2023 will be remembered as the year in which Saint Laurent acquired some Nirvana t-shirts from the 90s, and sold them under his brand for thousands of euros. The most expensive, with a price of about 3,500 euros, was one with the design of his album, from 1992. Incesticide. Good news for all those who saved their camis old Iron Maiden songs, but bad news for him merchandising of rock. At that moment the peak of this obsession with band t-shirts was reached.
But the fever merchandising It hasn't been destroyed, it's just been transformed, becoming more sophisticated and going beyond tour memories. Rosalía puts her name on tarot cards, Phoebe Bridgers sells joggers with skeleton print, Devendra Banhart makes engravings, and King's wool throws towels, lighters and pearl necklaces. It could be said that the merchor that thingism that artists use to promote their work, is the new streetwear, with limited editions that disappear in moments and creative direction typical of a brand. A Beyoncé, Lorde or Tyler, the Creator sweatshirt can spark the same fury as Wales Bonner's adidas Samba, and there are no bots buying sneakers and then reselling them.
However, it is the film industry that is driving this trend, with the merch most desirable of the moment. Movie promotional products have become the most effective way to communicate that you know what the topic is about. These garments have an attractive design and send messages about aesthetic and cultural preferences, but unlike rock t-shirts, no one will ask the wearer to name three songs by the band to show that they really follow it.
The trend is led by A24, the American distributor of films and series such as Midsommar, Everything at once everywhereSW Euphoria. This independent production company acts like a fashion brand, with exclusive clothing, capsule collections, amazing collaborators and a membership service that gives priority access to its deliveries. Apart from the sweatshirt Priscilla with your own waiting list, on the website of A24 incense burners for sale Midsommar, caps with the production company's logo, and artist fanzines. Among many other products out of stock, there is the eyeliner and mascara kit to recreate the eye makeup of Priscilla in collaboration with Half Magic, the beauty brand created by the makeup artist Euphoria Donni Davy. A24's creative director, Zoe Beyer, has known how to confront the end of hegemonic pop culture, and attract an audience with very personal criteria, who often go to the web to 'hunt' for the latest pieces or unlikely collaborations.
Film director Chino Moya believes that film promotional items have mainly changed audiences. “I grew up in the eighties, the golden age of merch and for this reason I like it. At that time, products from the highest-grossing films were marketed, focused on a children's and youth audience,” he reasons. “Instead, today it is aimed at adults looking for nostalgia and a cult element. Above all, interesting things are done in genres such as science fiction or horror. Mandyby Panos Cosmatos is a good example.”
For the premiere of his feature UndergodsMoya sold posters created by different artists, as well as t-shirts, lobby cards and vinyls of the film's soundtrack. “And it would have produced more things,” explains the director. “But merchandising is an investment. You don't make money with it, sometimes you don't even recover the expense, but it does help the identity of the film and contributes to its visibility.”
At the core of this phenomenon is the evolution of the fan phenomenon, which has gone from being a tangential element of an almost underground nature to today being included in marketing strategies. Their role today has less to do with New Kids On The Block fans crying at the airport, and more to do with shareholders who invest in collectors' pieces and contribute to the spread of creative work. In the film industry, which still depends on festivals and conventions, fans have a new power, but they have entered fully into the wheel of commodification. In the 90s, Pulp Fiction fans had to make their own merchandising by printing covers on Fruit Of The Loom t-shirts. Today there are garments dedicated to Tarantino's legendary title even in fast fashion brands.
“Much of popular culture happens online, and the concept of a fan has been dematerialized and virtualized. This type of merchandising offers fans physical souvenirs of the culture they love, talismans they can touch and wear,” reflects Jonah Weiner, co-author and co-founder of the newsletter dedicated to the analysis of non-obvious style. BlackBird Spyplane. “Personally I consider that the vintage merchwhich you find on eBay, has more charm, but when the movie came out Uncut Gems In 2019, Online Ceramics released a commemorative t-shirt and sweatshirt. I loved the movie and the design was good, so I bought one. “I haven't worn it for a long time, but it's a memory that I like to have.”
The million-dollar question is whether we are going too far and leading to a trivialization of culture, exactly the opposite of what the original intentions intended. He hype has propelled the notoriety of promotional clothing in other industries such as literature. The page Minor Canon sells a collection of caps and t-shirts titled dead authors with references to literary figures such as Roberto Bolaño, Clarice Lispector or Lucia Berlin. Weiner believes it's a similar ad to the high-end Nirvana T-shirts. “These Minor Canon caps seemed to me like a kind of pivotal moment, where we reached saturation and began to understand that we don't need physical markers to commemorate and advertise every corner of the culture we like,” he argues. “Maybe there is a point in the “that we run the risk of harming the culture we love by turning it into mere clothing.”
The novel about video games Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin, says something like there comes a time when taste surpasses creative abilities, and the only way to overcome it is to continue doing things with passion. Linking to the snobbery that the merchandising of artistic products can arouse, it would be very discouraging if we saw art as a vehicle of taste. Let's take the garment hand dyed by the artist himselflet's buy the wonderful exclusive poster, but let's not forget to shiver in the dark watching the movie, let's not stop getting excited at the concert.
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