The RUEHL Film Now on YouTube

This is the film that brought us into the lifes of beautiful post-grads living out the magnificent Greenwich Village lifetyle that was RUEHL No.925. It was originally featured on RUEHL.com late-2008/early-2009. Among the models are: Tyler Lough, the one jump roping and who's chiseled behind we get to check out; Justin Schneider, who walks into the vintage records store; and Mark Ricketson, who wears a light brown RUEHL cardigan sweater and drinks and mingles around at the jazz bar.

Begin the day with a beautiful New York sunrise, and pull on those sexy premium RUEHL jeans! Take a sip of fine coffee at the Village café while reading up the newspaper, and later take a stroll down the Spring-filled streets. Check out the vintage music store at the corner or work out at the Village gym with our jump-roping buddy Tyler Lough. Observe the art of a fine photographer at work, and enjoy the resulting aesthetic appeal with a bottle of wine. As sunset comes, we all come together to hang out, share some drinks, and laugh and dance the night away at this really cool Jazz Club our friends are dying to check out! Drinks all around!!! We mingle and socialize, and enjoy good times…being young…living life! In the end, we depart with one last view of two of our friends giving the night a passionate finale…

The RUEHL film…the RUEHL fantasy…RUEHL No.925
 
Directed by John Urbano

After Fukuoka, Aoyama?

A&F Ginza (a towering behemoth of a flagship!) might not be enough to satisfy the Abercrombie-craze of Tokyo! 

There is no doubt, Abercrombie & Fitch faces paramount demand in Japan. The Company is delivering by making Japan the only other country in the world to be home to multiple A&F locations (apart from its home country, the United States). A secondary flagship store is on schedule to open in Fukuoka, in southern Japan, to meet demand in the region, later this year. But now, rumors are circulating that a third store may open in Aoyama. The retail spot in question was leased by Miu Miu which has moved out (it will open a flagship in a bigger space). In 2006, when scouting possible locations for its Tokyo flagship, A&F had considered the neighborhood but opted out. Aoyama is a neighborhood in Tokyo and very near Ginza (akin to the Upper East Side of Manhattan), and so I was initially curious as to why A&F would open another shop in the same area (Tokyo) since the point of a flagship is to serve the entire area. May I remind you all, A&F Ginza is huge! And then it hit me like a wave of FIERCE; the demand must be really great! May I remind you further that A&F Ginza, however tall it may be, is still quite a narrow structure (and so overcrowding can abound). Also, this is Tokyo, the epicenter of luxury consumption where you can never have enough LV bags (or A&F jeans for that matter).

P.S. A&F's got the Fifth Avenue flagship and a store in Brooklyn (in NYC) so go figure. HCo. is also opening another EPIC on Fifth Avenue, a walk away from its EPIC in SoHo. Demand, demand!

A&F Sued Over Religious Discrimination

An Abercrombie & Fitch store front featuring Back-to-School 2007 marketing.

The company has been recently sued by a young Muslim woman after she was told to remove her hijab why working in store at Great Mall of Milpitas in California. Yes, Abercrombie & Fitch is an "all-American" brand (or so it seems). But that does not mean you have to tell your employees that a hijab - for those of you who are culturally challenged, a hijab is a head covering worn by Muslim women - is not "the Abercrombie look." It is completely unacceptable. Let's discuss both sides, shall we? First of, yes, typically you do not picture an Abercrombie girl with a hijab and there are people do just do not feel comfortable familiarizing American culture with Islam (a very sensitive issue in this country). But that is completely unfound. To be American is to be free and expressive of our ideals, dreams, and hopes. And Abercrombie & Fitch, you crushed the American ideal...

This is not the first time an incident as such has occurred (the same violation was charged last September). The 18 year-old wore her head covering colorful, coordinating the style with her A&F look. “This retailer that targets a youth market is sending the message that you cannot aspire to their ‘All American’ brand if you wear a head covering to comply with your faith,” stated the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's regional attorney William Tamayo.

What are your thoughts over the matter?

'Fantasy Studio'...Where Movie Legends Are Made

Geret and Moritz run down together in an alley at A&F Studios

" 'Fantasy Studio...Starting the A&F Repertory Company..."

