Bell Bottoms
Originated in the19th century and were worn by the sailors in the Navy. They were first seen by sailors wearing them in the war of 1812. Traditionally they wore just wide legged trousers, but they found them difficult so move in. So then the invention of a trouser that flared out from the knee were created to help sailors pull up their pants when faced with the presence of high waters.
Bell Bottoms 1970’s
Designer: Michael Kors 1993 Bell Bottoms reinvented Bell Bottoms were seen in fashion here and there between the years, but they went mainstream in the 60’s and 70’s. During the 70s, the Vietnam War had just concluded and the U.S. economy was hurting. The golden age was over and the U.S. entered a recession. Many problems were starting to pop up and it was overwhelming the American people. The new problems were the energy shortage, high inflation, and high unemployment. The high unemployment was a result of the women work force and a combination of returning soldiers from Vietnam. Women in the 70’s had shed the cookie cutter stay at home mom role, and began to be employed. This independence represented new found fashion statements. Woman through
away the aprons and picked, up pants. Although woman mostly wore skirts, some jobs required the use of pants. The fashion movement in the seventies caught hold of this and began to make pants with more style and textures. There was also a play on different hem lengths, waist heights, and leg flare. Some political factors that affected would have been the fight for women rights. In 1972 congress passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution. This began a new trend in the way that woman began to dress. Woman rarely wore pants before this amendment was passed, because doing to was just not how ladies were supposed to dress Woman normally wore long skirts, and tried to keep their out fits modest. After the passing of this amendment women were free from political restrictions, and from restrictions on the way they dressed. Woman started wearing shorter skirts, higher cut tops, and pants. The pants that were particularly popular was the bell bottom pants. These pants were originally seen on masculine sailors, but the know free woman adopted this trend and made it their own. Furthermore, a social influence would be the “Watergate” scandal. After this many people moved away from politics, and turned to focusing on pop culture such as the disco. The most social influence in the 70’s was the disco. Disco was a high energy electric style of dance and movement. It's resulted because Americans were celebrating the breaking away from political bandage. The bell bottoms were a move towards a more pop culture style in the 70’s. Next the religious movement known as “new right” came along were people celebrated a free market and the decline of traditional values. The biggest religious influence in the 1970’s was the new age movement. This was a time when people stopped relying on the bible and more on personal knowledge. Woman especially looked forward to a new age of love and light. Now woman was not so focused on strict religious beliefs. Designers in the 70's created the pants in
reference to, people loving life and being free from religious restrictions. The pants started to take on a new life of their own. Bell bottoms were so popular, designers had to find ways to make their pants different from the rest of the competition. The pants came in different colors, textures, and patterns. I believe designers chose bell bottoms to be in their brand to give people a new found freedom of fashion expression.
Free People: 60’s high rise flare The Similarities between these two garments are the way that the garments flare out starting from the knee, also both the garments are finished above the ankle. Both or the garments have a high raised waist, and are made of some sort of denim. The differences besides the color, are the
fact that the white pants have a raised pattered print on top of the denim. Also the pants at free people are more loose fitting. Another small difference is in price The Michael Kors bell-bottoms were sold at $163 and the free people bell bottoms are priced at $123. The influence of the time period of bell bottoms has not changed much. With each new reinvention of the bell bottom, the same technique has been used to capture the effect of the bell shaped bottom of the pants. I feel this garment has been included into the data base because the bell-bottom pants are an iconic styling of pants that represent the fashion era of the 60’s and 70’s. The bell bottoms by Michael Kors are in the data base to show the importance of this specific style of pants, by using such a well-known designer. I feel the updated design would be a perfect fit to be in the data base, because the bell bottom pants from Free People captures the correct design esthetic of the originally made bell bottom pants.
Store: Macys Visual Display: Free People
Flower Power
Strength: •
The use of the string flowers being on the ceiling draws people to the display.
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The display is so unconventional and different than the other displays on the floor, it stands out and makes people want to look at their merchandise.
Weaknesses: •
The clothing placed on the couches might become difficult to sell if they were to become unfolded. The unfolded clothing would also make the display look messy.
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Because of the display being right in the middle of the aisle the display would have to be in stock at all times or the display could look unfinished.
Opportunities: •
Incorporate in store technologically advanced displays, with customer interaction.
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Impact the customers experience, by educating them on global influences while shopping.
