FASHION AND EVENTS

MIAMI SWIM WEEK

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED'S NEW LINE AND RUNWAY SHOW CATERED TO REAL WOMEN...

AND THE CROWD WENT WILD

Miami Swim Week is always one of the hottest events of the year. With 90 degree weather and the newest bikinis on the market, you'd be pressed to find somewhere steamier in the summer.

But this year's swimsuit mecca was extra special thanks to the debut of SI Swimsuit's first-ever swimwear line during SWIM MIAMI. Walking the runway in a variety of sexy, athletic and functional pieces, the Top 15 ladies of the inaugural #SISwimSearch open casting call showcased just how versatile this line will be. Special guests, SI Swimsuit models Samantha Hoopes and Hailey Clauson opened and closed the show respectively in some of the line's hottest suits.

Available in sizes 2-20, the line features seductive one-pieces, retro high-cut bikini briefs and teeny tiny triangle top that leave little to the imagination. 

Gone are the days of curvy women resorting to swim skirts and motherly floral-print one-pieces. SI's body-positive swimwear line ensures that women of all shapes and sizes will feel sexy as they hit the beach in style next summer. SI's swim and activewear line will drop in early 2018 at a price point of $40-$160 per suit.

THE TRENDS

Marrakech is trending

Designers such as Sinesia Karol, Marie France Van-Damme and Audrina Patridge did collections inspired by their travels, particularly Morocco. But each brand uses the inspiration in distinct ways. While Sinesia Karol was inspired by the colors spices such as turmeric and ginger to give her pieces color and flare – deep oranges, yellows and warm tones mixed with pastels – Marie France Van-Damme stayed in the black and white hues but focused more on the striped-prints and metallics, paired with chiffon kaftans for layering. Patridge mixed her Malibu-girl tastes with 1960s and 1970s Marrakech vibes also focusing on color and texture for her brand Prey Swim.

Off the shoulder is apparently here to stay

If you thought you’d seen every blogger in the city (and instagram) with an off-the-shoulder blouse by now, well get ready for more. Swimwear designers have doubled down on bare shoulders and ruffles.

One piece or bodysuit? What's the difference anymore?

More designers are creating swim pieces that can be worn as both swimwear and bodysuits. While some focus on extremely elaborate bikinis, others such as Sports Illustrated, Gottex and Acacia are making it easier for those who enjoy wearing their swimsuits as bodysuits for a night out, or with a maxi-skirt. Versatility is what the swimwear industry should be all about.

THE BEST SHOWS

Peruvian brand, Aguaclara with phenomenally embroidered and perfectly sculpted suits in an array of oranges and bright yellows, but transitioning into baby blue and turquoise. Pieces included both those warm and cool tones contrasted via geometric shapes. The collection was one of the best of the week.

Hot-As-Hell threw its middle fingers up to society – literally. As always, the show included an array of eccentric, exotic and diverse models and children – so many children! The models danced, screamed and jumped down the catwalk. The collection mixes lingerie with swimwear, continuously influenced by Asian prints, flowers and fonts.

Sports Illustrated was the only show to include plus-sized women, and every time they came out the crowd at the W Hotel went wild. The collection presented an array of simpler pieces that – again – one could wear as a bodysuit, but also to the beach.

Beach Bunny really brought the angels down for their collection “Heaven on Earth.” Their flawless models brought the heat for a runway show full of excitement, bounce, fun poses, and props such as wings or bunny ears.

Luli Fama paid homage to Cuba. The show commenced with a presentation of men dancing while another played the drums, in a flow of rhythms that got the audience pumped and ready. Then an array of designs were seen on the runway, each divided by smaller collections with names such as “Me Voy pa Cuba,” in tribute to the towns and cities of the island, but also to those who left Cuba and never came back. The Luli Fama show was colorful, exciting, and the connection between the designer and her Cuban roots was seen throughout.

MUSIC

WHO'S NEW AND NOTABLE

Many are new and now being noticed, but in our opinion, the few mentioned here are just our cup of tea.

