Much as I dislike succumbing too easily to advertising's lures...(yes, I realize how silly it sounds when someone who is a consumer with a capital "C" say it but, much like the lady of slightly questionable virtue, I like to be woo-ed and not give in too easily)...Julianne Moore, in her latest role as spokesperson for Talbots, is definitely piquing my interest.

I realize that the glowing hues of Mert and Marcus' photographs are causing me to view everything through rose colored glasses...that I've never ventured into a Talbots previously...and that I'll probably be disappointed when aforementioned glasses are removed and stark reality moves to the foreground...but how do you resist something that looks as perfect as this?

As I went through the mail that had accumulated over the last week or so I was reminded of two things. One, the sheer volume of junk mail...of the type that isn't worth the paper it's printed on...that I receive...is staggering. After all these years you would have assumed that the faceless beings behind these things would have figured out that I'm not going to fall prey to their unsolicited offers but, no, they just keep coming...

Number two, that an almost indecent amount of childish pleasure can be derived from a catalog or invitation that has been folded...or boxed...or packaged a little differently from the norm. Like, for instance, APC's Fall 2010 poster-a-log...a perfect blending of poster and catalog...featuring a very 1970's safari Eniko (styled by Venetia Scott) on one side...and APC's finest on the other.

After all this paper folding...sitting indoors as I try to avoid the 104 degree heat index outside...I may need to make some origami water bombs...

Back home...and ridiculously tired...but not tired enough to miss the typo in Net-a-Porter's latest "What's new" email...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the See by Chloé Hippie (that looks suspiciously like a hippo...even to my bleary eyes) acrylic keyfob...

Minimalism...the new minimalism...and it's accompanying shades of taupe, and brown, and grey...can be a thing of beauty (I'm specifically thinking of Céline as I type this). It can also...it has to be said...end up a little too close to drab for complete comfort...which is when you need to add a little upbeat graffiti into the mix...something that Stella McCartney has done for her Fall/Winter ad campaign.

Shot by Mert & Marcus and enlivened by the work of Kaws the juxtaposition between the somber and the frivolous is probably something to keep in mind as the new season's clothes hit the stores...

Even if I hadn't already given my heart and soul to the clothes...bags...and overall vibe...of Phoebe Philo's Céline...this image from their Fall/Winter ad campaign would have done it. Australian model Emma Balfour...who, in her late thirties, could only be considered 'old' in a land of prepubescent models...looking...spectacularly weary. Jaded, knowledgeable, and beautifully dressed...

Normally, any sort of 'themed' emails that invade my Inbox are soon consigned to the Trash...there being only so many leprechauns, love hearts, or jovial Santas that I can face in the course of a day...but Urban Outfitters had me with the subject line "Flying Hedgehogs"...the fact that the accompanying image actually featured elevated Erinaceinae just sealed the deal (regardless of the tinge of "please buy something" desperation that accompanies an April Fool's discount).

In one of those twists that some people call "fate"...but which really means I spend way too much time surfing around online...I happened across this video featuring Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst, with a cameo appearance from the skirt I mentioned earlier today (not entirely a surprise as the whole shebang was created for Opening Ceremony and features their Spring/Summer collection).

Directed by Gia Coppola and Tracy Antonopoulos..."Is This Sound Okay?"

I know it's been said...frequently..at length...and generally by the folks who claim it "wasn't this way when they were a girl/boy"...but sometimes it does seem like new ideas are a little short on the ground.

Take French Connection's latest ad campaign...which I, for one, love...brooding men with excessive facial hair who look like they haven't slept for a week because they've stayed up reading poetry or killing chickens...and insouciant, disheveled, girls with bad posture...affecting me that way.

It's all very alluring...and makes me want to run to a FCUK store to see if (for once) there's anything in there that I want to buy...but...those cute phrases, in bold white font, against those images is very close to a late 80's campaign for Kookai.

An even greater contender in the "guess who's been leafing through twenty year old magazines" contest...the accompanying video. Take a look...

...and then let me know if you don't see a few similarities between it and the images from Joseph's 1988 spring/summer ad campaign. Girl in floral dress...check...reclining barefoot in a chair in an "I don't give a damn about being ladylike" manner...double check...and they both spend quite a bit of time in the bedroom (though 80's Joseph girl does seem to be having a better time than her modern day counterpart).

