A while ago I made a post about some of my favourite Instagram accounts to follow. I mentioned how hard it was to pick only 5, which is why I'm back with some more lovely feeds for you! This time I'll be focusing on a few brands accounts which I still find so incredibly pleasing to the eye, I can't but mentally congratulate their social media teams.
As usual, in no particular order:
@thefuturekept (link)
The Future Kept are a team of husband and wife who collaborate and work in the fields of interior, graphic and product design, styling, photography, writing, and brand development. Their online shop offers a selection of some amazingly-designed, beautiful objects for the home, which they design and source from independent designers, artists and artisans. I am big on this recent and upcoming trend of buying less and buying better, and their business values are rooted in exactly that belief. They write on their website: "Our primary goal with The Future Kept is to inspire more people to think carefully about the items they have in their lives, by putting together a collection of best in class products all with a story to tell." They also donate a percentage of all their profits at the end of each year. What's not to love?
@noatpaper (link)
It's no secret that I'm a sucker for stationery, especially when extremely pretty such as the one by Noat Paper. I love their icy pastel colour palette and thin, modern and scandi-minimalist lines. I wish all my cards looked like theirs and I'm always happy to see a new post by them whilst scrolling down my feed. Their website also features some amazing imagery in their "Mood" section, which perfectly encapsulates their philosophy.
"Sharing a quiet sense of style and nostalgia, with simple pleasures that deepen senses."
@bullettmagazine (link)
Am I cheating for bringing in a magazine? It is still a brand after all in a way. Either way, Bullett Magazine's Instagram feed is without a doubt one of my favourites. They are a print and interactive "transmedia" company that curates bold, engaging fashion, art, film and music for young, international tastemakers, who isn’t afraid to write articles that spark discussion, with editorials calling out the skinny model debate and how to write about fashion intellectually. Their feed is but a reflection of their eclectic and curious taste. They always manage to find such amazing and inspiring images which span from illustration, to fashion photography, to anything artsy and creative in general. Another thing I love is that they always credit the creator's Instagrams, allowing me to often wander off on a social media rabbit hole of artistic discovery.
@danielwellington (link)
“Minimalistic and unpretentious. A timeless classic”. One of my favourite Instagram feeds, it features minimalistic and often artistic shots of the watch, often in very creative settings which can appeal to a wide range of audience, especially since a lot of the photos are sent in by actual buyers. Some of the pictures are so clever and creative, and others just plan beautiful. Amazing product placement!
@geo_fleur (link)
Yes, I love cacti and general succulenta, could I be any more boring? What can I do, I've been hooked. I know that once I have my own place I won't be able to keep myself and will want to fill the house with these green beauties. Geo Fleur is one of the few cactus-Instagrams I follow, and they are by far one of my favourites. If you also like adorable aggregations of these mini-potted beauties then I suggest you give them a follow!
So here they are, my top 5 Instagram brands' feeds. Hope you found some inspiration in these and don't be surprised if I make another one of these soon enough!
Over and out,
B. x
As usual, in no particular order:
@thefuturekept (link)
@noatpaper (link)
"Sharing a quiet sense of style and nostalgia, with simple pleasures that deepen senses."
@bullettmagazine (link)
@danielwellington (link)
“Minimalistic and unpretentious. A timeless classic”. One of my favourite Instagram feeds, it features minimalistic and often artistic shots of the watch, often in very creative settings which can appeal to a wide range of audience, especially since a lot of the photos are sent in by actual buyers. Some of the pictures are so clever and creative, and others just plan beautiful. Amazing product placement!
@geo_fleur (link)
Yes, I love cacti and general succulenta, could I be any more boring? What can I do, I've been hooked. I know that once I have my own place I won't be able to keep myself and will want to fill the house with these green beauties. Geo Fleur is one of the few cactus-Instagrams I follow, and they are by far one of my favourites. If you also like adorable aggregations of these mini-potted beauties then I suggest you give them a follow!
So here they are, my top 5 Instagram brands' feeds. Hope you found some inspiration in these and don't be surprised if I make another one of these soon enough!
Over and out,
B. x
It is a pretty striking video whose intention appears quite clear to me: it is bold, it is engaging, it is inspirational and aspirational. The powerful voiceover features strong words and the footage itself is fast-paced, wild, adventurous, set in an urbanised nature and with a Thelma and Louise road trip vibe.
