After the uproar over Mike Jeffries comments today, I knew I had to do it...dig deep into my archives for these previously unpublished images...taken in April 2012, of the Abercrombie & Fitch store on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris...
It is impossible to describe the opulence with which one company can market ten items of clothing...each available at any given time in the same five color choices...
It was shocking to experience the popularity of the store first-hand...where guests are greeted at the gilt-encrusted gate by immaculately attired young men wearing flip flops...ushered down a stark, white pathway surrounded by carefully manicured greenery...lined up in the interior garden to meet the young male model, stripped to his jeans, who awaits them at the entrance to the store...
Once inside, where photography is not allowed...mea culpa...guests climb three flights of stairs...and find those same ten pieces of preppy clothing...in those same five colors...stacked on every conceivable table, corner, shelf...as music blares from a mulitude of speakers...as colored lights pan, flash and pulse...as associates shout out banal American jargon...it is an extravaganza not to missed...
And now that I view my images, I see that they fail to truly capture the unbelievable excess...they fail to capture the incredible amount of gilt on the entrance gates, doors, interior...they fail to capture the pristine whiteness of the small pebbles that line the walkway into the store...the careful vigilance of the gentlemen who, white rakes in hand, keep the property and its garden swept and immaculate...who with a flick of the wrist ensure each errant stone submits to their will and returns to its rightful place...
And I thought you might appreciate seeing the images anyway...
