Out on a scout...

Friday, August 5, 2011
2 Comments

...for the Foot Locker shoot


 
 
+…today entailed a quick trip to scout out the best locations for our shoot happening next week. The secret to a seamless & productive day is preparation!    
 
+…in between a cup of Earl grey and a good catch up with my friend & photographer, we found all the areas to make-for on the day. With a quick visit to the studio we were set.       

+…then its time to run back to the office to tick through the list of missions, that seem to arise from these trips.

A good day…  

Lovely coffee shop that felt very much like home. Further shots of Simon at the studio and making coffee....some of the areas we will be seeing more on Tuesday.... 



 
Emily Grice

Foot Locker POS tactics...

Thursday, August 4, 2011
Leave a comment

...clean lifestyle, inspirational         in-store 2010


Selling shoes may be the core of the business, but Foot Locker extended their key offering to include sports & street-wear. Foot Locker can offer function and fashion.

Bringing consumers into the stores, both existing and new, they have been able to provide a sounds base for incremental sales & therefore enhanced profitability. As successes have been seen in over the past few years, the in-store environment has been set for investment. 

The POS we designed here was intended to provide a commonality between the brand and the consumer without detracting from the core SKU's - shoes. Instead we found a way of providing serving suggestions and inspiration, empathizing with the consumer; essentially 5 - 12 and 18 - 25 years olds and lets not forget, their parents!

As I write we head into a new shoot for Autumn / Winter collections - developing POS to continue the success of previous seasons!

Emily Grice
Lifestyle POS

In-Store Offerings...

Leave a comment

...are they tempting in the boys?


...well surely, who can say no, to a buy one get one 50% off?

Well as it happens, a surprising amount of consumers actually. In an ever more competitive market, these sorts of classic offers are ten a penny, and don't create the spending urges we as marketers’ may hope to inspire.

Featured here is the range of POS created for Tip Top Tailors menswear, as part of a national in-store campaign to create lift, in a quieter period. Consumers reacted positively to the campaign although supporting, & more enticing offers are always needed as part of a core campaign. Hit the consumer from every angle:
- get them in store
- get them on-line
- and get them emotionally in order to close the deal - yes, make them trust you...then, make them fall madly in love with you...then, sell them $200 worth of DKNY shirts!


Emily Grice
Tempting offers...are they tempting enough?

Ugly Ties, or Retro Funky Ties?

Sunday, July 31, 2011
Leave a comment


Even the ugliest ties in the world...

...can be transformed into a desirable thing. Yes, even items that, fresh out of the box smelling of fresh silk, yet hanging with a mild flavour of bad taste, can be re-worked into something covetable!   
The ties that on first inspection felt a challenge, became I think, something kooky and edgy instead. By styling a product in a certain way, you are able to transform it into a new creature, with a focus on your relevant market.   
Here I show two versions of possibilities. Shown to the right the ties hang on studio equipment and below, shown in the brochure, the ties hang from my antique wooden hangers.
 
Emily Grice  
Ugly Ties.... 

Establishing a desire...for checked shirts!

Leave a comment

Giving some checked shirts life...

How do you establish a desire for a product?

How do you create something that can be clearly judged and purchased simply with one look? 

Keeping it simple, and keeping it fresh, is how.

Here I decided to show the shirts shown on the peg, with cuffs rolled to emphasize the lining.

Im always trying to think of little ways to show the product that does not distract your eye but instead gives you more reasons to love it.

On the right I show one of the shots we took in the studio but after messing with the order a bit, we landed on the above, which was used in print and on-line.

The on model shot, is shown below, used on the back cover of the direct mail piece, that was distributed nationally to existing and new customers.

The range of shirts  sold out in the first 4 weeks.




Emily Grice
Off Model Styling

Fresh & Messy Stacks

Leave a comment



Just let it go, & let it be scruffy...
 

 


For me the best off model work is about free, messy and relaxed arrangements. There is nothing more dull than a tidy, safe compostion that leaves nothing to the imagination.

So as much as I was permitted on these jobs, I wanted soft and 'messed with' stacks. But, to make it work, the right about of the product needs to be 'neat', but in its essentials, make it interesting.

Otherwise, who the heck will want to look at it, let alone buy it!






Emily Grice
Off model styling - stacks - 'Thread' publication 2011









Things that make me happy...

Saturday, July 23, 2011
Leave a comment

Looking at things like this...


The quickest and easiest way to make yourself happy in my view, is to surround yourself with your favourite sights and sounds.

