Abercrombie & Fitch Helps-Out The USA's Image Abroad

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

I’ve had a change of heart – Abercrombie & Fitch is now on my “go-to” retail list. Two events happened that changed my perspective on this mammoth chain.

For the past year, I’ve had a perverse kind of fun knocking my tween daughter’s obsession with ABERCROMBIE & FITCH. Those of you who follow TheFE know that I’ve tweeted – a lot – while suffering through a shopping excursion to our local Abercrombie.
It’s overload at every level of the senses: the smell – “Have you tried the latest fragrance” as we’re at the register just seconds from escape.
Our verbal response, “Ahhh, yes, thx, but I can’t decide today, there are so many…..”
Our internal response, “As IF I could differentiate between the six+ fragrances assailing me.”
The other peeve – the less than stellar quality of these made in China items that retail at full price at inflated price points.
Everything changed on my last store visit two weeks ago when we went in to buy a bikini for the seventh grade end-of year pool party. Bored, I idly fingered the fabric expecting Wal-Mart – like quality. Shock! The quality of these suits was as good as that a few doors down at J. Crew, whom I have religiously bought my bikinis from for the past decade. All of a sudden, the glasses came off and I looked at the store with an entirely different perspective and with that came a set of conclusions.
1. A&F is a feat of genius branding.
2. Lensman BRUCE WEBER perfectly captures the “American Dream”, such as it is in this day and age.
Sadly, the dream may not really exist anymore due to the recession, and tech, which has forever changed our world perspective, BUT after gazing at Bruce’s shots, I remember being young in the late seventies and feeling and looking like the kids in the ads. Beach bonfires at the little beach off Tod’s Point, the super slow ferry to Nantucket, rope bracelets we got there and wore all summer until they had turned a dark dirty gray, pukka shell necklaces, and long straight center-parted hair.

The SECOND event that put me in the A&F camp took place at a BBQ earlier this week. There, we met some soccer coaches from the professional German tea, ENERGIE COTTBUS, who were going home the next day.
The subject of ABERCROMBIE & FITCH came up. One of the coaches and his wife were worried about how they were going to get 50 lbs of Abercromie & Fitch merch through customs without getting slammed with an overweight charge. [They put all the shoes in their carry-on as –so far – no one bothers to weight that.] Neat trick, Ronnie!
When I asked them WHY they bought so much A&F, his wife said, “It’s so American, and we want that”.
In this time, when national morale is at such a low due to Iraq, the Recession, and now the BP disaster, it’s good to know that the world still loves the USA.

To shop Abercrombie & Fitch, visit, www.abercrombieandfitch.com

Image of Bruce Weber with Vogue Italia's Editor in Chief, Franca Sozzani, from www.fashionologie.com
*Bruce is a regular contributor to Vogue Italia. To see more of his work, pick up a copy!

Does World Cup Coaches’ Sideline Style Translate to Success on the Field?

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY

We’ve always heard that you need to “dress for success”.
The idea really took-off in 1975, when John T. Molloy first published Dress For Success, his blockbuster best-selling how-to book. Molloy is credited for creating the idea of “power dressing”.
It’s pretty well established that you can “power dress” for the corporate world, but how about if you’re one of the coaches at the FIFA World Cup Games? The players are the players, and they’re resigned to wearing whatever the team colors are and jersey’s and shorts tied-into their sponsor affilates.

*THE COACHES though, are a different story.
Watching a few of the World Cup games, it occurred to me the difference in style of the Coaches.
Does “dressing for success” apply to the team coaches? Can we predict the success of the teams based on how their respective coaches dress?


DIEGO MARADONA, probably the most famous of the coaches, is now trying to lead his native Argentina to World Cup Glory. He wears watches on both wrists. I saw this on an early a.m. Google story and thought it looked stylish. Ever since he landed in the Louis Vuitton ad, this guy has gone WAY up in my standings.
Brooks Peck reports, “Maradona now wears a pair of his own Hublot special edition watches that feature a silhouette of the former No. 1raising his arms in victory (or perhaps to knock in a goal).”

Hublots ring-in at $11,000+. The watches were definitely styling, and Argentina defeated Nigeria: 1-0.
The designer suit looks serious too.
Image from Yahoo.com. 6/13/10


By contrast, Nigeria’s Coach, LARS LAGERBACK, favors tracksuits but he just can’t carry them the way CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA [who we examine next] can. Maybe it’s the total, package: the receding hairline, the specs and the less than fit physique. Then again, maybe it was the disheveled tee shirt.


These FIFA Games are the sixth World Cup Games CARLOS ALBERTO PARREIRA has coached. He’s here coaching the home team this time. So far, South Africa has tied Mexico in the opening game. Like MARADONA, he also looks in charge, dressed in a charcoal gray suit and tie, but the tracksuits he tends to favor also inspire confidence in both his players and the audience. Although he’s 67 years old, he looks very fit and like the kind of coach who might actually do some of the training workouts with his team. Coaches like this are Gods to their players, and as such, can get that extra bit out of them that can make the difference in the big game. I’m predicting some victories for Team South Africa.




And, finally, we get to the USA. Our Coach, BOB BRADLEY, favors tee shirts and his team track suit. He looks as rugged and totally buff, in that Special Forces Marine – Vin Diesel kind of way, striding-out on the field.

FABIO CAPPELLO, England’s Italian Coach, looks every bit the quintessential Milanese dressed in a snazzy suit, as he watches from the sidelines. Perhaps his penchant for designer suits comes from the time he spent playing for Milan from 1976-1988. That’s coincidentally the time that Italian designer, Giorgio Armani, started coming into his own, and becoming a household name.

So, in the end, what does it all mean? Does “dress for success” really matter? Does the suit make the man, and by extension, make for a winning team? We’ll know the answers to all of these questions a month from now, when it’s all over. In the meantime, keep on watching!

IMAGES:
L. Lagerback post Argentina-Nigeria FIFA game, from www.u.goal.com [holding yellow posts]
Carlos Alberto Parreira [in suit], from http://www2.unopar.br/unoparnews/imagens
C.A. Parreira in South African Team uniform, from,
http://blogs.jovempan.uol.com.br
Fabio Cappello in action on the field: http://footyfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/england-coach-fabio-capello.jpg
[F.Cappello on right],from http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/philmcnulty/barwick_capello438x318.jpg]
http://footyfootball.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/england-coach-fabio-capello.jpg