"The traveler has to knock at every alien door to come to his own, and he has to wander through all the outer worlds to reach the innermost shrine at the end." - Rabindranath Tagore

To continue on in today's Marni-related theme...and, come to think of it, to feed my current preoccupation with cartoon characters with envious wardrobes...Consuelo Castiglioni has collaborated, once again, with British video artist Rohan Wadham on a video for her Spring/Summer collection.

And here, in case you missed it, is their previous collaboration for Fall/Winter '09. Personally I prefer this video...it's starker...more hauntingly beautiful...the female alien's outfit more envy-inducing...

Much as I loved the image below (from Pringle's spring/summer ad campaign, shot by Ryan McGinley and featuring Tilda Swinton)...

...watching the accompanying video really sealed the deal. The strikingly beautiful Tilda...running through woods...and climbing castle walls...a tomboy in satin...doing wonders for the Scottish tourist industry...and showing us (albeit slightly whimsically) that "jeans and a t-shirt" or "sweatpants" (slogan on ass, optional) are not the be-all-and-end-all for life's fun, yet grubby, endeavors.

I have a feeling that I may be in the minority when it comes to my enthusiasm for these images from Aquascutum's Fall/Winter ad campaign...because, it has to be faced, anything that has the nickname "rat of the skies" is not destined for mass popularity. And of course...there's the side issue...if my vacation photos are anything to go by...that people get a tad squeamish when they see a pigeon on your head.

For me though, these pictures serve a dual purpose...allowing me to both covet the trench...and reminisce about pleasant times spent feeding the pigeons in Trafalgar Square...before the bureaucrats banned it.

A certain blurring of the lines is taking place this Fall...in a back room someplace...the advertising boffins noticed all the blogs and streetstyle websites...and little lightbulbs went on over their heads...while not a ‘Eureka!’ moment I’m sure one or two cries of ‘Eek!’ were heard.

How else to explain the current fascination with advertising featuring either “real people”...like Anthropologie’s latest catalog...shot on “r.p.”s in Paris, London, and New York...or the DKNY Jeans ads photographed by The Sartorialist...featuring models but shot a la streetstyle?

The thing is, while I'm happy for the "real people" involved in this, I can't help but feel that I'm being patted on the head and given a piece of candy by Uncle Addy. They're jumping on a bandwagon...in this case, our shiny red bandwagon...and I don't think I like it. Perhaps I'm in the minority but, personally, I'm neither more nor less likely to buy something because the model is "real"...I'd rather look at the products...weigh up their quality and how they'll work in my wardrobe...and leave the "real" looks on "real" people where they belong...in the "real" world...every outfit uniquely belonging to the individual...not just another contrived, formulaic, advertising mechanism.

Based upon ludicrously scant evidence...aka a fleeting glimpse of the Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin image below...I have high hopes for APC's Fall/Winter collection...there's something so alluring about the whimsical-60's-moody-French scrapbook feel...the hint of stripes (and, is that a ruffle I see?)...I can't wait to see more...and to grow my bangs a little longer...wear dark eyeliner and lipstick...and sit in a field for a little while...

I may just be trying to find the silver lining in an exceedingly dark and ominous cloud but the lack of consumers actually consuming does seem to have one bright side to it...not the generous reductions that we'll be seeing in the sales (because those are somewhat marred by the fact that most of us have neither the money to spend nor any enthusiasm for handing over what little we have)...no, the welcome side effect in question is an increased creativity in the Fall advertising campaigns. That's right, in an attempt to lure us out of our shopping bunkers, there seems to be a push to move beyond the same old ads that seem to appear year in, year out. The first example of this was the Louboutin ads that I mentioned last week...the second, these architecturally themed beauties from Hussein Chalayan.

Things, at least in print, are definitely looking up...

Looking back I realized that I'm generally somewhat grinch-y on the topic of advertisements...a reflex action when faced with the usual banal inducements to shop that seem to hit my inbox, and mailbox, with depressing regularity or the glossy versions of the same, which stare up at me from the pages of magazines willing me to buy into the dream they're attempting to sell.

Christian Louboutin's Spring/Summer ad campaign, however, is so far above "the usual"...its images filled with the kind of muted, lush, slightly sinister, extravagance usually found in an 18th century still life...that if it weren't for one small, niggling detail (i.e. my inability to stand, let alone walk, in the kind of heels featured) I'd be unable to resist buying something.

As it is I'll just have to enjoy them as art...

