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Brown is beautiful
Page 14
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Take a stroll with us through the little sideroads of haulage —the diversions and detours, the quirky, the quixotic and the downright strange...
Despite the tact that we look like we've dressed in the darkened basement of a charity shop with our eyes shut, On the Margin has its finger firmly on the pulse of fashion. Clown shoes are in! Reflective tabards are in Trousers are so last season! Next year brown is the new black; black is last year's red; and red is what pale blue used to be. Clear? Of course we're indebted to parcel firm UPS for its assistance in our understanding of haute couture.
We can hear you asking how UPS, a company famed for its stubborn adherence to a brown uniform that makes its drivers look like dustmen, can be so well up on the fashion industry.
Well it's sponsored three "young talents" in the fashion world to come up with a female version of its traditional workwear.
The press release trills about designer Felipe Baptista who came up with a "sensual and modern look combining function and glamour" (pictured — UPS brown with sequins as far as we can tell) and rival designer Adam Jones came up with "ultrafeminine fashions where knitwear was king". So very now, we're sure you'll agree.
We're left with a nagging question about what all this is really for, although given the number of times that references to UPS's speed, reliability, creativity, commitment and capability with a set of knitting needles (OK, perhaps we made up the last one) are crudely crowbarred into the text, there's the merest hint of product placement about the whole exercise. It's as subtle as wearing checks with stripes, darling.
And now, from the fashionable to the iconic. You could never accuse the Michelin Man (or Bibendurn to his mates) of being a slave to fashion — he's too chunky for one thing, and those white overalls do him no favours— but he's a trademark that's lasted and lasted and lasted. Now Michelin is launching a campaign to find vintage versions of its over-inflated mascot.
The quest has been sparked by Michelin's 100th year over here and examples will find their way to exhibitions in its factories in Stoke-on-Trent, Ballymena and Dundee. Despite bang as French as a 32-hour week and a pint of Pastis for lunch, the press release nevertheless calls Bibendum "a part of British social history and pop culture".
More information at www.michelinco.uk