Rag & Bone's Take on DIY Takes NYC by Storm
Photos courtesy of Rag & Bone
Frequent flyers: Two of Rag & Bone's Spring 2011 ads.
Here's one way for a savvy fashion label to command attention: Enlist a bevy of top models (Sasha and Abbey and Edita and Lily, oh my!), arm them with cameras and cool jeans, and drop them off at a destination of their choice. Leave them to their own devices, then—months later—post the results all over downtown Manhattan the day after a major blizzard.
Sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn't it? Hardly: It's the début Rag & Bone ad campaign, and it's brilliant.
Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, the sharp-minded gurus behind the denim and upscale basics line, have always promoted the Rag & Bone ethos imaginatively. From conceptualizing the chic uniforms for New York City's High Line Park employees to collaborating with Timberland, the designers have ensured that the Rag & Bone message conveys a broad and potent allure.
Their highly tailored daywear always offers a distinct vision but can easily be altered and styled to fit “real people's” wardrobes. The next step? Let those real people—and the supermodels who we wish represented us—respond by taking control of the label's image.
The models Wainwright and Neville selected to test-drive the notion did a fine job of democratizing that sense of creative control. Their self-directed ads, plastered all over the city in the past 24 hours, manage to be visually pleasing virals.
Not surprisingly, the Sasha by Sasha looks are a highlight—Miss Pivovorova is known for her visual art prowess and creative mind, skills she has put to use behind the scenes for both Chanel and Prada.
Other notable fashion figures—omniblogger Julia Frakes, Marie Claire's Taylor Tomasi Hill, among many others—will soon unveil their own self-styled Rag & Bone looks via the brand's new e-commerce site, which includes specially curated platforms for this DIY campaign.
And most importantly, Wainwright and Neville want to get you in on the action too: They are urging their best-dressed customers to upload their wardrobe ideas in the site's upcoming “rotating gallery.”