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| Still from Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise (1991). |
The first thing that caught my attention was how different the tone of voice of the video was from Lancôme's overall brand identity. Thinking I might have missed some pivotal change in consumer base or brand identity, I searched for other recent campaigns by the French luxury beauty house, but they only confirmed my intuition.
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| Lancôme's previous ad campaigns. |
Lancôme is a high-end perfume and cosmetics brand with over 75 years on its back and known for its refined, French luxury and this is consistently weaved through their products, in-store and online experiences, and ad campaigns. They target mainly women in their 40s whose focus is to keep looking healthy and young.
And it's not even to do with their "new face". Lily Collins, the face of the Énergie de Vie video ad, is certainly an unusual spokeswoman for the French brand, whose campaigns usually feature Hollywood stars the likes of Kate Winslet (40), Penelope Cruz (42) and Julia Roberts (48), all actresses and women of a quite higher caliber than Collins as well as, naturally, higher age (Collins has just turned 27 in March). However, other previous Lancôme campaigns which featured the young British-American actress clearly conformed to the brand's usual approach to ads:
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| Lily Collins in other Lancôme's campaigns. |
Yet this video's aesthetics and tone of voice seem to completely overturn these values. I honestly would never have guessed it was Lancôme hadn't there been a hovering logo on the top left throughout the whole thing! This ad is grungy, gritty, rebellious, it has attitude, it has spirit, it tastes of leather jackets and car tires on sand and urban streets. It has a decisive Millennial appeal, the sort of motivational "no-bullshit" type of narrative that this younger, but somewhat more cynical generation is attracted to like bees to honey. The style of it actually really reminded me of Baz Luhrmann's 1999 "Sunscreen" video. Both the music and script add to this feel, reaching their climax in a freedom-claiming and strongly feminist statement:
"you can do this, you can own this, you'll be proud
show the world what we're made of (...)
my energy is unstoppable
i'll show you what i'm made of"
There's nothing wrong with attempting to rejuvenate one's consumer base and to reach to a wider target audience by tweaking and matching one's brand's values to the aspirations of a new segment. As Françoise Lehmann, Lancôme’s CEO, explained, “The goal is not to rejuvenate the brand, only to target a wider population of women”. However, even the print ads for this same product which I found online seem to be completely clashing against the attitude of this video, maintaining instead Lancôme's traditional clean, fresh and organic feel which appeals to a sense of quality, trust and honesty in their products.
So my question is: what's your plan, Lancôme? You gotta make up your mind and pull all your strings together if you want your message to come through. As a matter of fact, I found it pretty hard to find a full version of the video, and none completely in English without subtitles: it has 4,000 views on Lancome Österreich (Austria), 2,193 in Lancome Suisse (Switzerland) and not even 1,000 on Lancome France YouTube channel. It looks good, so why hasn't it gone viral yet? Maybe because no one has got a clue what you've been up to with your campaigns.
Over and out,
B. x
Eve: "I think you just hate people."
James: "I don't mind people, I just can't stand collective idiocy."
What do you think would come out of a collaboration between Stuart Murdoch – the chief songwriter and lead singer for Belle and Sebastian – and the producers of Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums?
God Help the Girl is a coming-of-age story centred around Eve (Emily Browning). Eve is a catastrophe: at the start of the movie, she runs away from a eating disorders recovery clinic and wanders off into a candy-coloured and sun-dappled Glasgow holding nothing but a backpack and a tape, in which her dreams of becoming a recognised pop singer are enclosed. There she meets James (Olly Alexander), a cynical and awkward young guitarist, and Cass (Hannah Murray), a dreamy and kind of posh who wants to write songs. Three seemingly disparate souls, but brought together by their love for pop music and ideas about the role of musicians and the aspirations of today's songwriters. They are an improbable and yet perfectly put-together trio, just like their outfits, selected by costume designer Denise Coombes.
The dreamy and idyllic Glasgow scenes are marked by an undertone of dark psychological problems addressed to some too lightly, but to me it's sort of refreshing to see a movie with a character whose eating disorder isn't the main protagonist of the story, nor is it her defining characteristic, but something that creeps up at the worst times, unexpected, uninvited, and taking everything with it, but still something she can keep at bay.
