02/12/2008 07:04:44 AM 
(2) 
(2) Most attempts have failed because they are just names with no deeper meanings making it impossible for them to compete with the genuine article.
JC Penny clearly understood the weakness in this approach and went outside to the brand master, Ralph Lauren to create its latest offering, American Living.
What's interesting about this concept, is although it has touches of Lauren's style all over it, he's created another world for the department store. Lauren's past success has been driven by the clever balancing act between present and past, His ideas were classical, but they were always believable in a contemporary context.
American Living is different, it's unabashed in highlighting the past as its inspiration. The web site suggests that the concept is anchored around the General Store and is rooted in a time when American's were practical, had a sense of humor and dreamed of a better life. This is no daily commute from the suburbs.
It's fascinating to see such a shift to the past in a country that's usually so wrapped up in the future.
Something has changed and perhaps the future no longer looks so bright.
In such a world, we are going to cling to the icons of the past for re-assurance and confirmation of who we are and where we stand.
American Living is just one example of the nostalgia for the past that America is now craving in everything from its cars to its politicians.
It's a force that cannot be ignored.
Posted by Ed Cotton
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this aesthetic happening elsewhere too
in music bands like salt & samovar, O' death, and a couple tracks on the latest band of horses record, people are going back to the 1860's hymnal style, barn-thumping, knee-slapping spirituals of that era. Also, latest Bright Eyes record, and recently a huge article in NY Times weekend section about all the bluegrass parties happening in NYC. Also one walk through bburg and lower east side here and it is clear farmer-chic is a major fashion trend with all the flannel shirts and beards. Agreed that it is partly a result of 9/11, but also partly desire for realness after the overly commercialized and corporatized 90s and early 2000's enron.
Posted by ben butler on 03/07/2008 08:53 PM
in music bands like salt & samovar, O' death, and a couple tracks on the latest band of horses record, people are going back to the 1860's hymnal style, barn-thumping, knee-slapping spirituals of that era. Also, latest Bright Eyes record, and recently a huge article in NY Times weekend section about all the bluegrass parties happening in NYC. Also one walk through bburg and lower east side here and it is clear farmer-chic is a major fashion trend with all the flannel shirts and beards. Agreed that it is partly a result of 9/11, but also partly desire for realness after the overly commercialized and corporatized 90s and early 2000's enron.
Posted by ben butler on 03/07/2008 08:53 PM
It appears you don't have Flash installed.
Hi, your analysis is the most clever I have seen so far on the subject of American Living. I believe that 9/11 created a yearning for the past and a fear of the future. I see it in European design, which seems to have leaped forward, whereas American design seems stagnated and trapped in a world of vintage dreams. This of course works perfectly for Polo Ralph Lauren and their myriad of brands, which satisfy the hunger for security and the world of the "known." Ralph is very excited about American Living and has been personally involved in every aspect of its development, which is ironic given that he has not lent his name to the brand, but the man knows what he wants and he knows what he is doing.