The Real People ReBrand

Image: Banana Republic

From DJs to doctors, it seems that real people are showing up in a variety of fashion publications these days. Several months ago, I paged through the newest issue of JCrew's monthly mailer and to my surprise ran across a slew of real women. JCrew's glossy has featured both real females and real males alike, providing little profiles of the featured individuals underneath their pics. As most of these individuals haven't been trained to photograph well, there is an amateurish quality to their poses, yet a simultaneous feeling of genuineness and approachability.

I set aside several of the images from JCrew's magazine in hopes to share them later but had all but forgotten until I ran across BananaRepublic's new website. The image above is pulled from BR's women's feature campaign related to "wear to work" garb. I kind of love it.

After spotting this trend in more than one place, i'm interested in exploring what is happening here. What does the rise of "real people" campaigns say about where today's retail marketing is headed? And furthermore, what does it say about today's culture? More to come...