Wednesday, May 18, 2011

French Fashion Trend: Abercrombie and Fitch


          When I first started teaching in France, I anticipated a lot of curiosity from my students about American life, but one recurring questino that I didn't understand was "Is it true there are really Abercrombie and Fitch stores everywhere?" 

          "Uh, yeah," I answered each time, inwardly adding "...Weirdos," to the end in my head. Little did I know, as far as the young and hip of France are concerned, despite all their stilettos and Paris fashion weeks and Chanel and Hermès, they think that A&F is God. Something about the California beach-style promotional imagery must have ignited their interest because there are fakes being sold everywhere, whether it's pants, shorts, or most popularly, hoodies. That's right; the French love A&F to the degree that their fashion-conscious torsos, usually clad in belted fur vests or high-waisted skirts, will wear hoodies. The logo is considered that cool. 

          My personal favorite is when a fake is so bad that they actually get one of the two names wrong. I had one student showing up in a blue "Abercrombie + Mitch" shirt several times, and the student had no awareness of the irony or the error. 

          But the industry of fake A&F products is about to change, because on May 19, they are finally opening the first French location in Paris, #23 Avenue des Champs Elysees. To promote it, naturally, they had 100 shirtless male Abercrombie models stand outside for a while:

If their goal was to distract me from blogging for a good ten minutes while trying to find "just the right picture," (purely for aesthetic reasons, mind you) then I would call this campaign effective.

2 comments:

  1. OMG I just called in my boyfriend to look at Baxter. SO CUTE. Also, Baxter is my sisters dogs name.

    Glad you are feeling better!

    And major LOLs at the Abercrombie and Mitch. I have one A&F tee I still wear and its embarrassing, but its comfortable. Its got a Viking on it and says "I live to party".

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