“By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor. By proletariat, the class of modern wage laborers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.” - Friedrich Engels

I haven't complained about aggravating advertising emails for a while now...mainly because nothing has hit my Inbox that has really overwhelmed me by the sheer inanity of its marketing spiel...until, that it, I read Barney's latest little missive...

I can see it now, can't you? A clandestine Marxist meeting...a rousing discussion has just taken place regarding the exploitation of the masses...the speaker rises, and says "Brothers, let us cast off this yoke of oppression by...lighting a nice, soothing, scented candle".

“In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference” - Rachel Carson

Oh, how I love the e-mails that I receive from PR firms...the utter insanity behind some of the phraseology that makes you wonder if anyone who receives one nods their head in agreement and says "this is the greatest invention since sliced bread". The latest...with the subject line "Don't Let the Recession Kill Your Fashion Addicton" is about bottled water. But not just any old bottled water, oh no...this is Jean Paul Gaultier for Evian water...or, in PR-speak...

"Is the recession infringing on your label-loving fashion addiction? This year, Jean Paul Gaultier has the solution. The cutting-edge designer has partnered with Evian Natural Spring Water to create a limited edition bottle for the fashionista who has it all, but wouldn’t mind a little more… Available on ShopEvian.com for just $13.95..." So...let me get this straight...in this time of "recession" I am supposed to cough up $14 (plus tax) for water in a desperate attempt to feed (or water) my fashion addiction? Quite frankly, if my addiction ever reaches that level I will fasten the straps on my (designer, naturally) straight jacket myself.

First there were the run-of-the-mill print advertisements...then there were advertorials...now we have reached the plateau of the online 'zine. First Gwyneth Paltrow and "Goop"...which I have mistakenly refered to as Gloop on more than one occasion...and its lifestyle advice..for wealthy folks who don't mind discussions on herbal laxatives and bowel elimination (maybe it's just me but somethings fall under the category of "too much information"). Though I'll admit to sneaking peaks at her (her stylist's) advice for fashion basics which is sound, if not budget friendly.

And now, we have "Swide"...Dolce and Gabanna's 'zine offering which has beaten Paltrow's site (in my estimation) for the weird name award. It reminds me of the Simpson's episode where Marge's lover takes her out to brunch..."It's not quite breakfast, it's not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end. You don't get completely what you would at breakfast, but you get a good meal!" Swide is a strange hybrid of 'zine and commercial for the nouveau riche (at least whatever nouveau riche are left in the current financial climate). An article on how to Kill time at the airport, for example, suggests spa treatments at Charles de Gaulle to "ensure airport security doesn't interfere with one's beauty"...or, if you have insufficient time for a mud mask, watching D&G's Time 2008 video. Or, even more bizarrely, models backstage at the D&G FW10 menswear show were asked how they'd resolve the economic crisis...

"Beauty and brains - if you've looking for a way out of economic gloom this video is must-see viewing.

Finally speaking about finance doesn't have to be dull - we only wish our bank manager looked the same."

I suppose this kind of hybrid is inevitable...and, as a blogger, I certainly shouldn't be surprised about this migration to the internet world...I just wish it didn't make me think of the commercials that you see at 3am for miracle cleaning products or vacuum cleaners.

You have to hand it to those advertising boffins. Here we are deep in the midst of a recession...and some bright spark decides that what Saks really needs at this point are shopping bags which hark back to the propaganda art of the Soviet Union in the 1920's. You can almost hear the marketing meeting...

"No...you see...it will be ironic...comparing the current climate in the US with post-war Russia...a Russia with "almost total economic collapse, famine and bitter discontent". Won't shoppers see the delicious incongruity and biting wit and flock to the stores to lay down their hard earned cash?"

The sad thing (for me at least) is that I actually do like the design...which was created by Shepard Fairey (the artist behind the Barack Obama 'Hope' poster)...but the overall theme just seems a little tasteless and over-the-top at the moment...an advertising crossroads where 20's despair meets 80's decadence, but does the road lead to shopping nirvana?

Much as I like the distressed denim shorts from Alexander Wang's Fall/Winter collection...okay, I admit, they remind me of a pair that I wore to a New Year's Eve party many moons ago and therefore fall under the "nostalgic lusts" category...I was surprised when I received the attached e-mail from Satine Boutique.

I can't help but wonder, is the demand really that large for $300 denim shorts? Doesn't this completely go against the trend of buying well-made classics in times of financial worry?