MISSIO

Why You Should Pay Attention: Earlier this year, Missio's angst-ridden "Middle Fingers" shook SiriusXM's Alt Nation, cracked Billboard's Alternative Songs Top 10 and stoked anticipation for their RCA Records debut, Loner. The Austin-based band have since landed on festival bills and some opening slots on Muse's tour with 30 Seconds to Mars.

"If you look on the surface, we'd seem like a really black sheep," Missio instrumentalist-producer David Butler says. "Our story is not, 'We played local clubs and blew up.' We're more of an Internet success story. That's how we got our start."

Over the past three years, Butler and vocalist-producer Matthew Brue morphed Missio's sound from ambient roots – an inventive Lana Del Rey cover lurks among earlier tracks on YouTube – to its current booming, razor-sharp state. Loaded with bruising bass, icy synths and dark imagery, Loner is an exploration of Brue's winding road to sobriety. "If we can have one thing out of this record," he says, "it's just to let people know that they're not alone."

They Say: Thanks to "Middle Fingers," Brue says "maybe like 8,000" people have flipped them the bird at once. "It is not an 'eff you' song," he says. "When we play 'Middle Fingers,' it's a chance for everyone in that room to be united. There's so much stress that people go through in a day. It's a really unique situation to come into a venue and leave all that stuff aside – political beliefs or whatever people disagree about outside of those rooms. It's really cool to see 500, 1,000, 5,000, or however many people uniting for that three minutes and 40 seconds."

Hear it for yourself here:

SUDAN ARCHIVES

Why You Should Pay Attention: In September, revered funk, rap and avant-pop label Stones Throw will be releasing the self-titled debut from Britney Parks' Sudan Archives, a unique melding of West African strings and contemporary beatmaking. A self-taught violinist, Parks picked up her instrument after a group of fiddlers played Irish jigs before her fourth grade class in Cincinnati. But her family (including her stepfather, who worked at LaFace Records in the early days) envisioned a different sort of musical career for her, originally pairing her with her twin sister as a teen pop act. When Parks rebelled at the age of 16, she was kicked out of the group and out of her house, finding herself on her first plane ride ever out to Los Angeles, where she juggled odd jobs and slowly taught herself how to use her violin and laptop to make her own beats.

She Says: "I realize now those old Irish jigs I first heard remind me of the West African fiddle music I like now; it's a 'rooted' sound as opposed to violin in the classical way. … My mom nicknamed me Sudan when I was 16. When I moved out to L.A. at 19, I started to just YouTube Sudanese music just to see what came up. Ironically, most of the music has violins on it. But I was shy about my stuff. The confidence came from my stepdad [who passed away in 2015]; he was the biggest supporter of my music. He encouraged me to work towards that, to not go to college but instead take a break and find myself."

Take a listen here:

GRABBITZ

Why You Should Pay Attention: Deadmau5 fans will recognize Buffalo, New York native Grabbitz, real name Nicholas Chiari, as the wistful crooner on his track "Let Go." The official YouTube video has racked up more than 13 million views to date. That prog-house slab's minor keys and synth washes meshed nicely with the vocalist's lyrics of lopsided love. That team-up came by social-media kismet: Chiari, inspired by previous work, wrote his own melody to another Deadmau5 track and uploaded his new version. The man himself eventually found it, asking Grabbitz to collab.

Now, Grabbitz' debut album, Things Change, is out, mixing moody alt-rock melodies with burbling, breakbeat-inflected rhythms and, yes, the occasional drop, all recalling the era when rock stars flirted with block-rockin' beats and guested on electronic albums.

Hear for Yourself HERE: Chiari penned his latest single, "I Think That I Might Be Going Crazy," unsurprisingly, during a personal maelstrom, as he both tried to launch his music career in L.A. and tend to a major family illness back home. The quickfire-repeated chorus over snaking snares and syncopated guitar wraps up the anxiety in a melodic bow. 

SANTA CRUZ

Why You Should Pay Attention: This four-piece that comes from Helsinki but sounds like Hollywood have been causing havoc in Europe since the late Aughts thanks to their debaucherous, flamboyant flair. Their third full-length, Bad Blood Rising is due out September.

