Monday, July 25, 2011

Girls in Fashion Ads

I am a big fan of both the Rodarte SS 2011 and the Miu Miu FW 2012 collections, and I'm going to go so far as to say that one of the reasons that they stand out for me is the inclusion of young, teen girls in their ads.

fashionista

honey kennedy



all 3 miu miu pics from cocorosa
Weird, right? Usually I'm all like "That's fucked up. They are children! Put some real women in your ads." I'll admit that, when doing some research for this post, I was shocked to realize that Elle is 13 and Hailee is 15. These girls are young. There are all kinds of issues raised in using teen girls to sell clothes, issues like the kinds of bodies that should be wearing the clothes, and the provocative nature of many of the outfits and ads.

However, I think that in both of these collections the girls are representing the feminine in a way that is relatable to (almost) anyone, and that they are not being overly sexualized. Sure they look older than their ages, but they look more like they're playing dress up (see the second picture of Hailee, lying amongst the sparkly shoes) than being flaunted in an inappropriate way. They aren't super done up in makeup (minus Hailee's red lipstick), and they're not dressed in clothes that are inappropriate or revealing.

While I wouldn't say the looks they are sporting are age-appropriate, they seem to play to the whole idea of fashion as a kind of fantasy. And not this kind of fantasy, but the fantasy of fashion as something more innocent. It makes us think of when we were 13 and 15, when being the muse or the model for a fashion designer would have been a fucking dream (I guess it still would) and these girls are young enough to not have to fully deal with the bullshit industry of being thin enough, hot enough, and not enough. To many of us looking at these ads, being Elle's age again is just as likely as wearing designer shoes or clothes, but it's the innocence and the pure fun of the feeling that is refreshing and really shines through. 

Instead of using young girls in a sexy way to sell clothes, appeal to the male gaze, and generally put them on display, these ads are using young girls to play to women—and I don't think that it's in a negative way. When I see these ads, I don't think "Ahh, to be young again!" because being young sucked. When I was an early teen I had all kinds of issues that these ads just don't incorporate (the worst being permanent sweat stains). Apart from being raised in weirdo families (Elle), being in excellent movies (Hailee), and being fabulously rich, they probably deal with a lot of the stuff we did too. But in these pictures Elle and Hailee are doin' their thing, and looking like they are happy and comfortable with themselves, which is something that every woman struggles with, from the age of like 13 on. These pics are inspiring, and grant us the serenity that comes from remembering that women are awesome, and fostering that in young girls is the smartest thing to do.

Or maybe this is exactly what they wanted me to think. Anyone else have thoughts on these ads?

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful picture like your skirts love your heels.
    Alternative Bags

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for sharing the blog with us keep sharing. brown aviator jacket is essentially created for the pilots and which is becoming in a fashion nowadays.

    ReplyDelete

Penny for your thoughts