God Help the Girl is, essentially, a 2-hour long Belle and Sebastian music video filled with charming little dialogues and sharp but casual retro-chic outfits. For me, it was a bit of a guilty pleasure: yes, the plot was definitely secondary if not non-existent and the characters have little real development; but the thinness of the story and the characters is what makes the movie pull out wings and fly high, dazzling you with a pinch of fairy dust, with a daintiness only possible thanks to Belle and Sebastian's lyricism and Emily Browning's amazing dream waif performance.
It is a movie about aspirations and goals, musical or otherwise.
“If you want to hear your voice floating in the middle of a beautiful tapestry of frequencies, you’re going to need a pop group.”
Needless to say, I was a huge fan of the soundtrack (it does help that I'm rather fond of Belle & Sebastian music), so if you want to take a tiny step into the twee and whimsical world of God Help the Girl, wait no further and let this one hour of delicious arrangements and uplifting choruses:
It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Brandon Stanton, a.k.a. Humans of New York. I have been following him on Facebook for years and watched him go from snapping the average passerby on the streets of New York, to going around the world to feature real stories of real people from over 20 countries, following causes, meeting refugees, and, basically, changing people's lives as well as the world a little bit at a time.
Which is why when I found out that, just like last year, HONY was going to be at the Met Gala, I was only waiting to see what he would come up with this time. While the press avidly howls at the celebrities our on the red carpet and paparazzi snapped juicy candids inside, Brandon skips on frivolous details such as what designer they're wearing or who they are currently dating, and he just finds the right questions to make anyone open up about their dreams, fears and aspirations. As per his usual format, his subjects are the focal point of the picture and each photograph is left anonymous and only accompanied by one simple quote that he extracted from their chats, which can last up to 10 minutes. I love how he included such a various range of Met personalities, not only high-profile celebrities the likes of Nicole Kidman and Elon Musk, but also employers and less "famous" faces.
All photographs via Brandon Stanton.
Which is why when I found out that, just like last year, HONY was going to be at the Met Gala, I was only waiting to see what he would come up with this time. While the press avidly howls at the celebrities our on the red carpet and paparazzi snapped juicy candids inside, Brandon skips on frivolous details such as what designer they're wearing or who they are currently dating, and he just finds the right questions to make anyone open up about their dreams, fears and aspirations. As per his usual format, his subjects are the focal point of the picture and each photograph is left anonymous and only accompanied by one simple quote that he extracted from their chats, which can last up to 10 minutes. I love how he included such a various range of Met personalities, not only high-profile celebrities the likes of Nicole Kidman and Elon Musk, but also employers and less "famous" faces.
All photographs via Brandon Stanton.
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| “From the moment he could speak, he could discuss.” |
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| "I'm afraid we're moving toward an environmental apocalypse where everyone is going to be living in slums and I'm going to be a 60-year-old woman gasping for breath." |
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| "We always tell each other: 'Whatever form you came in, I'd love you.'" |
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| "I'm a fashion associate. I come from a family of doctors and lawyers, so I do feel frivolous at times. Fashion is a luxury. I know that everyone gets dressed in the morning, so clothing is a necessity, but a dress like this is not even for the one percent—it's for the .001 percent. But there's something magical about that. When I was a little girl, I put pictures of these dresses on my bedroom wall. It's what I aspired to. And this dress was somebody's dream and vision. Fifty artisans spent thousands of hours making this. That doesn't seem frivolous to me. That seems like servitude and artistry. It's people doing what they love." |
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| "I grew up in India where a woman got married, settled down, and kept a house. I never thought I’d do anything different. I lived a very sheltered existence. I went to a British school, then a women’s college, and then I met my husband. I assumed that I’d be taken care of for the rest of my life. But shortly after we came to America, my husband slipped into a coma and lingered for another 15 years. We had a small child at the time. I’d never worked before, except for a part-time job in the bookshop at the Met. I was a very quiet person. And suddenly I had to make all of the decisions. I had to get a full-time job. It was empowering. I learned that I could be fearless, I could be angry, and I could fight. These were three things that I'd never had to do before. I was thinking recently that if my husband had lived, he might not have liked who I’ve become." |
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| "We started dating shortly after she acquired a stalker—bad start, I know. So she had security with her 24/7. Our first date went great. It was the kind of night that was clearly going to end with a kiss. But I had to kiss her in front of the security guards. It was awkward. It was like our parents were watching. The next morning she knocked on my hotel room door. She was alone. She walked into the room and said: 'I can do better.'" |
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