Threats: •
The types of clothing that they chose to display might only appeal to a one style of clothing that may or may not be on trend.
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The price range of the clothing may not appeal to the budget of the typical junior Macys customer.
Changes: I would take the clothing off the two couches and place them on another table or just put them on racks. I feel this will make the clothing easily accessible, because customers may find it difficult to find clothes while having to bend over and search on the couch. The merchandise that they chose to put on the mannequins are pretty typical and bland. They were similar to the other mannequins for other brands. I would make sure to display the most stylish and flashy out fit to display on the mannequin. This was it will bring more attention to the clothing’s that is on display. I would also change the overall merchandise that they have chosen to display. They chose very basic clothing with high price tags. That won’t sell because customers can get these clothing from somewhere else in Macys for cheaper. I would choose the free people merchandise that are the most unique and edgy, that is rarely seen around. 1.
My target consumer is from 21-29, female and male. They are from an upper middle class
background and often times live at home. They are typically from large cities like Chicago, New York, or L.A, because the night life excites them. They are attendees of a fine arts college and may either still be in college or graduated with an arts degree. They work basic jobs and get minimum wage, they make just enough money to support their life style. Their jobs are anywhere
from working at craft stores to working at a restaurant. Their income is anywhere from 10,00020,000 a year. There hobbies include going to social gatherings and attending art shows. Their interests include painting and crocheting. 2. Bick: The customers in Bick where trendy casual. The men wore a variation of shoes like Vans, oxfords, and Nikes. The woman mostly wore combat boats, riding boots, and all-star shoes. The shoes where only an addition to their casually stylish fits. Most of the people wore oversized coats that where not buttoned most likely to show off their outfits. There was also a trend of vests that was seen amongst the men. The people where mostly plain, the girls didn’t wear a lot of make-up, and didn’t carry large purses. They didn’t really have on jewelry, and only a couple people had on scarves. Most of the men wore button up plaid shirts, with a jean, or a khaki pant. The colors trends that I saw was black, tan, gray, and other neutral tone colors. Zumies: The customers in Zumies where fresh and experimental with their style. They wore mostly light jackets and sweaters. They seemed to care more about how they looked and less about the weather. The men wore Vans, Pumas, and Docmartins. All of which were worn out and dirty. The woman wore Vans, riding boats, and Nike. There was a trend of hats amongst the men, they wore caps with graphics, beanies, and skullie hats. The pants worn was mostly denim, and khaki pants. Accessories worn was Jan sport backpacks and facial jewelry. Some of the women I saw had shaved heads with designs in them. The trend colors were black, burgundy, and gray. The overall customer is flashy, but stylish and stands out on the street. Urban outfitters:
This customer in Urban outfitters where modern and stylish. Most of the customers wore long tan pea coats, and some type of decorative printed scarf. The woman wore chucks, riding boots, and loafers. This was paired with a legging, or a skinny jean. They have satchel purses that coordinated with their shoes. Jewelry was minimal besides earrings and a few dainty necklaces here and there. The men wore loafers, oxfords, and ankle boots. Most of them wore oversized baggy jeans or khaki pants that where folded at the bottom. There was a trend of backpacks almost every male had one on. There was a trend of non-matched clothing that still was cohesive through the items that they paired together. Trend colors where khaki, green, burgundy, and gray. The overall customer was hippie trendy casual. 3. The fashion show I could see most of my customers wearing was Piazza Sempione. His fashion show had the color story of burgundy, tan, gray, and white. The clothing was very laid back and there was minimal design but the paring of items where spot on. This was very similar to my target customer. My customer wore these same colors, however my customers mixed and matched these colors within the same outfit. While the looks in Piazza’s fashion show every look used only one or two colors. The silhouette of the pants in my customer was a folded denim or khaki pant. The pants silhouette in the fashion show was high hemmed and had the “flooded” effect. My customer didn’t go all the way to that style. The shoes of my customer was a comfy shoe or a gym shoe. Just like the fashion show my customers wore loafers. The loafers really compliment the silhouette of the pants of my customers folded pants and the flooded Piazzas pants. 4. The predicted trend for A/W 2016 is Artisan style. This includes stone, toupee, mauve and gray colors. The inspiration for the eye shadow makeup comes from assorted metallic rocks. The lips are a buttery texture and softer tones. The jewelry is also made out of stones and rocks.