|
Post by Yuliya on Feb 13, 2007 21:52:08 GMT -5
I love subtleties of advertisement. I suppose the shoe on the bed suggests the object is single, since no matter how gorgeous a husband is, his missus would never allow him putting his shoes on the bed.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Feb 13, 2007 22:21:19 GMT -5
Nah, it says the money is all his and if she complains about his shoes on the bed she can be easily replaced with another supermodel. But luckily for her since he has so much money it's not her problem anyway, it's the maids. Ace
|
|
|
Post by Yuliya on Feb 14, 2007 11:02:00 GMT -5
Oh yes, rich people change their bed linen every day anyway; I forgot. Still, married women can be so impossible to live with!
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Feb 14, 2007 12:32:57 GMT -5
Nah, it says the money is all his and if she complains about his shoes on the bed she can be easily replaced with another supermodel. But luckily for her since he has so much money it's not her problem anyway, it's the maids. Ace I rather like to think she's taken charge and pushed him back on the bed for a night of expensively carnal lust, and the shoes and the rest of what he's wearing will probably end up artfully strewn on the floor. As long as he's not still wearing socks during the ensuing activity... Now that would really wreck the brand's cachet.<wink>
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Feb 14, 2007 13:36:28 GMT -5
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have ourselves a winner. Or at least the nicest one to visualize.
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Feb 14, 2007 15:44:50 GMT -5
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have ourselves a winner. Or at least the nicest one to visualize. Wasn't it, though? I was forgetting where I was by the middle of the paragraph. All that discarding of luxury clothing might not have happened without a pang or two. I was thinking back on that scene in "Steele Eligible" where RS comes home from the hospital in a cast. Laura, in a huff about Miss Fairbush, maneuvers him brusquely to the bed and he takes time while in the throes of agony to warn her to "mind the shoes. It's a very expensive shoe." And only after that does he get around to denying he had any one night stands with Millicent. Of course, he might also have wanted to pre-empt Laura throwing the shoe at him, which would have been doubly painful. Speaking of fashion, I was looking in on a scene of "Jeeves and Wooster" and there's a great exchange where butler Jeeves holds up for disapproval a hat that Bertie has bought. He observes imperturbably, "This seems to have found its way onto your hat-rack. One can only assume that a tradesman must have left it." Wouldn't this be a perfectly pointed surmise for Mr. Steele had Tony left any of his stray garments hanging around the office? <wink> Poor Jeeves would despair of Mr. Roselli. In order to set him right as they traveled together he'd have to mysteriously "forget" to pack nearly the whole of his offending wardrobe -- and not just, as with Wooster, the unsuitable (except for a waiter) white mess hall jacket with brass buttons. Come to think of it, you can learn almost everything there is to know about life from Jeeves. There's a whole raft of experience just in the line, "Gentlemen should not wear straw hats in the metropolis."
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Feb 15, 2007 1:04:03 GMT -5
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have ourselves a winner. Or at least the nicest one to visualize. Wasn't it, though? I was forgetting where I was by the middle of the paragraph. All that discarding of luxury clothing might not have happened without a pang or two. I was thinking back on that scene in "Steele Eligible" where RS comes home from the hospital in a cast. Laura, in a huff about Miss Fairbush, maneuvers him brusquely to the bed and he takes time while in the throes of agony to warn her to "mind the shoes. It's a very expensive shoe." And only after that does he get around to denying he had any one night stands with Millicent. Of course, he might also have wanted to pre-empt Laura throwing the shoe at him, which would have been doubly painful. LOL!!! Obviously Laura didn't pay Steele enough to make the expense of his shoes a non consideration. Then again he wasn't being offered a demonstration of carnal lust in return for their ruination so why make the sacrifice? I'm not sure even Jeeves' imperturbable fortitude and machiavellian machinations would have withstood the onslaught of fashion horrors that came with Mr. Roselli. Speaking of Jeeves, Stephen Fry has been showing up on the show Bones for the last couple of weeks as a pyschiatrist. I'm hoping for a House crossover.
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Feb 15, 2007 11:11:44 GMT -5
Ooh, I’d love to see them pair up again. Stephen Fry as a psychiatrist. OK. Not that far from being a butler who can sort out people’s lives for them, LOL! I’ve never watched Bones but the promos look interesting. What night does it come on?
I do watch House regularly. In terms of plot from week to week it’s one of the most formulaic shows on television – all beside the point for fans because of the fascination of the lead role and his endlessly entertaining supply of misanthropy and sarcasm. As with Sherlock Holmes one keeps waiting for the mask to slip and reveal the humanity, but as befits an eccentric, it’s humanity of a different stripe. And mostly, House is just a bastard, LOL! Sometimes those reveals don’t quite work, but the level of byplay, especially between House and the show’s regulars, usually does. I suspect Hugh Laurie’s handprints are on the scripts. House speaks in his voice, even with the American accent. If you want to know how Laurie is as a writer, read his novel, a satire of the spy genre “The Gun Seller.” Not just for the humor, but it’s actually a decent thriller, too, more serious than you would expect.
