Mango, Paris

If you have seen the Stanley Kubrick film 'Eyes Wide Shut' then you will know immediately what we are alluding to here.  Just plain old creepy stuff going on here at Mango.  All the dynamics are in place of course and they do what they do very well.  Its just creepy though.

Mango, London

If we hadn't included the company name above this entry, would you have recognised this brand?  The answer is invariably No.  How exciting, eh?  Finally we can walk along the high street and while most of the mid-range brands look identikit and without the brand name above the store, we quite honestly wouldn't know where we were, Mango is at least one of the brands thriving on the differentiation.  How refreshing.  This scheme (or rather just one window) reminds us very much of two things - Jessie J's Price Tag video "its not about the money, money, money, we dont need your money, money money, we just wanna make the world dance........"  or alternatively the work of Hans Bellmar, Death, Desire and the Doll (although without the death).  Of course this scheme is rather more tame than the work of Bellmar whose installations speared right to the core, the forbidden areas of the human psyche.  Bellmar once said, 'I want to reveal scandalously the interior that will always remain hidden and sensed behind the successive layers or the human structure and its last unknowns'.  He also felt that religion was his great enemy and that the UK and the USA were too puritanical for his work although the root of the problem was that it was difficult to distinguish his work between erotic art and pornography.  Naturally the scheme here is neither of them however it is yet another link to Surrealism that we have seen on the high street, particularly in light of the recent scheme at Tiffany.  Having been a professing surrealist from the 1930's, a keen activist, living in poverty Bellmar also collaborated with such greats as Ernst and Cocteau and his work is now seen as intellectual art as much as eroticism.  Still, whether we make these links or whether they in fact exist (or not), it is at least fascinating to see such an incredible leap forward from this brand. Lets just see who follows, eh?...... In the meantime " Ain't about the (ha) Cha-Ching Cha-Ching. Aint about the (yeah) Ba-Bling Ba-Bling. Wanna make the world dance, Forget about the Price Tag".

Copper trend, Zara Home / Mango

I recorded  this Mango scheme / window recently in the middle of October here in Central London, although didn't really think of anything particularly interesting to write about it other than the fact that Copper seemed to be developing as a trend here on the high street.  Interestingly Zara Home, almost directly opposite has also picked up on this theme.  Zara's production time is apparently lightning fast and although Interior's trends seem to move at a snail's pace, this transition from high street fashion to high street interiors is remarkably quick. OK, well, we are now possibly heading towards the 'laggards' end of the various concepts of consumerism before Primark jumps on the bandwagon and we hear the death knell tolling and screaming in our ears, although I felt it was worth noting that this is happening within home furnishings at a remarkably fast pace - possibly a trend in itself?  

Mango, London

Mango clearly have their fingers on the pulse of whats happening 'out there' or at least what will be happening.  There seems to be the beginning of a Copper trend with Copper accessories cropping up around town throughout certain schemes.  The Uber cool crowd have clearly picked this up as a future trend of 2012 while the laggards will be picking this stuff up from Primark and M&S sometime around mid 2013.  Interestingly this installation does remind me a little of some of the images I have in my archives, possibly reminiscent of the 'Golden Hands' magazines from the 1970's or one of those knitting patterns with models in stilted poses wearing the most awful knitwear.  But anyway,  a cool scheme from these guys and a pleasure to share it with you all.