The final film in the A&F Screen Test is here...'Fantasy Studio'. So regal, so majestic, so dreamy, it’s A&F Studios. (Let's throw in a boom and wow, too!). It is where everything comes together: all the pizzazz and grandeur that made Screen Test the greatest and most memorable Abercrombie & Fitch marketing campaign ever is beautifully summed up.

'Fantasy Studio' takes us inside the fictional A&F Studios "from where movie legends are made..." There's dancing and parading, and kissing and touching. Our lovely Camille gracefully springs about on set while young love abounds from corner-to-corner. Little doggies wag their tails, Laura befriends a beauty of a stallion, and cattle ranchers mingle with the Abercrombie dream-team. The guys chill out - they playfully wrestle and dance - while the gorgeous women stroll about, twirl with delight, and blow sweet kisses of bliss. A&F Studios is a true fantasy studio where everything goes (even A&F undies, up high in the air).

So we have thus arrived to the conclusion of a wonderful fashion season unlike any other. But hold on! Don't forget that upcoming prize of a lifetime that awaits a yet unknown wunderkind...

'Closed Set' is Scandalously Fun, Racy and Classy (Oh My)!

A model stops and smiles (is he day-dreaming of stardom?) after steping out of the closed set. I wonder what went on inside?!

" 'Closed Set'...starting the A&F Studio Repertory Company...with music by Johann Sebastian Bach's son, Christian... "

The newest short film for A&F Screen Test is titled 'Closed Set' and, as the title to this post suggests, is filled with cheeky visuals enough to have you grinning cheek-to-cheek. A complete classic in my opinion, 'Closed Set' runs with a perfect balance of raciness and class. The smiles, facial expressions and body language of the cast lighten the mood with a heighten sense of amusement and unadulterated pleasure. Overall the feel is very bubbly, running smoothly to the classical music of "the London Bach" Johann Christian Bach (1735 – 1782), son of the great baroque composer (and not to be confused with) Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750).

Opening up, we glimpse two neo-classical statues poised as if awaiting for the show to begin, fixed stares upon the entrance to closed set. A stark-naked male gives kisses of greetings to men and women who come "with a glint of hope and an open eye..." The cast ventures into the closed set with mixed feelings: one girl prays, another boy signals for luck, while others simply walk in casually with a smile (and remove clothing here and there); and soon the door is closed... Time goes by inside: who knows what in the world went on inside? Then with a swift opening of the door, out come the models, one-by-one...pure, liberated, aspirational spirits. Running out scantly-clad or beautifully nude, they are carefree and enjoying it. But running why? For what? To a paradise where dreamers become stars, perphaps? In the final act, a nude model bows down with the grace of a triumphant actor as if to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, we hope you enjoyed our wonderful presentation, a celebration of fun and youth." Yes, naked actor, I completely relished every second of it...

A&F Campus, home of the hyper-cool and totally gorgeous!

Forget working there, I want to live there! A&F Home Office where everything goes down. It is an idealised college-campus-of-sorts were fun and cool rule the curriculum...it seems rather more like a college town, really. I like to also look at it as a very Fitch-alicious Rome: the complex is the capital of an ever expanding international fashion empire that has been taking the world by a storm!

Home Office is completely awe-inspiring, and the intention was for it to be so when designed back in the early 2000s. The A&F Team is surrounded by their element. The architecture, and the overall aesthetic of the entire campus, is a contrast of the rustic outdoors and modern appeal. Such illustration embodies the historic heritage of Abercrombie & Fitch (as a respected outdoors company) while capturing its revolutionary modern image (as a world renown fashion entity): the two, harmoniously co-existing, signify a progressive future. To keep development flowing, the campus is centralized, balanced, and relaxed. Smilling faces work and chill side-along-side among the many structures housing all the state-of-the-art amenities that keep the ball rolling. Everything that you see in stores - from the lighting to the scent - is meticulously chosen in on-Campus mock-up stores. Home Office is where it is all at!

Check out the video above (if you haven't done so already) to get a visual perspective of what I mean...its very vibrant, energetic...only A&F.

Our Idol Bruce Weber in Talks Photography in 'The Teen Vogue Handbook'

Weber captured the enduring beauty of Hispanic model Jessica Perez in this image for the A&F Christmas 2006 marketign campaign (one of my favorites!).

