The Brand, the identity & the ego
Most design professionals agree there’s an unspoken code of conduct which says you should never publicly denigrate another design professional’s work—perhaps with the odd exception—exposing blatant plagiarism or the like.
So I fully acknowledge I am breaching said code—for 'tis indeed a shamefully poor example of graphic design—but only to examine the unusual relationship between brand, identity and the (celebrity) ego.
I stumbled on this ad in a recent edition of Wallpaper. Generally, the print ads in this bible of style are top-notch—International brand leaders, whopping budgets and production values to match. And generally I'll skip over the occasional visual anomaly without so much as a passing ‘pah’. What forced the pause and double-take on this occasion was being totally bamboozled—I had absolutely no idea what this page was trying to promote or sell.
Claudia Schiffer is of course a name and face I knew, but I’d never heard of Vista Alegre. The absence of any meaningful art direction, styling or design combined with the amateur photography led me no closer. I began to break it down. The largest item on the page was Schiffer herself—adorned in vibrant primrose yellow—not fashion design surely, but perhaps fabric design? Then there was her moniker and barely legible, hand-written ‘Cloudy Butterflies’. The plot thickened. Was there a subtle lepidopteran pattern on the dress? Two further items remained (background wall excluded), a sideboard that looked vaguely mid-century and bowl/vase on top with a sad excuse for floral arrangement. As this was Wallpaper, the furniture angle seemed more likely—had Schiffer maybe released a signature range of mid-century inspired pieces?
A quick google, and I learned that the smallest items on the page were the stars. The vases—and not just any old vases—proud winners of 2021 German Design Award Specials. And here's the really odd thing. They are impressive pieces when you get to see them properly (OK, I might have to be persuaded very convincingly to part with the best part of £4k for something to stick my daffs in). But they're good chunky statement pieces of bold glass in vibrant colours and pattern. So what happened? Had the Schiffer insisted on full artistic control of all supporting promotional material? Possible. But whether true or not, or whether it was put together in-house by Vista Alegre (more likely) why on earth were ‘they’ unable to let the star sing (no, not you Claudia), with beautiful close up photography simply allowing the play of colour, light and form? A discreet endorsement of Frau Schiffer’s would surely have been enough. I mean, everyone knows who CS is—why on earth do we need to see an almost full length version of her in the ad? Is she missing the fashion world so much, that, even in the midst of an admirably creative achievement, she cannot pass up an opportunity of seeing herself in the print pages of Wallpaper? Or did the in-house management team believe she is such a sell, that potential punters would snap up the vases, driven by brand (CS) association rather than by their own merit?
We'll probably never know the answers to those questions and a quick check on their website shows that both pieces are currently sold out and out of stock. Sadly confirming that when it comes to successfully marketing a 19th century bespoke Portuguese glassmaker collaboration with an ex-celebrity German supermodel—do it any which way you like, mate.