Happy Friday With Guy Trefler

Happy Friday y'all.

"NOT MINE" by Guy Trefler… creating the new out of the used.

A Visual History of Stüssy's Advertising Campaigns (1986-1991)

Stüssy  is one of those companies that is synonymous with urban fashion, some would call it the godfather of street wear, it most certainly has withstood the test of time and even inspired the launch of other iconic brands like Supreme who’s James Jebbia famously worked with Shawn Stussy for years before forming what many consider to be the industry standard for this generation.

I recall first being introduced to the iconic brand in the mid 80’s when I started to skate, the tribal logo created by founder Shawn himself was instantly recognizable and appealing as where their ads  which applied a great punk rock aesthetic to them with their collage like construction.

I remember flipping through the pages of Thrasher Magazine each month excited to see the latest one, cutting them out and sticking them on my bedroom wall for inspiration. I’m much older now and those torn pages obviously no longer grace my bedroom walls but I am just as attracted to the graphic work as I was when I was a kid and have recently noticed a nod to the past in some of their newer marketing which most certainly put a smile on my face and inspired this piece.

Stüssy has never hired out ad agencies or creative consultants. All ad’s are created in-house with a creative director leading the vision. Here is a breakdown of some of the important folks involved with the campaigns over the years .

Ron Leighton (1983-1986)

Ron met Shawn in the early 80’s when he and his wife, Michele, produced an ad for Newport Surf and Sport that featured some pieces from Stüssy. Shawn liked what he saw and asked Ron to do his thing on some ads for the emerging clothing brand, the two worked together for a period of three years amassing a large collection of photographs hallmarked by the globally recognized grainy black and white aesthetic Stüssy is known for.

Shawn Stüssy (1987-1989)

Shawn himself took over after Ron left in 86 and continued to combine his noteworthy graphic talents with his distinctive taste in humor. Shawn had an eye for ambiguous imagery and when he came across something he liked, he would shoot it, re-purpose it and add his own mark on the photographs often with a hip-hop inspired phrase in his iconic handwriting.

David Dobson (1989-1990)

Outside of California David spent portions of his life in Calcutta, India, Kenya, Egypt, and Sri Lanka, where he was exposed to various cultures that went on to influence his work. As a fan of Stüssy, David cleverly reached out to the brand for a box of t-shirts to take along on a missionary trip just to see what he could come up with. What the brand got in return was a series of photographs that displayed  his unique ability to connect and communicate with the diverse cultures in a natural way that didn't look staged. Most impressive perhaps is that his work still looks just as fresh today as it did two decades ago.

So now that you have some background on the who’s who here without further delay are fifty-four  Stüssy ads from between 1986 and 1991 for you to enjoy and be inspired by. Some might be pretty familiar, but there are a couple of lesser-seen ones in the mix featuring some fun guest models you might recognize, enjoy.

Stüssy 86-91 - slideshow

Throwback Thursday’s” Jim Henson Advertising

Before puppeteer pioneer Jim Henson brought joy to the entertainment world with his world famous Muppets there was Jim Henson the ad man.  We all got bills to pay and sometimes those checks come from advertisers. Jim Henson’s early works of the 60’s and 70’s included commercials and short sales films for the likes of Wilkins Coffee, IBM, AT&T, La Choy and PakNit Fabrics to name but a few. The revenue gathered during the time helped Jim and his future wife, Jane, grow their own vision, kick-starting a prolific career and leading to several puppet proto-types that would one day be some of the most recognizable characters in pop culture. Henson didn’t necessarily express a personal preference for any of these companies but used the time to develop and perfect his artistic vision, often throwing in some light hearted cynicism as a wink to the adult audience. For this week’s Throwback Thursday we share some of those early ads and instructional videos that I personally first enjoyed at the Museum of Moving Image’s recent retrospective of Henson’s work. For those that couldn’t make the trip out to NY at the time let this be your window. Oh yeah and Fuck Chick-fil-A.

“The Paperwork Explosion,” Jim Henson’s weirdly sinister IBM ad from 1967

In the 1960s, IBM tapped Jim Henson and composer Raymond Scott to create "The Paperwork Explosion," a four-minute advertisement for the MT/ST word-processing machine. The commercial was jarring brew of jargon and flashing images seemingly custom-made for an office-drone dystopia.

Cookie Monster’s debut -IBM Training Video from 1967. At the time, the greenish monster's name was actually Arnold the Munching Monster.

A Set of Wilkins Coffee Commercials Made by Jim Henson back in the 1950's when setting explosions and hitting Muppets was acceptable.

AT&T’s crappy service won’t put a smile on your face but maybe this video from 1963 will. According to AT&T, Henson made the video for a seminar being given to business owners on what was then a groundbreaking topic — data communications.

Delbert the La Choy Dragon appeared in television commercials for La Choy chow mein from 1965 to 1967. In some commercials he was teamed with Mert, a meek, bespectacled Muppet spokesman.

 

Video: "Transforming Beauty"

In Collaboration with Artists David Ellis, Maya Hayuk, SASU and Yuri Shimojo, cosmetic company Sephora commissioned a time – lapse film entitled “Transforming Beauty,” for the grand opening of Sephora’s new shop front in Soho, NY.

BONUS:
The making of "Transforming Beauty,", a time-lapse film and lenticular

Kenny Powers Appointed MFCEO of K-Swiss

California-based footwear makers K-Swiss have just debuted a new viral advertising campaign this weekend starring Danny McBride in his role as Eastbound & Down‘s Kenny Powers, Of course it's hilarious.

Your K-Swiss ads have been a huge hit. What was the origin of those?"

"K-Swiss came to us that they wanted to use Kenny Powers as spokesman. And (co-creator) Jody (Hill) and I were really nervous about it because we really kind of liked where we left Kenny last time. And we were perfectly fine if that was the last time people saw Kenny before the new season started. We also didn't want to appear like we were trying to sell out our comedy or sell out what we were doing or just trying to cash in. We really wanted to keep it organic to the show. Then we saw the boards and the scripts that the guys from K-Swiss were coming up with. I mean, the stuff was pretty much in line with the stuff we were doing for the show anyway. And the more we talked with them and saw that they weren't really interested in watering down what we were doing, that they were just inviting us to do that with their shoes, it just seemed like a funny idea. So we just kind of went for it and crossed our fingers and hoped we wouldn't suffer some sort of crazy backlash from it. Luckily, people responded positively to it."