"His easy, intimate images of beautiful young people (Abercrombie, anyone?) has established this lensman as one of the fashion world's most celebrated talents" - 'Teen Vogue Handbook', pg.214

He is the man behind the lens...The iconic image that has become synonymous with Abercrombie & Fitch - that of a black-and-white euphoric paradise populated by the body-beautiful - is the product of a brilliant mind world renowned. Through his adored photography, Bruce Weber brings to us worlds unique, sensual and wonderfully racy. And if you are as artistically inspired by his genius my Fitch-alicious friends then check him out in 'The Teen Vogue Handbook'!!!

Yeah, I purchased the book back when it first hit shelves - duh, who didn't - and was totally delirious when, turning the page in the photographers section, I came across the one-and-only, Mr. Bruce Weber! Really, it is wonderful that he took time to provide readers with details from inside his genius. Not only does he shares on that which motivates him, but he also gives advice on how to follow your photographic dreams!

Hallmarks of his work include physical perfection, sensuality, euphoria, timeless appeal...oh yes, and brilliant splashes of homoeroticism here and there. The scandalously risky imagery that propelled Calvin Klein Underwear to highness in the minds all...created by Weber. The colorful, warm appeal that comes to mind when Ralph Lauren crosses the mind...created by Weber. All that talent, he brought to Abercrombie & Fitch in 1993 when he joined the company as its exclusive lensman.

And just as CK and RL, A&F skyrocketed to fame as the quintessential, fun (and, yes, often times controversial) upscale brand for the American youth. A&F liberated Weber and allowed him to express himself uninhibited by the restraints of otherwise "artistic-controlling entities". Nothing embodies this more that the now historic 'A&F Quarterly' publication first launched in 1997. Its artistic content brought sex in advertising to unprecedented levels and, as a result, the hyper-successful (and hyper-notorious) 'A&F Quarterly' became the envy of the marketing world!

Today, he continues the party going with ever wonderful imagery for Abercrombie & Fitch and its children brands. Not only that, but he has also photographed Kristen Steward (in my opinion, beautifully à la Abercrombie) and Zac Efron, as well, for Teen Vogue. So go and get a copy of the 'Teen Vogue Handbook' to read up on the man who brought to us all those magnificent chiseled abs, breasts, and gorgeous faces!

Check It Out! An Old RUEHL Ad to Spark Memories

"Package...Suggestive...Attitude..."

This is an ad for 'The V' premium demin line from RUEHL No.925. I don't know when it was released, but it totally makes me wanna jump into a pair...if only, if only.... The male model by-the-by (who plainly makes you just ignore the jeans anyway) is Alan Ritchson.

Analysts Deliver, A&F is Back in the Game!

An ad for discounts in the women's division at Abercrombie & Fitch

Okay, let's face it. Abercrombie & Fitch has had some pretty sucky months on the financial rollercoaster that has become the world economy. Since the inception of the ever annoying late-2000s economic recession, the Company's strong grip on the domestic market (in the USA) has slackened. Meanwhile, the international store openings have reaped up heavy profits. What is the problem on the home turf? We want something more than the same (although I don't complain myself, really). So that is what A&F decided to do...satisfy the fans with something quite unlike anything else. Drumroll, please...Discounts. BAM! Yeah, the Company finally decided that discounts are better for it since the original plan of "hold-our-pride-by-continuing-high-prices-and-no-discounts-in-a-tough-sales-environment" failed.

Well, I respect the pride and see it their way as well, but as the old cliqué goes, "Tough measures call for tough calls" (Ahem, the closure of RUEHL). People honestly began to flock somewhere else, and you can't blame them: It has been tough times, indeed, for many. Even I had to cut back some on my A&F spending budget. And so Back-to-School comes along, and we are introduced to the A&F Screen Test along with its partner-provocateur A&F Quarterly and a wave of discounts on all jeans! Did I mention the Screen Test that'll "spark a flint to the stars?" This is honestly A&F at its desperate best and the result is an unforgettable season unlike any other!

With these newbies, Abercrombie & Crew - catchy name for the family, don't you think - is getting back on top of its aesthetically-and-fashion-challenged competitors. BMO analysts (and numerous others) see the Company with its neck high above the water as it "outperforms" itself by bringing back the traitor consumers who left it for cheaper bargains.