Listen here:

KATY PERRY IS DOING THE MOON WALK WITH MTV

The MTV Video Music Awards are returning to California and getting a certified "California Gurl" to host.

Katy Perry took to her Twitter feed Thursday to announce her upcoming gig hosting -- and performing -- at the VMAs in August.

"I’ve been training with MTV in zero gravity, eating astronaut ice cream, and I’m on a group text with Buzz Aldrin and Neil deGrasse Tyson,” Perry said in a statement. “Come August 27th, I’ll be ready to be your MOONWOMAN! Brace for impact, kids."

Perry will kick off the evening as the first announced performer for the ceremony. On Tuesday, Perry earned five VMA nominations for her video contributions over the last year, tying with the Weeknd, with only Kendrick Lamar earning more.

“We’re thrilled to have global phenomenon Katy Perry as the host and a performer at the 2017 VMAs,” said Bruce Gillmer, head of music and music talent for Global Entertainment Group, Viacom, in a statement from MTV. “She is at the forefront of music culture and the perfect person to anchor this year’s show, which promises to be one of the most diverse and music-filled in VMA history.”

The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards will air from the Forum in Inglewood on Aug. 27.

ADVERTISING AND BRANDS

NIKE HAS AN ALL WOMAN TEAM AND THEY’RE “DOING IT” WELL

"Just Do It.

"That thought can easily pop up when it comes to breaking down gender barriers in the advertising industry. And it happens to be especially fitting for independent digital agency The Program, which is helping tear down those walls with an all-female brand team leading its global Nike account.

The team is currently working on an initiative around Nike Air VaporMax Explorer Pack, which features an "Explorer Light" and "Explorer Dark" pair of shoes. One of the social content posts from The Program that launched this week includes a video on Foot Locker's Instagram featuring the double sneaker pack.

The agency, which has 27 staffers and is based in Portland, Ore., has been working with Nike since 2009 on everything from developing global content strategies and cross-category seasonal content to creating microsites and social media content for new products. And in the last year, the brand team has been comprised of six women.

Coe Lottis, founder and VP-strategy for the shop, referred to Nike as The Program's oldest relationship and an "anchor account," said he doesn't know how the team became all women. "It just happened –it was very organic," he said. "We try to find the most talented and smartest people who make the most sense [for each brand] and now we have this team at the helm of our largest relationship."

Design Manager Kim Ponto, has been at the agency since 2013, said while the agency didn't intend for the team to be all women, the account team "would love to inspire more women-led teams" at other agencies.

"Although we've been lucky enough to be based in a very progressive city, as well as work with incredibly progressive brand partners, we definitely recognize the struggle with gender bias in this industry. It's still out there for sure," said Ponto.

She added that her Nike team wants to encourage other shops and women in the industry "to be confident enough to break down those barriers so they can focus more energy on creating kick-ass creative work, and less on the struggle towards equality."

Recently, Lottis said he walked into one of the Nike team's meetings and they told him that "no boys were allowed," but they were joking, of course. Ponto said the women would be fine with a man coming onboard, noting that the agency is a tight-knit group and they ask men in the office for information if they want insights on a male-targeted product.

At the end of the day, Lottis said the team's passion and craft shine through so much that no one ever thinks about the fact that it's made up of all women. "I hope that folks can take inspiration from the forward-thinking men we have here on our staff, who are able to stand back and recognize amazing work when they see it, and not even pay attention to gender lines," said Ponto.

APPLE IS FINALLY ON INSTA

While most companies have been tweeting and Facebooking for years, Apple has remained largely on the sidelines.

It has an @apple Twitter page, but has never tweeted from it. It has a Facebook page, but it’s blank. (Rather than post to those pages, it uses the accounts to buy ads on those services.) Apple does have a large social presence for Apple Music on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, seeing the value there, given the multimedia strengths of the platforms. It also has a presence for Apple support in social.

But otherwise, it’s been notoriously ambivalent. Until now.

