have you ever visited the abercrombie and fitch store here in nyc? i went in the 5th avenue store for the first time this past weekend. i have some friends in town visiting and i have been doing the tourist thing. (i've not been around to peep in and see what you're up to, i plan to catch up when my peeps are gone:) when walking up 5th avenue my interest usually is in visiting st. patrick's cathedral. it's really beautiful. but my friends wanted to buy a few things in a&f so we went in. i normally walk right by as they often have half naked men standing at the door, that really do look like the above photo. i always (as i did when i went in) feel embarrased. i feel embarrased to look. it was all a bit much for me and i did not enjoy it at all. in case you don't know the story, the shop sells classic casual clothes, but the thing is all who work there are model-like and half dressed. it's like a disco with clothes all around. the lights are low and the music is pumping. i was thinking 2 things. one, get me out of here. and 2, does your mother know what you are doing...
yesterday while watching david letterman on television he shared the new cover shot of the sports illustrated swim suit edition. again i was embarrassed all over again. and i have to ask myself is this all really too much? and how old am i that i can no longer look at 'attractive models?'but i think it's about something else. of course it is about s**, but i think i miss a day or two when things were advertised with a bit more creativity as well as beauty. things were so pretty or lovely, they made you blush and want to have them. this stuff shares nothing for the heart, only the groins i guess.
still it's all too much at the risk of sounding and seeming and being prudish.
(if these photos have offended you, i apologise, that wasn't my intention. i only wanted to make a point.)
6 comments:
I feel the same way. Going into A&F is like being felt up by the high school quarterback when you're not sure you even like him. I always feel kind of violated.
Well, too much is really too much. What I mean is that it is usually a lot more enticing to leave space for imagination. Giving hints but not overdoing it - and this applies to many aspects of life - is a key to some stylishness. But the tricky thing is that it is quite difficult to master, that state of art. The good and hope-providing point is that we can all do our part in living our lives with poise.
I'm glad you brought this theme up, Audrey!
You haven't offended me at all. I agree with you. Why does that model have to pull down her suit bottom. She is showing enought without doing that. I have always hated Abercrombie. I am not a prude, but you don't have to serve it on a platter to just anyone. I think most people would agree and probably most 20 year old's tool. Have fun with your visitors.
My Nephew, who is 14, and I stopped by an A & F store recently, he was so freaked by the giant male torsos and strong cologne, he had to wait for me outside.
I agree with you completely. I always ask myself, "Would Audrey Hepburn have done this? Would Cary Grant or Gregory Peck?"
Of course, the answer is always no. I was in an Abercrombie store a year or so ago, the lighting is so dim, how can the customers assess the merchandise? Also, they spray their cheap-smelling cologne so profusely into the air, that you can smell it even outside the store. These sordid advertising techniques, like you say--the groin, not the heart---are really scraping the bottom of the barrel in my opinion. As for the swimsuit cover, that is porn, in my opinion.
Hey, I am so, so on the same wavelength as you...
As a mother of two teenage girls, not only do I feel uncomfortable when I have accompanied them to A&F shops (and other similar places) but I've also felt extremely concerned about the kind of world I've brought them into; a world where girls (and more recently teenage boys) are seen as nothing much more than sexual objects used to either sell luxury goods or "titilate" dirty old men (the London shop was full of older men eyeing up both the pretty young boys and girls...!!!!) -
I don't think of myself as a prude, however, I am a lady and, as such, I believe in (old-fashioned) class whether it be through dress, poise, language, manners...whatever - and this is the example I, and people like, give to our kids and the world...
Thank you for writing this post - great to hear so many other people (no doubt a lot younger than myself) on the the same wavelength...
Bon dimanche..:)
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