Going Latin: A&F to Open in Puerto Rico

The prototype A&F facade which will be applied to the upcoming San Juan store.

Abercrombie & Fitch will set sail off the American coast to open it's first ever Latin America store in San Juan, Puerto Rico! Oh, que lindo! The 10,000 square foot store will be located in the Plaza Las Américas mall (and is to be found on the first level). It will open in December 2010 - all recent store openings have occured around this time of the year - during the company's profitable Christmas fashion season.

RIP: Returned Undies Get Shredded at Gilly Hicks

'Down Undies' by Gilly Hicks

Call me naïve, but I always wondered how women tried on underwear in stores. Do they go back on shelves as if nothing? I had no clue what happened to tried on undies until very recently. There is a curious practice going on at Gilly Hicks, the cheeky cousin of Abercrombie & Fitch. Undies are not allowed to be tried on in store, but Gilly Girls can try them on at home and then return the undies to the store where associates put them away for shredding.

What difference does it make, then, if they are tried on in store or at home? They are still going to be shredded, so they might as well be tried on in store. But the thing is, then everybody would be running in and out trying on everything, every time - oh, the slaughter of undies that would then ensue! So the current policy does make some sense in that it makes the consumer more careful on selecting a size (eliminating the constant runs to the changing room). On the other hand, however, it is down right wasteful! Why not simply introduce a non-refundable policy on them? Since the consumer is already more likely to purchase the right size in the first place…food for thought.

New 'A&F Quarterly' is a Proud Symbol of Globalization for Abercrombie & Fitch

The cover of the new 'A&F Quarterly' instores now!

Long gone are the days when Abercrombie & Fitch used to be a label exclusively for the American youth. Today, the Company is a major international tour-de-force now operating stores in Europe and Asia as well: The presence of the company in the global market is ever growing and growing… On 17 July 2010, the A&F Quarterly made a beautiful return as a part of the Back-to-School 2010 marketing campaign themed ‘Screen Test’. Like everyone who was lucky enough to get their hands on a copy, I had my eyes glued to it as I turned page-after-page of pure, blissful Abercrombie-ness. My mind was focused on nothing else as it tried to analyze every aspect of Bruce Weber's coveted A&F photography.

When I finally did get my brain to start thinking normally again – that took a while, am I right people? – I got to thinking that there was more to this Quarterly than meets the eye. What makes this edition of the Quarterly stand out above its precedents is not the abundance of butts, breasts, and chiseled abs. On the contrary, it is the fact that this 2010 Quarterly is the first to be sold on a global scale. I mean, people around the world got to enjoy this beauty simultaneously! The plastic wrapping was stamped with a label, warning consumers of the wonderful adult content inside, in English, Italian, and Japanese. The back also features prices for the edition in six global currencies! So all-in-all, you have in your hands - it is a pity if you don't - a symbol of the 21st century globalization of Abercrombie & Fitch!

I know it will be hard for you guys to keep that A&F Quarterly in pristine condition, with you all drooling over it as I expect. But seriously, try having some self-control (I known it'll be hard), and try to conserve for yourself a little piece of Abercrombie & Fitch history...

After Taking Over Japan, A&F Plans An American Invasion of China

People croud in as the doors open to A&F Ginza, the brand's first Asian location, on 15 December 2009

Now that Abercrombie & Fitch has established itself as the coolest shop in Japan, the question remains, “When in the world will it open in China!” This is a question often pondered by the mass of Chinese demand awaiting an opening in the country. As of now, China is the world’s third largest consumer of luxury goods (trailing behind the United States and then Japan). Never mind that! The nation is experiencing an ever increasing number middle and upper class consumers, a result from the ongoing economic growth of the People’s Republic of China: The nation’s economy recently made history when it became the second largest economy in the world, dethroning Japan. Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China, and found of the coast of mainland China, is also on the high-demand list.

The Company has expressed interest in opening in China in the near future. So far, plans are not for flagship openings. The brand will initially open in malls, with the first Abercrombie & Fitch in China possibly opening in Shanghai. This is my prediction: expect an opening before 2015, and another one in Taipei, too.

Refer back to this blog as I keep you posted on further developments…

UPDATE (15 August 2011): A&F Hong Kong will open doors in 2012 - the first ever A&F location in China!