Indonesian Fashion Spot!

20 April lalu, gerai pertama GAP resmi di buka di senayan city. Nanti nya akan di buka juga di Bandung, Surabaya dan Bali. I believe this is the second high street store from the US after Bebe (untuk akhir2 ini). It’s interesting to see how the response would be. I honestly don’t think the market will be excited about GAP as they are towards Zara and the other European retailers. It’s true, American high street labels are nothing to be excited about..:D. If you look at my today’s outfit post, you will rarely see American labels like GAP, Old Navy, Banana Republic, J Crew, Ann Taylor, Guess, Arden B, Bebe, The limited, Abercrombie, etc. The only place I frequently shop that is truly American is Express, because I love their pants. I do shop at Forever 21, but that’s not 100% American since it’s founded and owned by Korean couple..hehehe..I shop at H&M a lot but that’s a Swedish retailer..:p. And that’s all the stores I visit at the mall, really. Kalau yang di department store kaya Nordstrom, Neiman, Saks, Barneys baru deh bagus bagus, but most of the stuff come at triple digit price tags..:<

I haven’t been to the GAP stores in a long time..agak ngebosenin memang barang barang nya..it’s always the same old shirts, same old hoodie and same old khakis..memang main core nya GAP itu di basic clothing. Beberapa tahun terakhir kan GAP sales nya turun terus…sampai akhirnya CEOnya, Paul Pressler, angkat tangan dan keluar dari GAP, he couldn’t turn the company around, padahal beberapa selebriti udah di hire untuk jadi spokesperson nya..but GAP is not as cool as what its advertisements appear to be. Mungkin juga CEO nya nggak sukses karena terlalu fokus dengan line diversification seperti membuka piperlime.com serta ford and thowne concept store.

Tapi untuk tahun ini penjualannya di perkirakan meningkat, thanks to its collaboration strategy with Doo.Ri and Thakoon. Apalagi, koleksi nya di pakai 10 model untuk cover nya Vogue. Sampai masuk today show segala. I guess it’s always a good thing to get support from the most powerful person in fashion industry.

Speaking about Vogue, this May edition is a refreshing one because the cover is not a celebrity and we don’t only get one but ten models on the cover!!. Jarang jarang banget kan tuh. I love seeing Miss Trentini in there. Ada artikel tentang model juga, tentang hilangnya era supermodel. Today, we have top models, but not supermodel. Top model is highly paid fashion models, but they are only famous among those in the fashion industry or those who follow fashion religiously. Supermodel is a fashion model who turns into a household name, known not only by the people in the industry but by the average people too..like by a junior high school student in a third world country, twelve or so year ago (a.k.a me!!!)..and people know them by their first name. Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Stephanie Seymour, Elle Machperson, Kate Moss, Amber Valetta, Nadja Auermann, Bridget Hall (and her sexy lips!!), Laeticia Casta and the likes are the example of the 90s supermodel. Kalau 2000 supermodel cuma Giselle aja, dan setelah itu nggak ada lagi.

Memang sih kayanya model jaman dulu sama sekarang beda. kalo dulu badannya aduhai semua dan lebih keliatan glamour nya, kalo sekarang, sejak kate moss beken dengan tampilan ‘heroin chic’ nya, model jadi kurus kurus, jauh dari kesan seksi dan cantik, kalo nggak di dandanin juga nggak keliatan kalo mereka itu model. you see, sex sells..maka nya model tahun 2000-an yang popular itu yang ada di katalog nya Victoria Secret. Yang lainnya sih kalo bukan untuk muka nya yang memang unik kaya devon aoki, alex wek or baby doll like kayak lily cole orang juga gampang lupa. Lagian, America has a rather unhealthy obsession towards celebrity, so it’s not really that hard to figure it out because like sex, celebrity sells!!

So, who do you think will be the next supermodel?? I think among others, Daria is the closest to reach the supermodel status, but I could be wrong. Yang jelas, the next supermodel is not the winner of the America’s next top model show..:D