The MySpacification of (American Apparel) Retail .:. grubbykid.com

The MySpacification of (American Apparel) Retail

American Apparel study, originally uploaded by tempo

Ruminations of The MySpacification of (American Apparel) Retail:

I wandered through American Apparel yesterday snapping pictures. It’s kickass retailing all around. Mostly I was struck by how it comes off as an real-world sibling to MySpace, with the amateur snapshot photos of kids in underwear juxtaposed with random images of junk culture. If only MySpace would steal American Apparel’s typographic sensibilities then we’d really have some progress!

Putting aside the debate over whether the sexy photos are pornographic or not, American Apparel’s whole retail experience is engaging and relevant to a youth culture raised on LiveJournal and MySpace. It’s no wonder that its star is rising as the Gap, with its Wonder Bread branding, is hitting the skids.

Interesting... not so sure that "junk culture" is the right term, perhaps "cast-off culture" would be more apropos. It really is the chicken-egg problem: is MySpace a product of culture or a cultural driver affecting different, physical, spheres? I would say that MySpace is more a reflection of the culture than a wholly independent cultural-generator actor. That isn't to say that the DIY/tech/simplicity of American Apparel does not share the same mind-space and cultural ancestors.

Interesting thought nonetheless.

Comments

Thor says:

Good point. Clearly MySpace has tapped a narcissistic instinct long preyed on by pop culture. We've even seen it on the Web in softened ways--remember the "Webisodic", The Spot, which tried to use the reality show model for a Web-based serial. Users "spied" on nubile teens as they went about their search for cheap sex and hyjinx.

What's unique about MySpace is a.) the sheer scale of the unleashing of this desperate energy; b.) the vanishing of self-consciousness as a moderating influence; and c.) the emergent aesthetic of the whole thing. While GeoCities gave MySpace a run for its money in the ugly department, MySpace has birthed a phenomenon in web social space that is driven largely by its ugliness. Arguably.

Posted by: Thor at February 7, 2006 9:43 PM #

plemeljr says:

You know, I totally forgot about Webisodic. It does seem that MySpace is a perfect storm of ease of use and Civilian Typography which creates a great deal of visual anarchy.

It really does remind me of Geocities in the middle-90's (come on, which "neighborhood" were you on?) where the reigning aesthetic was ugly.

I wonder if MySpace is also a result of the persuasive remix culture which is wholly a derivative (non-pejorative) culture based on culture going in, remixing it, and posting it. Blogs are also very much part of this culture.