But these will have your friends drooling over your superficial wounds with envy. With the tagline "Heal in Style" these FDA approved adhesive bandages, cleverly named Brandages, play off famous and recognizable status symbols from such fashion brands as Burberry, Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. The patterns and logos are modified ever so slightly - undoubtedly to avoid a lawsuit.
They are so fashionable, I may just have to give myself a papercut.
Gucci inspired Brandages: Chanel inspired Brandages: Burberry inspired Brandages: Louis Vuitton inspired Brandages: In addition to the status brand inspired versions, they will be coming out with solid colored bandages and these dog-inspired bandages as well: all images courtesy of Brandages
Right now there's only one place you can purchase Brandages and that's at the hip online Japanese lifestyle store Sugoi Life.
Angelina Jolie is the latest celebrity photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Louis Vuitton's ongoing "Core Values" ad campaign. Posing in a wooden boat in Cambodia, and wearing her own clothes, the print ad broke yesterday and will soon be accompanied by an interview with the actress, filmed on location, to be featured on Louis Vuitton's Journeys microsite.
Angelina Jolie print ad for Louis Vuitton, shot by Annie Leibovitz
The previous ads, photographed by Annie Leibovitz for the Louis Vuitton Core values campaign, are shown below and feature Bono, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride and Jim Lovell and Sean Connery:
What makes Angelina's ad even more beautiful is that Ms. Jolie has donated a large slice of the $10m (£6m) she is said to have been paid from a Louis Vuitton photo shoot to charity, according to Sky News.
The following teaser launched yesterday on Louis Vuitton's Journey microsite:
From WWD: She’s barefoot, wearing her own clothes, no makeup and toting her own elegantly weathered monogrammed Alto bag. Yet Angelina Jolie looks radiant and completely in her element, reclining on a wooden boat in a verdant, lakeside landscape in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province. Jolie discovered the country in 2000 when she filmed “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” and it sparked her humanitarian activism.
She’s the latest celebrity to pose for Louis Vuitton’s popular “Core Values” campaign — and surely the only one who brought four children to the photo shoot, some of whom had to be shooed out of Annie Leibovitz’s frame.
“People are not used to seeing Angelina in this situation,” said Pietro Beccari, Vuitton’s executive vice president, unveiling the image exclusively to WWD. “I like the fact that it’s a real moment. This travel message we give through personal journeys is a fundamental one for the brand.”
The ad is slated to break in the International Herald Tribune on Wednesday, followed by a range of news, general interest and lifestyle publications, including Vanity Fair.
Beccari declined to disclose budgets for the media buy, or comment on reports Vuitton paid the American actress millions for the shoot. He would only say Jolie donated an undisclosed portion of her fees to a charity.
The campaign is expected to run for at least 18 months alongside a few other recent “core values” personalities, including Bono and Sean Connery. Vuitton introduced the advertising concept in 2007 as a way to trumpet its travel roots and showcase its perennial monogrammed leather goods as a balance to its fashion-driven marketing — and to reach a broader audience. Other personalities who have posed for Vuitton include Mikhail Gorbachev, Keith Richards and Catherine Deneuve.
Today, Louis Vuitton posted the teaser on its Web site, louisvuittonjourneys.com/cambodia, foreshadowing an interview with Jolie that will be posted later in the month. In it, she is expected to discuss how her visit to Cambodia was a life-changing experience, awakening her to the plight of Third World countries. She adopted her eldest son, Maddox, from Cambodia and she and Brad Pitt established the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which is active in community development and conservation in the country.
“This campaign is about a very special person and a very special journey,” Beccari said.
And a storied handbag. Beccari showed off several paparazzi shots of Jolie toting the Alto carryall, which is believed to be at least six years old. The style is no longer in production, but “we are considering to re-edit it,” Beccari noted.
above: detail of a Chameleon, made completely of Louis Vuitton's small leather goods.
Recently, Louis Vuitton tapped Chameleon Visual and the incredibly talented propmaker/puppeteer/artist Billie "Fingers" Achilleos for a second time*. In this instance, it was to create four bespoke animals made from Small Leather Goods for their AW11 Press event, which was held in Paris this week.
The Chameleon - for colour:
The Grasshopper - for sounds of zips and press studs:
The Beaver - for functionality: above photo only, courtesy of tumblr
& the Armadillo - for the materials strength:
Imagery Provided by Louis Vuitton Press Department, via the artist
*Earlier this year Billie Achilleos, the self-proclaimed "Maker of Things" was approached by Chameleon Visual to produce some very unique creatures for the debut windows of Louis Vuitton’s New Bond Street Maison. Each of the 20 bespoke animals was carefully constructed out of genuine Louis Vuitton bags, purses and accessories and resented in dome jars.
The windows were such a success, they did it again for the New York store.
Here's a few images of those, courtesy of the artist: above left: the window of the Bond Street store and right, in New York.
Bond Street, frog: Crab and Fish: New York: Snake and Rooster:
Scott Amron of Amron Experimental has come up with a chic and clever way to fashionably "dress your wound". The New York designer/artist and electrical engineer sells his "Hurt Couture" pressed black leather bandages 3 to a pack for $15. He claim that the leather actually breathes better. Not sure if that's true, but they certainly look better.
He intends to come out with some Louis Vuitton ones, too (shown above). Get on his mailing list for those here.