So at the moment I have a fine selection of delicious furniture Id like to get my hands on, a postcard of beautiful things from my sister, and a few pictures from the good old days. Meanwhile I listen to the dulcet tones of Cary Elwes, in The Princess Bride, or Star Wars, 'A New Hope'.

If you recognise yourself in this shot Im sorry! But thats a good thing isnt it?

So we have my old pal Kate playing with Rosie in the garden in Andover - the softest cat there ever was, friend Ben being bad, lying on the most perfect golfing green in London. Or my sister Jennie, having failed to dive through a ring in the pool! Boobs are such a drag arent they Jennie?!

...and who can resist a gift card from Macys?

Happiness....is pretty things all around you.


Emily Grice
Things that make me happy - 2011

Model Casting Fall / Winter

Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Leave a comment


The joys of finding the right model for the job is actually not as much fun as it sounds. I forget that this actually is an enviable task for some. In the midst of finding the right faces, for a client who has such a clear mental picture of what they want I sometimes forget how lucky I am.

Having spotted two models, one at the sports centre and then sadly I must confess, another at McDonalds, I think we have the right range of bodies. I am silently gunning for the two young girls I spotted, I must say!

So, Im in the haze right now of searching out the right models, for a client, to a budget, I know many agents wouldn't sniff at, and all for a shoot in two weeks! I love it.

Emily Grice
The Model search is on; Fall/Winter 2011

Menswear - Mood Board

Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Leave a comment

Cool & Collected 
 
Start right, a mood board helps you figure it out...and get it right.

So....here's a mood board I did for the Big & Tall collections last winter (2010). Shooting ranges from Nautica, Chaps, Levi, Calvin Klein, Ocean & Earth, Point Zero and Buffalo

Keeping true again to the brands, but also on a mission to create alluring looks, to inspire confidence in the retail brand and push to purchase!

Theme -
- Cold and harsh shadows mixed with a half look to a seasonal feel.
- Colour accents and dramatic silhouettes, straight faces and sticks!
- Lots of white...


Emily Grice
Big & Tall Moods - 2010

Is Toronto Fashion Week Serious?

Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Leave a comment


Creativity or Commercialism?

 


Canada has not long considered itself a fashion leader or tried to compete in this arena. Nor has it pretended to offer the array of talent you might see elsewhere across the world. But then why would it – Canada is still a very new country; it is new to the age-old generations of skill and thinking required perhaps, the Italian approach to excellence, the French haute couture je ne sais quoi, or perhaps the American modern masters. For example Fashion Week in Paris if governed by a law ruling, that a fashion house can only be deemed haute couture, and therefore participate, if it produces 35 limited, hand-sewn made-to-order day and evening pieces designed by at least a team of 15 full-time employees.


So does fashion week in Toronto offer the international fashion industry anything at all? Does it make us stop and pay attention; is it even capable of pulling in the punters? Can it generate income and be in the forefront of the fashion scene? The short answer is no, at least not in this decade. 

Even some fashion savvy Canadians will admit it, Sarah Nicole Prickett of Fashion magazine and Eyeweekly.com said, “It is a fact of working in Toronto that if you are good enough at your job, you’ll sooner or later be thought of as ‘too good for Toronto.’ Certainly most fashion people, at least, think this of themselves. It’s true that if you want to find out who’s actually doing things in local fashion, the last place you should go is Toronto’s LG Fashion Week. Go to a real one. “

On attending London’s Fashion week, she also described a collection she saw as.” dazzlingly methodical, and moving, seriously. I had the kind of moment after which you realize you’ve been holding your breath.” This is exactly what Im talking about – this is what fashion should do to you. Make you pause and almost cry or faint a little bit.

 







Toronto offers a very polished, clean, but highly commercial week of industry linked associations. It is dotted with all those sponsors you would see at a household products fair. New irons from Rowena®, carpets from Korhani®, Special K® cereal new product launches and even DHL® make it in. 


The event pulls in those interested in a brief dabble in the industry; a touch of something that feels like it should be fashion week but lacks the heart wrenching presence of fashion & thereby the media, celebrity or designer. It is a forum for household brands to cash in – a ‘marketing budget’ spend, on which to focus a PR effort within the Canadian market.

Balanced with this reality, there are some talented young designers squeezing in, qualifying the term ‘Fashion Week’. Im not sure collections by brands from Loblaw’s (a food retailers in Canada) qualify. But perhaps Toronto fashion week is what it needs to be, and for Canada provides all that is required. A commercial entity, that provides a peek of marketing activity twice a year. 

 

Emily Grice
Toronto's Fashion Week - the commercial entity July 2011