Louise Trotter’s New New Bottega hasn’t launched yet, however, we’ve all been swooning over her first campaign*, which went instantly viral last week.
Seeded with a series of close-up hand gestures photographed by Jack Davison, we soon identified the owners of those hands, revealed in videos accompanied by their poetic musings on the power and symbolism of hand work. (more…)
“Rachel Cusk and Zadie Smith have become, in effect, literary brands — once their names are removed from the context of a book’s cover and placed on a hat or a tote bag.” Terry Nguyen, New York Times.
The merch machine refuses to die. In fact, I would argue it’s only just getting started. The New York Times recently published this article on literary merch, explaining the relatively new popularity of #litcore caps (and totes and tees) that show allegiance to revered writers while telegraphing the wearer’s (perceived) intellectual superiority. The Guardian calls this “consuming culture as a performative act”, while comedian Dan Rosen simply calls it “liberal cringe” (ouch #guilty).
It’s also rampant in media, with mainstream and niche publications going all out on taste signallers. (more…)
