Lettered Walls

It doesn't look like this anymore. They changed it up again. But this is how it looked inside the Anthropologie on State street sometime mid November. I took the pictures because I love letters, and this wall seemed to be something out of one of my dreams. I love the idea of a world scattered with loose letters -- over the walls, overhead, underfoot. I want to make poetry installations like this -- poems you can walk through -- room to room to room. No hallways, no order -- only the flow and flux of letters joining and cleaving.

I secretly think that I am good at predicting trends. Well, let me rephrase that. I don't predict trends, but rather I feel like I begin to see themes/images/aesthetic sensibilities that have previously preoccupied my affection suddenly popping up everywhere a year or two later. This must happen to everyone, right? I mean, I must be prone to notice letters as a trend because I am interested in letters.

But I also love the look of birds and birdcages, and Anthropologie was also decorated with those. Anthropologie was also decked out with loads of Albert Serra images and wondercabinet-type knick-knacks.


















And multi-colored silhouettes. I love that stuff.



















But I don't necessarily love to buy things in Anthropologie. Here and there I find something I like, but I much prefer the decor to what they actually sell.

Anyway, I can't help but wonder what happens to all the stuff from these stores when they take it down. Does anybody know?

Store decor of this sort is really a trend in and of itself. Anthropologie's sister store, Urban Outfitters, also has lots of instore not-for-sale trimmings. The thing is, I actually sort of hate shopping lately. I mean, it's pretty stupid. But I do like the feel of some of these stores. I like the feel of Sephora -- like being in a big pink candy box -- but I only go in there to shop for other people. And even then, I feel like I'm drawn to packaging and color and design more than I am to the actually product. I wonder if this is related to the trend of virtual shopping where kids pay real dollars to clothe their avatars in virtual duds? Or to the counter trend of stores like etsy where you can find all sorts of unique, hand-made treasures?

I think shopping is ending. Or changing. I mean, we're getting near then end of the line, no? So this is my pseudo-trend prediction for today. I know that shopping won't really end, but a real shift is underfoot. What happens when these lifestyle stores interface with mass production? Or when stores produce mountains of poorly made, inexpensive goods that are the something like paper plates. Eventually, something has to give.

What do you think? Is shopping really satisfying?

Tween Commerce

coming to malls everwhere: 'tween palace outfitters Dry Ice

The emergence of a "'Tween" market is old news, but for some reason it still took us awhile to really investigate how marketers were pitching to this demographic. Sure, we noticed all the new products coming out of manufaturers like Duff Stuff, PB Tween, and the empire known as American Girl. And we've always been interested in the way teen girls are represented in media, so we've perused a few issues of CosmoGirl and TeenVogue. But we've never really delved into this "tween" area of commerce -- the merchandise for 8-12 year old girls. Of course the demographic has always existed, but it wasn't until the late 9os that corporations began a serious campaign to court these consumers and attempt to brand this particular stage of development.

So yesterday the sad billionaire and I made our first trip inside a store called Dry Ice. We've looked in the windows of said store for many moons, but had always been too -- afraid? intimidated? discouraged? -- to enter. The store is an explosion of color and fluff, and every conceivable item the could be covered in faux fur is available within: furry phone? Got it. Furry clock? yes. Furry furniture?: check. They also had fun school supplies like bendy pencils and puppy-shaped erasers, desks and bookshelves in vibrant colors and patterns, imaginative lighting, and all types of colorful knick-knacks. Overall impression: thumbs up!! We're all for young girls personalizing their space. But there's more to this industry than rainbows and glitter and kittens; there's a dark side to all this too.

The 'tween market is undeniably gender-specific. While it seems perfectly reasonable for companies to market women's jewelry, make-up, clothing, and home decor to young girls, the trend seems to be in reverse for boys, with "kid" items (video games, animated cartoons) being marketed to male teens and men.

And while lots of products for tweens have a very positive message (games like Go Goddess!) and are designed to inspire creativity (poetry beads), we can't help but be a little concerned with the way so many of these items reinforce potentially negative notions about gender and sexuality. This is most obvious in attire: as clothing for younger girls becomes more provocative, boys' clothing remains virtually unchanged.

And we are by far most concerned for the youngest members of this market. You'd think memories of Jon Benet would make parents think twice before dropping 100 dollars on a half shirt, mini skirt, and high heels at Libby Lou. After Dry Ice, we visited one of these stores and let me tell you, these places are trully frightening. They are also colorful, but intsead of creativity-inspiring home decor, they're filled with trashtastic "beauty products," plastic tiaras, and outfits that seem to draw their inspiration from magazines like Barely Legal and Britney Spears' "Slave" video. There were also a handful of scantily clad girls prancing around the store when we were there, and we could only guess that the security guard at the front of the establishment was there to keep out potential predators. This could be Little Red Riding Hood come to life -- and the forests are the malls.

But the branding of the "tween experience" isn't going anywhere, and the term "tween" has come to embody its own set of meanings (see article "e-commerce's "tween years").

And though marketing for adults is undoubtedly manipulative, advertising for children in doubly potent. Children, unlike adults, do not have the same abilities to discern the difference between marketing spin and the "facts," and this essentially lays the groundwork for a whole new pedagogy of desire. As parents give their children more and more spending power, they essentially finance their children's training as life-long consumers of junk.


** check out Yahoo's group "Queens of Tween"message boards. We have a hard time believing that many of these messages are actually posted by tweens; it seems more likely that they are written by pernicious marketers hoping to drum up business. I mean, what 12 year old starts their posts with lines like, "Hot New Artist!!!"