Guess was established in 1981 by the Marciano brothers, who left the south of France in pursuit of the American dream. Inspired by a European influence, the Marcianos put their innovative touch on the apparel industry, redefining denim. One of their initial designs was a stonewashed, slim-fitting jean, the 3-zip Marilyn. Bloomingdale's was the first department store to welcome the brand by ordering two dozen pairs of jeans. They disappeared from the shelves in just hours. This was the beginning of a long success story.
The Marcianos vision moved the brand into new frontiers. GUESS became a symbol of a young, sexy and adventurous lifestyle. Throughout the decades GUESS invited people to dream with its iconic and timeless advertising campaigns and turned unknown faces into famous models including Claudia Schiffer, Carre Otis, Eva Herzigova, Anna Nicole Smith, Laetitia Casta, Carla Bruni and Naomi Campbell. Today GUESS is a global lifestyle brand with a full range of apparel and accessories, 19 licensing partners and 1,210 stores in over 80 countries.
Here is the campaign video for S/S 2010
Also...2nd video on the lifestyle brand famous for its trendsetting styles and unforgettable campaigns, and FIDM / Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, are thrilled to announce the GUESS Design Challenge launching during the Annual FIDM Debut Fashion Show to benefit the FIDM Scholarship Foundation.
Diesel Jeans’s new slogan announced today, “Be Stupid” pretty much sums up consumerism and overpricing clothes to ramp up demand. Let’s not have some faux-enviro, pseudo-political, under-ageless sexy marketing, like that of The Gap or American Apparel. Let’s get right down to mindless following, shall we?
How do you find yourself wearing $200 torn jeans, gladly mimicking a high-end trashy, uber-trendy, super-shallow, somewhat preachy corporate re-branding slogan? Easy: Be stupid.
Was “Hipster Idiot” too on the nose? Was “Trend Sucking Moron” too easy to spoof? Was “I Buy What I’m Sold” too gimmicky? Just to prove I’m not making it up. Here is their press release:
BE STUPID
Diesel SS’10 campaign is a shorthand for bravery, spontaneity and saying “yes”
Sick of being told that all your good ideas are “stupid?”
Well, we got news for you: there’s nothing dumb about stupid. After all, Diesel was stupid enough to start selling new jeans that looked old – and look where that got them!
When somebody says “don’t be stupid,” what they’re really saying is “Don’t have fun. Don’t be daring. Don’t provoke. Bury your sense of humour. Get serious.”
So we say: “Get lost. We’re with stupid”
Stupid is the liberating alternative to dry-as-dust cerebral (so called “smart”) and it takes courage, loads!
Stupid is the very word all those folk use to dismiss anything original and genuine.
Stupid is about having the guts to risk, to take on the new and inventive, however dangerous.
Stupid is about passion, strange sex, wearing the wrong thing in the right place, swapping roles trying something new, failing, trying again – and failing better.
Diesel is stupid and thoroughly identifies with it and lives it as the clearest expression ever what the brand is standing for.
Photographers Kristin Vicari, Melodie McDaniel and Chris Buck help visualize the positive rebellion of the Be Stupid movement providing images that, working together with razor sharp captions, anchor an entire philosophy that will go on a multimedia campaign devised by the Diesel creative team in partnership with the Anglo-American agency Anomaly. The classic red Diesel logo makes its signature return to endorse and celebrate “Be Stupid” as the way to Successful Living. Shooting in California, a stupid amount of ingredients were thrown into a stupid mix: a bus, four houses, a couple of parks, an animal wrangler, the desert, an artist’s studio, a bar, an attractive elephant, a Burbank supermarket and wolves (animals can be very stupid – which is why we love them.). They shot on top of trucks and rooftops, made rain, turned a head into a flowerpot and flashed boobs publicly, often.
Be Stupid calls out to each and every one of us. It’s the key to successful living. It’s about following your heart and not your head. You can’t outsmart stupid – so don’t try. Long live stupid.
Diesel should start selling wigs, because when I see a bunch of 35-year-olds riding skateboards with “Be Stupid” t-shirts on, I’m pulling my hair out.
