American Apparel let you in their L.A. Factory

Well, they let you get an insight of what they do there. But it's a clever marketing technique. Click on the windows of our factory to see what goes on in that department: You too can be a part of our world.

Yup, the Scrunchie is back.

It's official. I posted at the start of July about American Apparel bringing back the scrunchie. But now that it has hit Topshop shop floors, Carrie Bradshaw must be eating her words.

Free Iran

After the contraversy surrounding the 'Legalize Gay. . . Repeal Prop 8 Now!" t-shirts (resulting in staff receiving death threats and vandalism on stores), American Apparel have upped-the-ante again with their next political statement.

The retail giant supplied a UCLA rally for Iranian democracy with "Free Iran" T-shirts on Saturday. A spokesperson for the company stated:

"American Apparel is a company that supports liberty and open-minded thinking. [We have] a history of putting our money where our mouth is. We have some resources and assets that your average protester doesn't and we want to use those when we can." 

The return of the scrunchie?

Surely not? I was surfing the net when I noticed an advertisement for American Apparel scrunchies! After further investigation on the AA website, it looks like the company is putting a lot of their weight behind the product, priced at £5 each. (I can't help but think of that Sex and the City episode when Carrie insists no New Yorker in their right mind would ever wear a scrunchie. Right enough, she never mentioned anything about LA.)

Glastonbury '09.

So Kate Moss was a no-show but there were plenty of other fashionistas strutting their festival gear for the press to feast their camera lenses on. Here model Lily Donaldson sports Kate's normal rocky look with the summers fringing and those all important Ray-bans. Over the last few years, outfits have become a bit formulaic in the reign of Miss Moss but there are always exceptions such as singer VV Brown's colourful ensemble. 

Of course the wellies were still the most popular item of clothing despite the lack of rain along with the floral print jersey dresses pushed on the high street.  

One of my favourite looks here is one of the simplist: an American Apparel jumpsuit, hippy head band and (my faves) Nike sneakers. Makes a welcome change from the usual uniform.

AA's Factory Flea Market

American Apparel apparently make 1 million garments a week in their LA factory. So unsurprisingly, they end up with a whole load of "factory rejects". Rather than throw them out, the company has started having annual (cheap) sales of these rejects in their factory headquarter car park. The hype for these events has become pretty unbelievable and thousands queue for hours for the chance to rummage for a AA bargain.

The American Dream.

An amazing insight into the American Apparel ethics: how their clothes are made in L.A. and how controversial CEO Dov Charney started the fastest growing apparel company in American history.

Picture Me

"We might need to see you without your bra, he told me. I was 14. I didn't even have breasts yet."

Sara Ziff was earning money as a teen model that most people can only dream of. But there was a price to pay. I have to admit I am dying to see this documentary Sara has made depicting a more realistic (and long-overdue) version of life as a model. Just yesterday, I was encouraging 2 friends to send in images of themselves to American Apparel where they scout for "real people" to model their campaigns... 

Some very cool use of tiling and an old sink in Urban Outfitters Glasgow recently. Just in a small section which was enough. It creates a point of interest for the clothing to displayed alongside. Pretty cool I thought.

Saw these vintage Justin worker boots. Perfect fit, pretty comfortable too. I love how clumpy , masculine and battered they look and they looked perfect with a new pretty feminine dress I was wearing and tights. 

£75, eek I'm a bit tight on money and I bought a little blue dress from Urban Outfitters last week so I didn't want to push the bank too far. (Went into American Apparel next door though and they had the same worker boots in white in their vintage section for £35!)

AA's new advertising approach.

American Apparel has always prided itself in using more 'realistic' models in their advertising and not airbrushing their models. Fantastic! So it wasn't overly surprising to find out that they had selected real people to advertise their AA and California Select Vintage clothing lines. 

I already followed Karla's blog so it is great to see her feature in these images - doesn't she look fab? Karla and 2 other girls were chosen due to their highest ratings at Chictopia (a networking site where anyone and everyone can upload images of themselves in their chosen outfits and users vote the best looks).

 

But this isn't the only new approach American Apparel have had to their photography. Featuring real people in their adverts really appeals to their customer and AA has heavily featured sexual innuendo before. However, most recently, they have also introduced some unique, raunchier images of nudity... featuring porn stars!! (one "model" wears thigh-high socks alone.) 

The ads (idea of Dov Charney - the company's contraversial founder and CEO) were created "exclusively" for more... shall we say "risque" (sex) blogs but of course have given American Apparel massive exposure due to their shock value. 

Denim galore!

I have been a huge fan of Balmain's last couple of collections. Look at their ripped stone washed jeans (which cost over £1000) and new take on a military  and denim jacket. I want them!

Topshop and Miss Selfridge (see previous post) seem to have been influenced hugely by Balmain's AW '08 collection and now their SS '09 collection. I have my light wash, ripped skinnies from last year so I'll be digging them out but have a look at what Urban Outfitters have just came up with:

I'll be in Glasgow on Saturday so I think I'll go check these out. I wonder if American Apparel will pick up on these...

American Apparel wish list.

I never bothered too much with American Apparel before but I went into their store in Glasgow yesterday and ended up trying on a couple of things and wanting loads... I also appreciate that the models in AA tend to look real - not completely skin and bone and air-brushed.

I really loved their new long sleeved version of their Double U-neck mini dress. I wore my ex flatmates short sleeved version on a couple of nights out last year (on far right below). Only thing is because it's cotton spandex it's pretty clingy so since Christmas is by, I'm gonna make it my mission to get a completely flat stomach again before I buy one. 

(On a further note, in this picture I am wearing a black faux snake skin PVC jacket which I got for just £7 in a charity shop. I used to wear it all the time and always got great compliments. On this night out it was stolen from the club we attended and coincidently this is the only picture I have of me wearing it. I miss it!)

I also tried on the 'Tricot High-waist skirt' but as an extremely short mini dress. I think I might go back for it next time I'm in town.