{"id":811,"date":"2024-04-15T23:13:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T03:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/?p=811"},"modified":"2024-04-15T23:19:03","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T03:19:03","slug":"playful-posing-fashion-trends-in-advertising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/uncategorized\/playful-posing-fashion-trends-in-advertising\/","title":{"rendered":"Playful Posing: Fashion Trends in Advertising"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A clothing advertisement? Or two young children candidly playing? At first glance this image from Cardin\u2019s 1967 clothing collection feels like it could have been a simple familial moment captured and put in the magazine, but in reality it showcases a major fashion movement led by Pierre Cardin during the Space Age. Pierre Cardin, a French fashion designer, launched his first children\u2019s clothing line in 1966, focusing on \u201csimple, clean, streamlined outfits\u201d and showcasing children in more grown up clothes (Lesso). The advertisement that appeared in the September 22, 1967 edition of Life Magazine<\/em>, entitled \u201cParis for Young Swingers,\u201d showcases on one page three young Parisians in Space Age, geometric fashion, and on the other, two young Parisians\u2014Bettina Screyner and Aurelien\u2014dressed in Cardin\u2019s children\u2019s line that takes heavy inspiration from adult fashion at the time. Appearing separate from the photo of the three kids, Bettina and Aurelien don\u2019t feel like part of an advertisement, but instead represent an endearing moment captured between kids. Through this photo, and the initial reactions one has to it, we see how advertisement photography blurs the boundaries between objectivity, reality, and what actually constitutes an ad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the photo of Bettina and Aurelien they are the sole subjects. The bench Aurelia stands on adds movement between the two, but they<\/em> are the focal point of the image. The background, sterile except for chairs lining the wall, somehow adds both to the feeling of this image being candid, yet also points towards the idea that the scenario is fabricated. Through the backlighting, the photographer separates the lively subjects (and thus the clothing) from the bright background, drawing our focus to the motion and, unbeknownst to the audience, the clothes. Like the hand-colored engravings from Costumes Parisiens, Journal des dames et des modes<\/em>, year VII (1799-1800), these trends in publicity and print showcase an idealized view of fashion and self that allows new demographics to participate. In the Cardin ad, children are allowed to experiment with fashion, and in the engravings from Costumes Parisiens, women have space in the print world that weren\u2019t otherwise there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Costumes parisiens, Journal des dames et des modes<\/em>, year VII (1799-1800)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here, we also see Walter Benjamin\u2019s idea of the \u201caura\u201d shine through. The aura, as Benjamin defines it, is \u201ca peculiar web of space and time: the unique manifestation of a distance, however near it might be\u201d (Benjamin 20). This photograph, perhaps a moment of both candidness and posing, depicts a specific moment in time that cannot be replicated. The emphasis on the clothing also places these photos in a very specific moment, that helps convey trends of the time. When discussing aura in regards to ads it showcases the ideal the advertisers want to present to their audience, as well as how the photographs hold up as time goes on. This specific advertisement also plays with what counts as objectivity, and what can be accomplished when one paints an advertisement in a different light. When photography first became popularized through the Daguerreotype, they were valued as a way of preserving loved ones. \u201cIn our age there is no work of art which is regarded with as much attention as a photograph of oneself, one’s closest relatives and friends, one’s sweetheart’, wrote Lichtwark as early as 1907, thereby shifting the investigation from the sphere of aesthetic distinctions to that of social functions\u201d (Benjamin 22). In the photo of Bettina and Aurelien, the photographer works in between the realms of \u201caesthetic distinctions\u201d and \u201csocial functions\u201d to create an image that can be seen as either. This makes the advertisement effective because it defamiliarizes the audience with what they typically see as an ad.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Winston Cigarette advertisement. Sept. 15, 1967 Life Magazine<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This spread contrasts the majority of the advertisements seen in other magazines <\/em>during the time. The September 15, 1967 edition of Life Magazine <\/em>has many examples of what I have come to see as the typical 60\u2019s ad. In one advertisement for Winston cigarettes we see two stereotypically attractive white models posing on a pier, enjoying fishing and a Winston cigarette. These photos obviously<\/em> sell a particular lifestyle, whereas the Cardin photographs sell their products in a more covert way. Through this we see how the Cardin spread blurs objectivity to create something that transcends the idea of purely aesthetic or purely something that serves as a memory for family. Instead, the ad showcases the clothing in a real, lively, way that uses ideas of reality to present a more realistic ideal lifestyle than the Winston advertisement. On a smaller scale, the Cardin photographs showcase what Anna Andrzejewski was discussing in regards to the elephants Carl II and Rosie working in South Florida. Carl Fischer used the elephants as both labor and entertainment, which he admitted to in a promotional brochure. Andrzejewski states \u201cthe fact that the pachyderms are positioned alongside other amusements within the landscape of leisure shows that even their \u201cwork\u201d formed part of the \u201cplay\u201d (Andrzejewski para. 20). While it is a different situation, the photographs utilized by Cardin mixes advertising and play in a way that feels unique for the time, similarly to how Andrzejewski describes the work the elephants do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The caption on the Cardin image also operates as an aura that places it in a very specific time and place; it is the moment where magazine readers understand that this photo is selling a product. It reads, \u201cGarbed as a proper young lady in Cardin\u2019s flared coat with contrasting rolled hem ($60), 5-year-old Bettina Screyner is admired by Aurelien, who has added a Beatle cap to outfit shown on page 64\u201d (Paris). The phrases \u201cproper young lady\u201d and \u201cadmired\u201d reveals what demographic Cardin\u2019s clothes are targeted towards: fashionable people of high society who follow the trend of dressing their children in high style grown up clothing. While the content of the advertisement strays from others we\u2019ve seen in 1967, this caption perpetuates the gender roles seen at the time. In keeping with the \u201cgrown up vibe\u201d of the clothing, the caption implies that if another 5-year-old were to wear the designs by Cardin, they too would become proper and be admired by others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cParis for Young Swingers\u201d showcases a new age of advertising that presents products in a more subliminal way. At first glance the image seems like a cute moment captured by a family member and placed in a magazine, but on a second viewing we can see how these images blend advertising and reality to create a specific aura that represents the feelings around fashion in 1967.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Andrzejewski, Anna. \u201cThe Hidden History of Resort Elephants at Miami Beach.\u201d Edge Effects<\/em>, 28 Apr. 2023, edgeeffects.net\/miami-beach-elephants\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benjamin, Walter. \u201cA Short History of Photography.\u201d Screen<\/em>, vol. 13, 1972, pp. 5\u201326.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Journal Des Dames et Des Modes<\/em>, Costumes Parisiens, Paris, 1799.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesso, Rosie. \u201cPierre Cardin: Fashion for the Space Age.\u201d The Thread<\/em>, blog.fabrics-store.com\/2020\/01\/30\/pierre-cardin-fashion-for-the-space-age\/. Accessed 15 Apr. 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pierre Cardin. \u201cParis for Young Swingers.\u201d Life Magazine<\/em>, vol. 63, no. 12, 22 Sept. 1967, pp. 63\u201364.Winston Cigarettes. \u201cFlavor Your Fun with Winston.\u201d Life Magazine<\/em>, vol. 63, no. 11, 15 Sept. 1967, p. 55.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A clothing advertisement? Or two young children candidly playing? At first glance this image from Cardin\u2019s 1967 clothing collection feels like it could have been a simple familial moment captured and put in the magazine, but in reality it showcases a major fashion movement led by Pierre Cardin during the Space Age. Pierre Cardin, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":872,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811\/revisions\/872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arth.hamiltonlits.org\/fa-23-110\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}