Ideas beyond words

So there you have it, over our preceding pages a range of opinions on whether fashion and beauty advertising plays to different rules, alongside work that perhaps demonstrates just that. Or not.

We posed it because, at Lürzer’s Archive, over many years, we have always loved the best of fashion and beauty work and yet at times struggle to place it. Occasionally we have to face down critical remarks such as “that’s not really an idea” or “it’s just like every other fashion ad”, as old-school creative conservatives (if that’s not a full-on oxymoron) fail to see the finer points of how fashion and beauty concepts work. But we know the leading edge of fashion and beauty communications is often the bleeding edge of communications. It is a messy and provocative space, and truly exciting. It is often full of creativity that is beyond clear explanation … it’s that creative.

Our commentators over previous pages note that fashion and beauty is often different in its creativity and that is its strength. It plays in a more visual way, or a more avant-garde way, because that is at the core of what it is often selling. How you look is (almost) everything.

Some of the most pioneering creative communications in fashion and beauty point to the future as the very nature of their message.

Typically led by image but increasingly working through powerful integrated ways across media, and increasingly pioneering new digital tools and tech, we can see communications in these industries as creative forecasters. For example, they have often been agile in addressing and leading on social and environmental impact issues, and at the forefront of evolving “brand purpose”. But there is much more to do.

For example, fashion and beauty brands have to be at the front in tackling climate change and sustainability concerns. Surely the demise of fast fashion, as we know it, cannot be far off? There will be radical new stories to tell, which will call for new creative methods.

So the answer to our question – does fashion and beauty have different creative rules? – is this: the rules were not so different in the past but may be in the future. These are industries that can be, must be, more pioneering and more challenging, to keep relevant.

Yes, they are just selling clothes and makeup. And yet these industries are, at worst, only superficially superficial. Sometimes the fun of it all makes them seem that way. In fact, they are vital, fundamental expressions of ourselves. The resulting creativity has to walk a tightrope of being wonderfully engaging to shape our tastes but also highly effective to help shape a better world.