A House crossover sounds like a dream though I don’t know the psychiatrist character on Bones, so I’m only speculating. I would presume he has a keen mind and some interesting side to his character. It would be funny if Fry turned up as a patient because the conventions of the show demand that they be tortured to near death with a variety of painful procedures and misdiagnoses before they find out what ails them. Hugh Laurie would probably enjoy that, LOL! Hmmm. I can't help but wish for Fry’s patient to be a Sheridan Whiteside type from The Man Who Came to Dinner. Shows up in emergency for some ostensibly trivial ailment, terrorizing the staff with his demands and his caustic wit -- then collapses, of course, with the mystery condition of the week. He and House could go toe to toe for twelve rounds of verbal sparring. Whoa, I’m getting a flash of dialogue from Steele in the Running. “There’s only room for one me in this hospital!”
My, this thread has gone off topic.
|
|
|
Post by Yuliya on Feb 15, 2007 12:53:49 GMT -5
To bring you back - I don't know whatever made you think forgetting to pack Tony's wardrobe will be beneficial. Do you think he looks better buck naked? As for beinng pushed back on the bed for a night of expensively carnal lust in that picture - Lauryn, your imagination must be better than mine. TO me this pose says "contemplation" or "reflection." I would agree the object may contemplate the past night of expensively carnal lust if he weren't so completely dressed - socks and all. Oh well, that's why it's called imagination - it allows us to imagine things...
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Feb 15, 2007 13:37:17 GMT -5
House is a complete monster--- but such a fascinating monster. I'd watch the show more if I could stand all that medical stuff. ::shudder:: Same with Bones, it's another forensic show so I don't watch every week, but this one usually deals with bones so it's not as bad and unlike the other forensic shows it's funny. I don't know if Fry is coming back or the therapy is over but the show runs on Wed on Fox at 8pm.
Ace
|
|
|
Post by Lauryn on Feb 15, 2007 19:15:58 GMT -5
To bring you back - I don't know whatever made you think forgetting to pack Tony's wardrobe will be beneficial. Do you think he looks better buck naked? Err, umm, uhh, beats me -- you'll have to ask his number one fan Susannah over at Mysterynet. But I don't think it would help. It's a running joke (borne out by his, ah, body of work) that Jack Scalia is painfully shy compared to the SMA on screen when it comes to dropping trou. Odd for a Scorpio, but there you have it. As for wardrobe -- if the earth is in its proper orbit, Jeeves's first order of business would be to find Tony a decent tailor and pack only those clothes which were vetted as suitable, with extreme caution being the order of the day (We are dealing with the age of Duran Duran, LOL!) Maybe this would only happen over Tony's dead body. Knowing Jeeves, that coud be arranged, and it would never be found. And I thought it was one of those 2+2=4 kind of things, the SMA lying back rather decadently on the bed -- hello expensive carnal lust!<wink> Let's split the difference and call the pose Rodin-esque. (Remember that discussion?) You have in mind Rodin's "The Thinker" and I have in mind (well, in short order) "The Kiss."
|
|
|
Post by Yuliya on Feb 15, 2007 21:01:27 GMT -5
Hey, no fair! They're all naked!
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Mar 19, 2007 16:27:10 GMT -5
Scans by hellblazer06 in Britactors at LiveJournal
|
|
|
Post by sparklingblue on Mar 20, 2007 4:55:58 GMT -5
::whimpers from puddle on the floor:: Edit: They also have this.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Mar 20, 2007 11:13:03 GMT -5
Was that in the earlier post (If so it save me from loading it) Mmmmmmm ..... I just wish it were lighter and BIGGER.
|
|
|
Post by sparklingblue on Mar 20, 2007 18:09:21 GMT -5
Yes, it was in the earlier post. I clicked on their "Pierce Brosnan" tag because I was curious. I'll see if I can try and improve the pics with my scanner software.