This month, the flagship Apple brand joined Instagram. It will surely attract gobs of followers in the coming days, but rather than signaling a new social strategy for the tech giant, the move is instead designed, at least at first, simply to extend an existing ad campaign—“Shot on iPhone,” which has been running since 2015 and will now get the full Instagram treatment.

Much as the “Shot on iPhone” billboards, print ads and video spots do, the @apple Instagram account will feature content captured by iPhone users, curated by Apple. Each post is credited back to the Instagram account of its creator. To start, Apple has made eight posts, each of which feature content from five users—so, 40 users overall.

That Apple is finally joining Instagram may be a surprise, but the content strategy really isn’t. As a brand with a tightly controlled brand voice, Apple has long resisted getting its hands dirty in social, where spontaneity and honest connections are everything. Using social simply to extend a traditional campaign is about as conservative as it gets. (It’s how most marketers used social at the very beginning, and many continue to—usually badly.)

“Shot on iPhone” obviously does have a community element at its core, in its celebration of user creativity. In that sense, the campaign is already “social,” and bringing it to Instagram was the logical next step. But it’s social in a way that’s pretty airless—risk free and heavily manufactured.

Whether Apple will ever really take the plunge into social media—and build something compelling with social at the core, rather than just linking to playlists and posting nice complilation videos of photography—remains to be seen.

ADVERTISING, CAUSES AND BRANDS

NYC IS ABOUT TO BE "PLUS ONE" ON A REALLY COOL POOL

The idea of swimming in any of New York City’s notoriously filthy rivers is likely to leave most of the city’s residents feeling the same way—incredulous, and probably a little nauseated.

But Heineken and Tribeca Studios (the production arm of Tribeca Enterprises) are looking to drum up more support for a floating—and heavily filtered—public pool in the city’s most local waters, with a pair of new videos narrated by Neil Patrick Harris.

The pool itself is not a new proposition: Shaped like a plus sign, and aptly named “Plus Pool,” it’s the brainchild of a handful of local architects and designers, who have been spearheading stress-testing and fundraising for the project since 2010.

One of the clips, directed by Bianca Giaever of Greenpoint- and Los Angeles-based production company m ss ng p eces, walks viewers through that story, as told by Harris and various stakeholders and advisers, like co-founder Archie Lee Coates IV and Joshua David, one of the founders of New York City’s High Line park—another improbable public project, and one that ultimately became reality.

The pool, though, is still far from a sure thing. Its founders are still hashing out a location with local officials and working on gathering investors to provide the $20 million it will take to build. Heineken, for its part, is promising $100,000 in funds to the project, but only if 100,000 fans of the idea sign a petition supporting it.

“We want people to demand they get Plus Pool,” says Quinn Kilbury, senior director of marketing at the brewer, who has overseen other projects in its in-house, metropolitan-improvement “Cities of the World” campaign—like the “Subway Symphony” collaboration with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. (Side note: Kilbury also led the creation of 2014’s best ad—Anna Kendrick’s foul-mouthed Super Bowl hijacking for Newcastle Brown Ale—while working at that Heineken subsidiary).

The second new clip, a VR video directed Ray Tintori, offers a rendering of how the pool might look if it were nestled between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges off Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn’s Dumbo neighborhood. “Heineken has given us the ability to speak to an audience much bigger than the audience that we have currently,” says Coates.

So far, the brewer’s petition, found at swimintheriver.com, has racked up about 5,000 signatures since the brand’s partnership with the pool first hit the press in late April. Hopefully, 95,000 more are willing to jump on board soon, because until it’s built, some New York teens will probably just keep taking dips in the Hudson anyway—as an extraordinarily ill-advised rite of passage.

ANTI-BRANDING IS STILL BRANDING PEOPLE

ENTER BRANDLESS

Brandless is the vision of Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler, each bringing with them decades of experience crafting brands and communities. Sharkey served as a senior vice president at AOL, right when chat rooms and AIM were all the rage. Before that, she cofounded the online media company iVillage, and later on served as CEO of Johnson and Johnson’s BabyCenter. Leffler is the brand guru of Cheeky colorful tableware, YesTo natural beauty products and Yoobi school supplies, all found at Target.

