The Weekly Roundup (week of 1.15)
another excellent showcase of how great photography + a-list talent + good timing is a tried and true recipe for success.
1. Lana Del Rey for SKIMS
Fresh off the news of her headling Coachella, Lana Del Rey and the Skims team were right there to capitalize with an incredible photoshoot by none other than Nadia Lee Cohen. The photoshoot was part of a campaign to promote their Valentine’s Day collection. Now aside from this including excellent timing and awesome visuals, it also speaks to Skims’ and Kim Kardashian’s ability to work off of momentum. Almost immediately after the posts went live on everyone’s official IG pages (Lana, Skims, Kim K, Nadia), they subsequently enjoyed full-scale coverage from big media outlets, and the internet erupted in praise. Your biggest goal as a marketing team is to create a viral photoshoot that gets meme’d by big IG accounts, and for the people of Twitter to use the photos as the punchline in a joke. That sounds counterintuitive, why would you want to be the butt of the joke? But that’s how the internet works, this is your best KPI.
2. We Need Awards Shows More Than Ever
Chris Black wrote a compelling piece about the importance of awards shows, and for some reason, I also agree that they’re an important rallying point for the public consciousness.
It is reminiscent of a different time, when everyone gathered around the television at 8 p.m. on Thursday nights for NBC’s Must See TV, and a single episode of Seinfeld or Friends would dominate the conversation—actual, in-person conversations, that is—until the following week. Getting the collective to focus on a single piece of entertainment feels insane in 2024, when we have everything we could want, anytime we want it. Awards shows serve a purpose beyond Hollywood navel-gazing and back-patting. They bring us together—fun, harmless jokes and debates about the beautiful and successful may be the last things we can all agree on.
3. LEMAIRE FW24 Is All About Ethereal Elegance
If there’s one brand you should have on your radar, it’s Lemaire. Now I’ll be honest, I’m hot on the brand cuz I just bought a coat from them and I’m trying to pump their stock but Christophe Lemaire and his creative counterpart/partner-in-life Sarah-Linh Tran put together the best show of PFW. I’ve started to think a lot more about how much wear I can get out of clothing, and though I love loud pieces with cool graphics and interesting embroidery and whatnot, there’s something about timeless garments defined by playful tailoring that exudes a much more sophisticated charm. Check out the full collection here.
4. Condé Nast Is Folding Pitchfork Into GQ, With Layoffs
Yikes, another one bites the dust! Hot take, I think Pitchfork’s impact on music is very minimal and hasn’t done anything profound for the industry. That’s just me though, I don’t think I’ve ever read a Pitchfork article, except for when people are making fun of the pretentious and awful writing. Read here.