|
|
|
Post by sparklingblue on Mar 21, 2007 7:58:19 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by sparklingblue on Mar 22, 2007 20:57:34 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Mar 26, 2007 15:22:14 GMT -5
THE INDEPENDENT: Orient excessStroll through the gleaming chrome-and-glass mall Plaza 66 and you'd be forgiven for forgetting that you're in China. Here's the two-storey Prada shop; Marni, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and many more of fashion's most prestigious names have equally palatial stores in the shopping centre on Nanjing Road, Shanghai's equivalent of Oxford Street. If the city is the economically precocious metropolis that is the gateway for foreign investors, luxury malls like Plaza 66 (and there are more popping up every month) provide a special welcome for Italian and French luxury brands. China is now the third largest consumer of luxury items in the world, and boasts more millionaires than Japan; car purchases alone skyrocketed by 50 per cent in 2006. Since the early Nineties, foreign companies have made inroads into this population of 1.7 billion. But success in any frontier market depends on more than just setting up a shiny, new flagship store: a significant amount of marketing and "educating" of the local customer is required. That is how Graeme Fidler, one-half of Aquascutum's design team, and Pierce Brosnan, the current "face" of the British brand's advertising campaign, found themselves one evening earlier this month in the grand surroundings of the Children's Palace in central Shanghai. "Dressing the Powerful" is the suitably bombastic title to the evening; a giant model of Tower Bridge has been erected in the main hall. Painted in the brand's signature navy blue and emblazoned with its italic logo, it arches over a catwalk where the brand's spring/summer collection, originally shown in September during London Fashion Week, is shown to a throng of Chinese celebrities, the newly rich and the Press. Champagne flows. Liggers mingle with local reporters. Using Asian models but the identical clothes to the original London show, it is a symbol of just how seriously this ambitious brand is taking the opportunities that China offers. "It heightened the brand from something local into something more global," explains Aquascutum's dynamic CEO Kim Winser, a few days after the event. Elaborate marketing events have become a regular part of the Shanghai social calendar. "I'd say there are up to four events a week like this," says Shanghai-based journalist Lisa Movius, "but, at the moment, the Chinese love branding but don't really 'get' fashion." Hong Kong-based Peter Chan, who, with his sister Shirley, operates Aquascutum's business in the region, believes that will change at the same speed as the Shanghai skyline, which in recent years has grown crowded with skyscrapers. Chinese versions of Harper's Bazaar and Vogue are popular - although the infamous "fake" handbag markets continue to do a brisk trade, too. "Everyone is trying to be trendy now," says Chan, jubilant at a post-show drinks party. "China is the last big country that wants to spend its money on clothes. They've only had [access to designer brands] in the last 10 years. In developed countries, we're spending our money on houses and holidays. In China, they wore [the state regulation] grey and blue for a long time. But that changed 15 years ago and now they want to look good." Winser says her competitors in China are the same as they are in the West: Prada, Burberry, Armani. And while she agrees that good marketing is now key in this brand-hungry environment, she also emphasises the importance of the Aquascutum product. Its unique selling point is not obvious logos, but technical fabrics that often need to be touched to be appreciated. Established in 1851 by the Savile Row tailor John Emary, Aquascutum's heritage is rooted in rainproof clothing - in particular its trench coats - to which it lays claim of invention. It outfitted Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing for their Everest ascent, and it also provided Margaret Thatcher with her battle-dress - tailored suits. It holds royal warrants and has dressed Cary Grant, Peter Sellers and Greta Garbo. Keen to expand beyond its rather staid image, in 2004 it launched "Aquascutum Collection", a directional catwalk line intended to catapult the brand into the upper echelons of fashion. Led by design duo Fidler and Michael Herz, the venture has been well received. How effectively the brand can "re-educate" Chinese consumers about the new, more edgy Aquascutum identity is hard to quantify. But the company's other intention was to create a general buzz by bringing a real, live James Bond into town. On this count, at least, Winser and co can be assured of their success. Although the Chinese public had limited access to Western movies in the period when Brosnan was 007 (1995 to 2002), the scrum that greets his arrival at the Shanghai fashion show confirms that his fame overcame censorship. Brosnan, who, rather endearingly, seems as bewildered by Shanghai as he does by questions about his fashion sense ("Oh dear, I should come up with something clever to say, shouldn't I? I don't know . . . casual elegance?") takes the adulation in his stride. "I suppose they know me as James Bond," he muses in baritone, adjusting his spotted silk Aquascutum scarf, "but I never came here for a premier. In fact, the first-ever Bond premier happened here last month, with Daniel [Craig]." The next day, a large picture of Pierce sitting front row at the Aquascutum show graces the front page of Shanghai Daily, and the global Aquascutum team disperses again: the Chans back to Hong Kong, Fidler back to the Piccadilly Studio, Pierce to his home in Hawaii and rehearsals for the movie version of Mamma Mia. "It was very good," says Fidler of the event a week later at the London studio. "We need to take the brand to the next level [in China]. And we really saw the response and everybody's excitement - was this really Aquascutum?" Both designers and CEO believe that the Chinese will soon become fashion connoisseurs. "It's not enough for us to just be 'British' in our designs," says Herz. "I wouldn't patronise the Asian customer by thinking that, on its own, is enough." Despite the lack of obvious logos - the easiest way to penetrate new markets - Aquascutum are confident that their understated aesthetic will succeed. "We are really about fabrics. That's our handwriting. And the consumer will becomes more educated in the brand and in fashion. It is evolving at quite a speed." And Winser, CEO since April, should know. She recalls her first visit to China. "It was a dozen years ago, when I was at Marks and Spencer," she says. "We went to visit suppliers. We drove in a car from Hong Kong. It was a three-hour journey and were told beforehand to stock up on Mars Bars - because it really wasn't possible to stop and eat anywhere on the road." Today, surveying the megalopolis from the cafe in the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower - where a cappuccino is yours for pounds 4 - the growth is almost visible to the naked eye. Whether bought and worn by "educated" consumers or not, it's no wonder that Western brands have found a home from home here.
|
|
|
Post by Ace on Apr 24, 2007 18:54:07 GMT -5
Scanned by Hellblazer -- from the May '07 issue of the UK GQ
|
|