Flicking through October magazines I kept seeing this image. Paul Smith's a/w ad campaign, personally I think adverts are aspirational. They make you want to be a part of the image/idea, and therefor your buying into the lifestyle and image the brand are selling. I don't then know what to think of the above image, it's bleak, unglamorous and a little scruffy. It definitely doesn't make me want to rush out and buy the clothes. I now androgyny is in but you can still be boyishly glamorous just look at Alexa Chung.
And the colours are so bleak, mainly black with a little colour and white. Not exciting or eye catching. I love black and white photography it can be so glamorous and beautiful, just look below at Valentino's s/s 2011 campaign. So simple, so stunning.
Below that is Valentino's a/w campaign (both btw are shot by David Sims), which like Paul Smiths ad has a lot of shadow and dark but its not overpowering and merely adds to the beauty of the light part. The two images are so similar yet a million miles apart in my opinion. While I stopped in confusion at Paul Smiths, I wanted to cut Valentino's out and stick it on the wall... and then go and buy their clothes! Which is all the difference I think, I merely now flick the page past Paul Smiths ad, while I've bought into Valentino's lifestyle.
