Book Review: Mr Classic by Jeremy Hackett and Garda Tang
Thames & Hudson, May 2008
200 pages/hardcover/136 photographs/$40.00
Jeremy Hackett is Mr Classic. Having a clothing label for decades plus writing a column for the U.K.’s The Independent on Sunday are excellent platforms for influencing men’s fashion. But what decidedly earns Hackett this moniker is his talented facility for reviving the proper styles once worn by Britain’s aristocracy with modern practicality. For his book, Mr Classic, London-based photographer Garda Tang shoots Hackett’s models with fitting technique. Every bow tie, every just-so lifted chin neatly accentuates Hackett’s vision of gentlemanly chic. The looks are respectable and refreshing, not stuffy or stagnant.
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Natural Fashion: Tribal Decoration from Africa by Hans Silvester
The Fred Perry polo shirt introduced by its namesake, a three-time Wimbledon champion in 1952, has been synonymous with youth and counterculture since the late 50s when the Mods picked up on it. Over the years the Fred Perry polo shirt has surfaced as a fashionable choice for diverse groups of teenagers throughout the 1960s and 70s, ranging from the Mods, Suedeheads, Ska/Two Tone, Punk, New Wave, Casuals/Perry Boys, Britpop, Electronic/Rave and the latest Indie revival. Most recently the brand has continued to cultivate its appeal with the young and hip by launching Subculture, a new music initiative featuring cutting-edge young talent on the music scene. Meg Asaro and Karen D’Silva from Spark Visual Research take a closer look at the imagery used by Fred Perry to continue to connect with the youthful lifestyle that has fueled the brand’s popularity over the years.
TopFoto, a stock photography library specializing in historical images, has launched a new way to search for images based on the date of actual events in history. The new search method called TimeSearch was devised by author and academic Bamber Gascoigne and designed by Ian Henghes; fellow directors of the educational website HistoryWorld. Bamber Gascoigne, perhaps best known as Chairman of University Challenge before handing the baton to Jeremy Paxman, says: “TimeSearch for picture researchers is an idea originating from discussions between Alan Smith of TopFoto and me at the CEPIC conference in Prague in 2005.”
Getty Images, The world’s largest stock licensing company has released the second edition of the MAP Report (what Makes A Picture). The Map report, created by Getty Images global creative research team, provides insight into visual trends that will change the look of mass-communication. This year´s report is entitled AspEn, with a strong focus on environmental consciousness, or ideals of “aspirational environmentalism” as it relates to marketers who are attempting to “out-green” each other. The report states that in 2008 brands will have to be more aware of careless uninspiring use of environmental visual clichés. The report is available for purchase as an English-language PDF for (US $750, £400).
The image and video search technology company, CogniSign, has created the portal called xcavator.net to show-case its novel visual search technology. By partnering with several micro-stock companies and two rights-managed agencies, xcavator.net has built an image database of over 5.8 million images. The company hopes to have 10 million images on its site within the next few months.
The motion picture “Charlie Wilson’s War” was just released to rave reviews on December 21st. What you may not know is that the Archival footage chronicling the covert war in Afghanistan against the former Soviet Empire was stock footage licensed by BBC Motion Gallery, a division of BBC Worldwide. "Charlie Wilson´s War" (starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Mike Nichols) tells the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history.
Walmart, the world’s largest public corporation, moved to the Martin Agency at the beginning of the year. This is the same creative house that brought us the Geico Gecko, the Geico Caveman and the tagline “Virginia is for Lovers”. They have been repositioning Walmart under a new tagline “Save Money. Live Better.” In their on-air spots, they illustrate what a family can accomplish with the extra $2,500 they save by shopping at Walmart and in the process, have done a great job softening the retailer’s tarnished reputation. Meg Asaro and Karen D’Silva from Spark Visual Research take a closer look at the images used by Walmart to reach middle-class America.
