If I felt skeptical about Karl Lagerfeld's Holiday 2012 collection for Shu Uemura with its manga-inspired character Mon Shu, now I'm certain that the whole thing is too ridiculous for words. Someone at Shu should have introduced Lagerfeld to Dora the Explorer, a favorite of my four year old niece. They also should have put a stop to this joke before it went to production. I know that Shu Uemura (or rather, their owner, L'Oreal) said when they pulled out of the US department stores that they want to concentrate on the Asian and European markets. I don't claim to understand the Asian beauty scene, but somehow I don't see Mon Shu as a great fit for Selfridges or Printemps.
Photo of Uncle Karl and
Couldn't agree more! Awful!
ReplyDeleteI agree. And doesn't he look so silly standing next to that blow up doll with the sombre face on?
ReplyDeleteI could actually see this doing well in Italy and Brazil. Possibly Spain. Anime and manga-inspired everything is quite popular in those places, whereas in the US (except Hawaii, my home state) it is considered more of a subculture. But I agree that some of the pieces in this collection are just ridiculous, even from my more otaku POV. Personally, I'd like to see a Choupette-inspired collection.
ReplyDeleteI disagree! Anime is quite popular in the USA, and it is not only for kids. It is also for us adults. Dora the Explorer? What a joke!
ReplyDeleteSandra
Karl looks like he'd REALLY rather be home with Choupette - but who wouldn't! ~~nozknoz
ReplyDeleteSandra, I think Anime is definitely more popular with younger adults in the USA, certainly...sometimes I forget how old I am. :) I grew up watching anime in Hawaii and SF and still watch stuff ranging from Death Note to Ayakashi/Mononoke...but my cousins and many of my girlfriends who are a bit older than me and grew up in very different parts of the country never caught Robotech (or Macross) or anything that came after it and do not get Inuyasha, Naruto, Nana, etc...
ReplyDeletei am enjoying the play on words.
ReplyDeletein french, "mon chou" is like saying "my little saurkraut" which is a term of endearment. my french mom called me mon chou or petit chou for years.
and i like the anime/manga aesthetic personally. if only to look at it, and not wear it.
cheers,
minette
I will be going to the Karl Lagerfeld Shu Uemura launch tomorrow and I'm already dreading it. Eyeballing the products, I'm not very impressed with them and Mon Shu reminds me of Dora. I might change my mind though once I actually tried to use the products from the collection. But all in all I admit the whole theme is quite ridiculous.
ReplyDelete