I’ve always felt it was ironic for the fashion industry to advertise clothes with pictures of people wearing next to nothing. The new Jack Wills catalogue has taken this trend to its logical conclusion, by treating the buyer to images of people cavorting semi-naked on a beach.
Now the brand’s 2011 Spring Term Handbook has earned the brand a rap on the knuckles from the Advertising Standards Authority, which concluded that a photograph of a bare-breasted lovely wearing nothing but a pair of pants and a male companion was likely to cause harm to teenagers. Jack Wills countered by saying that their clothes are aimed at 18 to 22-year-olds. This is disingenuous to say the least, especially if you’ve ever battled your way past the queue of 13 to 14-year-old girls outside one of its shops on a Saturday morning.
JW’s catalogue is a masterclass in the commercialisation of rebellion. Young people who buy into this look are not breaking all the rules but conforming to a pre-packaged, off-the-shelf form of subversion, one that is cunningly designed to make pots of money for middle-aged gentlemen in grey suits.
Really want to upset the Establishment? Get religion, start going to the opera — and rework your granny’s vintage clothes instead of buying overpriced, mass-produced tat.