Everyday goods, Sharkey and Leffler argue, are simply more expensive than they need to be, as shoppers are forced to pay a “BrandTax” — the markup tacked on to most brand-name items. Brandless estimates that the average person pays at least 40% more for products of comparable quality to Brandless’, and up to 370% more for some beauty products, like face cream simply because of the brand name attached to it. With their own production and distribution model, Brandless is able to price every single item at $3 (sometimes three items for $3, such as the case with cans of garbanzo beans). This in itself should be enough to have competing CPG players shaking in their boots.

But what’s most interesting about Brandless’ model is not just the pricing scheme, but the brand’s greater vision: the “Brandless life.”, or is it?

“Life today, for a lot of people, feels like one jumbled up Rubix cube,” says Leffler. “We're not the solution to all of that, but we want to make it easier.”

Brandless isn’t just selling products; it’s selling a way of life.

“We're talking about an attribute-led life where the experience and the people are the things that you remember, not the stuff,” summarizes Sharkey. “We want you to spend more time living your life and less time reading labels.”

To facilitate this transition to a Brandless life, each Brandless product is wrapped in uncluttered packaging. Taking cues from brands like Rx Bar, Brandless lists the most important product attributes — such as non-GMO, organic, gluten-free, no parabens and no animal testing — up front and center.

“There's no guy in a striped shirt with a beret driving a gondola down a canal in Venice trying to sell you tomato sauce,” Sharkey emphasizes. “Tomato sauce is tomato sauce.”

To further simplify, Brandless offers one version of items. “We've tested fifty different ketchups,” explains Leffler. “We've tested a hundred different types of granola, mustard, everything that you could possibly want. Every type of snack food, supplements, everything. And we've tested and created it so that the one that you get from Brandless is the one you want and should have.”

Brandless doesn’t just hope to return time to people’s schedules but also plans to direct how they use that time. While not live at launch, eventually, Leffler says, if you’ve ordered pasta and a sauce, you may receive a notification suggesting some complimentary roasted vegetable recipes and a map to the closest three farmer’s markets in your area. “Or, here's the local butcher that we think you should go to to get the meat for your bolognese.”

Part of the business plan is to get people back out to, and in, communities. For every order placed on Brandless, a meal is donated to a family in need through Feeding America. By joining Brandless’ membership plan, B.More, the meal contribution doubles for every purchase. Down the road, the founders explain, they hope to encourage B.More members to sign up for volunteer and community-based events.

“We want to enable people to have the experiences and the lives that they want,” says Sharkey. With this, Brandless borrows more from Crossfit and Sweetgreen than Unilever or P&G.

Still, Brandless is just at the beginning of their journey. Kinks are yet to be worked out on their website. The products themselves have yet to be taste, touch, smell and user-tested by finicky buyers. Legacy brands must wait to see if the flavor of Brandless’ one ketchup rivals that of long-beloved Heinz or Hunts items. But the concept of Brandless is revolutionary in its attempt to alleviate modern pain-points , such as the Paradox of Choice, time-starved schedules, lack of community, and concerns around product transparency and health. People’s needs have shifted. It’s time that the CPG model does as well. Perhaps Brandless is the beginning of this transition.

Usually we do not offer thoughts on this-but here we feel we must...

Anti-branding is still branding you see and the best part of this is the price--however--people want good packaging and a good product because it makes them feel great and inspires and satisfies their senses.

Further, it allows people to make connections with a look and feel that they can personalize according to their individualized needs, tastes and preferences.

On one hand-Brandless is revolutionary and brilliant and on the other-just another marketing shtick that consumers are bound to see through.

Further-socialism is inadvertently being promoted here and we all know how we generally feel about that.

This venture is sure to be a success because of it's anti-marketing ahem MARKETING campaign, but as Mr. Bush used to say..."make no mistake about it", they are still selling a brand and are absolutely Marketing and utilizing branding and brand messaging, as well.

Regardless, the consumer benefits--as they get a great product that they want or need, at a great price!

Fashion week prep is coming up next month as all will be getting ready for the shows in Sept., so stay tuned for fun, fashion, fans and hoopla!

As always...

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