Urban Outfitters sells clothing and housewares to the teens-to-30s demographic. Often, the strategy to appeal to younger consumers plays up "independence" as at Hollister and Abecrombie & Fitch. Urban Outfitters follows this route, but with an interesting twist. Typically, when a designer wants to talk about being modern in an urban landscape, he or she will go for the converted warehouse loft look - exposed brick, wooden floor, maybe even exposed HVAC unites and pipes. Urban Outfitters tries a riskier direction with what might be described as the "unfinished basement" look - exposed 2-by-4s, plywood and pegboard, bad wallpaper. It's the raw look of a converted loft without any of the personality. The loft look is about inserting life into the city. The basement look is about an apathy towards living environment. And that fits with much of the clothing which focuses on retro, ironic, or kitschy words and images that provoke, but don't really convey any meaning.
You are right! I also think Urban Outfitters doesn't pay attention to their place. So, every time when I want to find something, I have to ask the seller there. So do others. The seller there are always busy and I have to wait for a long time. On the other hand, I think Abecrombie & Fitch they do a great job on designing. The excellent design style and light make customers feel they want to buy something as long as they walked into their shop.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to compare different stores, their designs, and their target consumers. I was curious of what you meant when you said "bad wallpaper", do you mean ugly, low quality, or something else?
ReplyDeleteGaoming