Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Branding the Famous: John Wayne


John Wayne Iconic American Brand to Expand to Home Furnishings Categories

Wayne Enterprises
, the sole and exclusive keeper of the John Wayne brand, has signed RWG Licensing, a strategic marketing and licensing consulting company, to assist it in identifying and securing licensed product and endorsement partnerships in the home furnishings and accessories categories.

Steve Regan, principal of RWG, said, “Consumer awareness of John Wayne is universal and his appeal remains extremely broad. It’s an ideal time to focus on an iconic, all-American brand in the home furnishings category.”

Ethan Wayne, president of Wayne Enterprises, added, “We’re excited to have RWG Licensing working with us to bring the John Wayne brand into the home furnishings and accessories categories, and look forward to expanding our current licensing partnerships and products to include a lifestyles product line that he would be proud of.”

John Wayne is certainly an iconic figure - but to whom? Will he appeal to a younger demographic? Women make well more than 80% of the purchasing decisions for the home. Does he appeal to today's woman? Or does he seem like your Grandfather's hero - stalwart, trustworthy but not today?

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Gift Guide for Men


Grace of Design*Sponge has been putting out some amazing gift and city guides recently. Her most recent was actually put together by her boyfriend AC for the men out there. Pretty neat stuff, so click on over!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Bachelors Getting it Right in Boston!

The Boston Globe recently ran an article profiling several local bachelor pads - from the luxuriousness of the Ritz Carlton Towers to a tiny 350 sq. ft. city condo - these spaces are not only beautiful, but are visual expressions of their owners personalities and interests. They represent what I consider the ultimate goal in decorating - a beautiful space that is also highly personal. Lucky is the lady who gets taken home to these digs for dinner!

Plum Island get-away. I used to live in Newburyport, MA (Plum Island is part of Newburyport) and the setting for this house is stunning! (Photos by Peter Vanderwalker)





An auto dealer's apartment in the Ritz Carlton Towers (photos by Eric Roth)







350 Sq. Ft. Condo (Photos by David L. Ryan)




Leather district loft (photos by Eric Roth)


Click here for more information and photos. Scroll down to the Real Estate section.

All photos courtesy of The Boston Globe.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Men's Decorating - An International View

(Jonathan Player for the IHT)

Check out this article in today's International Herald Tribune called "Bachelor Padding: Luxury and the Single Guy".

Alex Michelin "... had no plans to marry soon, so having comfortable surroundings, even though he lives alone, is important to him."

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Design Dud: The Girlfriend Pillow?

Um, not so much... (and yet it's sold out)

(as seen on: StyleDash)

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Modern Self - Bathroom makeover


Eric over at Modern Self has been showcasing his great bathroom makeover project. His fabulous apartment was featured as part of Apartment Therapy's recent Smallest, Coolest contest. In this post, he showcases the amazing one of a kind striped walls in the bathroom. Thanks for sharing, Eric!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Bachelor Pad as Cultural Icon

Here's a fascinating, if somewhat academic and long, article on the cultural iconography of the Bachelor Pad.

Here's the abstract of the full article:

The Bachelor Pad as Cultural Icon

Masculinity, Consumption and Interior Design in American Men's Magazines, 1930–65

Bill Osgerby

London Metropolitan University

Si Non Oscillas, Noli Tintinnare

(Trans: ‘If You Don't Swing, Don't Ring’).

Inscription on a brass plaque at the entrance to the Playboy Mansion, 1960

Focusing on the representation of domestic interiors in American men's magazines during the mid-twentieth century, this article explores the history and significance of the ‘bachelor pad’ as an icon of high-living modernity. Beginning with a consideration of Esquire magazine in the 1930s, attention is given to representations of the sleek, stylish bachelor apartment and its role as a totem of forward-looking and ‘liberated’ masculine consumerism. Depicted as a place where men could luxuriate in a milieu of sybaritic indulgence, the ‘bachelor pad’ was configured as the spatial manifestation of a consuming masculine subject who later became pervasive amid the consumer boom of the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, the fantasy of the chic, gadget-laden ‘bachelor's lair’ was a recurring icon of hedonistic, masculine consumption in men's magazines such as Playboy, Escapade and Rogue. Cosmopolitan and brimming with รก la mode luxuries, the ‘bachelor pad’ was a leitmotif in these magazines' wider celebration of masculine consumer pleasure and desire. Analysis of these representations, it is argued, suggests that in American culture during the mid-twentieth century the ‘masculine’ arena of production and the ‘feminine’ domain of consumption were not neatly and clearly divided. Instead, the iconography of the ‘bachelor pad’ in American men's magazines points to a significant masculine presence within mid-twentieth century commodity culture.

The full article is available for download on The Journal of Design History.

It's fascinating - the thought of a time when men were equal consumers of home design products and lifestyle ideas and this helped him define himself as the unquestionably masculine "Mans' Man, Ladies Man". Today we have the Metro-Sexual, which feels closer to the "straight gay-guy". The women's movement certainly played a part in the downsizing of the concept of "man as predator", but how did we go from "Bachelor Pad as Cultural Icon" to "real men don't eat quiche, or shop for home furnshings"?