necessary to tether the events to a proper fashion week?

Hilfiger and Minkoff tiptoed off-calendar just slightly with their last events, both hauling to Los Angeles a few days ahead of New York Fashion Week. Hilfiger said he was open to taking his show to new locations, though he couldnt disclose what the plan for next season is. Asked if he would consider going off-calendar altogether, he said, We believe we could go off-calendar and see an incredible amount of success. But being on-calendar allows us to include all of the buyers and editors who are working on either the next season or working in fashion show mode at the time.

Steven Kolb, the ceo and president of the CFDA, said the organization has been mulling the idea of a separate see-now-buy-now program for designers partaking in it to tack onto the end of New York Fashion Week. Its just a seed of an idea now, and they still have to weigh the interest level. We wont know until we start to schedule September if [see-now-buy-now] is significantly diminished, said Kolb. We always imagine people are going to try things and its going to work for some and not for others.

Regardless, there is one thing in all this that is working for Kolb: For me, the big story is not so much see-now-buy-now, but that Tom Ford is showing at New York Fashion Week.

ALSO

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That '70s runway show: A Rebecca Minkoff showcase of groovy girl power at the Grove

Tommy Hilfiger, Gigi Hadid dip into the '70s for a 'fun and youthful' fashion show in Venice Beach

See the original post:

Tom Ford is over instant fashion. What does this mean for the future of see-now-buy-now shopping? - Los Angeles Times

A quartet of conceptual artists feasts on the corruption-ridden Nigerian political landscape in an exhibition taking place in Lagos. But this exhibition offers no glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel, Okechukwu Uwaezuoke discovers

VISUAL ARTS

Odd title, At Work. This could be a ploy to stimulate reflection. Isnt that, after all, the whole point of conceptual art? May be not entirely. For the less scholarly exhibition habitus would rather be on the look out for Wow! Moments.

Alas, not many of such moments are evident in this four-man exhibition still ongoing at Kia Showroom along Akin Adesola Street in Victoria Island, Lagos. Besides Olumide Onadipes mixed-media installation Conversation with Self, there is hardly any other flicker of novelty in the hall.

Close-up on Onadipe. Experimentation, by the way, is the theme song of his studio practice. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka-trained sculptor apparently has a predilection for manipulating tactile materials.

This is how come such found objects as polythene bags, metal, wood, jute bags and glass seem pivotal in the creation of his recent works. In a bid to repurpose these objects, he gives them new forms through a process that involves melting and twisting. Thus, the artist as part of his residency project with the Arthouse Foundation (the organisers of the exhibition) examines how individuals interact with their environments.

Among his offerings at this exhibition, which opened on March 18, the mixed-media works Road Map to New Lagos, Wheel In, Wheel Out and World Apart proudly stand out. They indeed proclaim his artistic credo.

Move over to Tyna Adebowales acrylic, pen and ink on canvas portraits of black African women. Obviously, this Auchi Polytechnic graduate is fixated on gender issues. Of course, these complemented by tangential issues like sexuality and identity.

Take the images of her women as in Bodii, Mystyk and Tom series. They are densely-patterned by traditional design motifs. Before them, the viewer needs to linger a little longer. Defiantly, they seem to inveigle their way into the viewers consciousness from their section of the exhibition hall. Ditto her 10-panel acrylic, pen and ink on canvas graffiti-like work Here, Here and Now.

What else are they there for, but to do the bidding of their creator? Through them, Adebowale stridently rails against the marginalisation of her gender. It is understandable, therefore, that they are part of her residency project with the Arthouse Foundation. Talking about residencies, the artist, who is currently an artist-in-residence at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, had previously completed residency programmes at the Instituto de Arte e Cultura Yoruba in Brazil and Asiko Art School in Ghana.

The other artist, Dipo Doherty, seems more at home with colourful stylised grotesque depictions of human forms. These forms, which seem largely inspired by the African traditional art, also hint at some Western and modernist influences. His residency project indeed orbits around his contrasting colour scheme in which a viewer easily spots vestiges of his monochromatic expression.

Yet, what would his paintings be without these contrasting hues and patterns? Thanks to them, a viewer discerns a hint of emotional intensity or restlessness in the paintings. Take the acrylic on canvas works like Eden, Woman Bathing at Night, Woman Bathing on a Beach, Abstract Figure and General on a Horse, for instance. The fragmented, distorted parts of the figures create an illusion of movement. The dispersed facial features, hair and limbs suggest the still images in the various stages of an activity. It is as though the artist is hurriedly documenting these activities.

Naturally, he would have to jettison the traditional canons of aesthetics to be able to achieve this. Besides, to be visually intelligible to many aficionados, he would first have to claw his way from out of the gloominess of his ethereal environment. Truth be told, the grotesqueness of these forms are consistent with the contemporary Zeitgeist.

But this is not all the University of Virginia graduate offers. If there are figures or forms in his patterned and somewhat blurry Ecstasy series, they are hardly noticeable. Indeed, there are forms lurking in the midst of the somewhat subdued acrylic and oil colours.

In his Covalence series fragments of photographic prints pasted on board peer at the viewer from beneath a slapdash arrangement of burnt rulers. Here too, the artists conceptual whims overrule the viewers clamour for some form of coherence. Doherty, a finalist for the a prize at the inaugural ArtX Lagos held late last year, is not entirely unknown in the Lagos scene. For he had recently held solo exhibitions at the Victoria Island-based Red Door Gallery and the Lekki-based Nike Art Centre.

Finally, there is Jelili Atiku. This 2015 Prince Claus Award recipient is best known for his performance art, though he is basically a multimedia artist. His fixation on the somewhat tumultuous political environment provides the fodder for his drawings, installations, sculpture, photography, video and performance art.

For his residency project, he deploys performances in public spaces for his exploration of the Nigerian socio-political experiences from 1914. To this end, he conceives a fictional political party he calls the Peoples Welfare Party (P. W. P.) through which he plunges headlong into the shark infested waters of Nigerian politics. The partys manifestos, printed beside a portrait of the artist smiling for the camera, suggest that it is a messianic platform for the liberation of the suffering masses from their kleptocratic leaders.

A highly committed artist, he takes a swipe at the decadent political environment and dysfunctional government policies. His oil on paper drawings, which are conceptualisation of the performance Recession No Be Mistake (Manifesto III) , seethe with so much anger and cynicism. They complement the actual performances depicting a black-clad, cape-draped figure, whose head seems encased in what could pass for a stash of antlers or antennae. This Satan-like figure, also holding a white miniature cow in his hand, could be the artists perception of the ethereal form of recession.

If his other performances Senate, Are You a Rotten Head? (Manifesto IV) and HUNHUN-UN-UN (Manifesto V) seem more synergistic than the former, it is because they involve a handful of collaborators. Nonetheless, they are only a foretaste of what should be expected from this graduate of the University of Lagos and Ahmadu Bello University at the official Nigerian exhibition of the 2017 Venice Biennale.

Meanwhile, At Work, which is on until Friday, April 7, leaves a trail of sordid tales across the exhibition hall. The exhibiting artists, who are so caught up in the web of Nigerias self-created entanglements, offer the audience little hope for the future. Surely, their depictions of the contemporary realities is no ashen heap from which one expects Phoenix to rise.

Read the original here:

LOOK FOR THE ART IN THE EXPRESSION - THISDAY Newspapers