Our Side Of The Screen: Material Girl Collection

Ed. Note: As a follow up to our earlier Back to School coverage on retailers’ redoubled efforts to lure teen shoppers back into the mall, fashion fan and Youth Advisory Board member Amanda Aziz steps up to weigh in on one of this season’s most high-profile campaigns: the Material Girl collection co-designed for Macy’s by Madonna and her daughter Lourdes.

You can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment below.

Full disclosure: Macy’s is a client of Ypulse Insights. See our ethics statement here.

Our Side Of The Screen: Material Girl

September 22 marked the New York launch of the much-talked about Material Girl clothing line from Madonna and her daughter Lourdes. Along with the mother-teen team, the face of the brand, rebellious teen star Taylor Momsen made her way down the pink carpet near the Herald Square location of Macy‘s. Here were my thoughts on the debut..

What is it?: Madonna (and Lourdes) have joined the long list of actors, singers, models, etc. who have added fashion designer to their resume with a new junior clothing line for Macy’s targeted towards the teen demographic.  Affordably priced, the 80s-inspired collection ranges in tone with a mix of girly skirts, tough jackets and a similarly eclectic variety of footwear and accessories. Lola and Madge got the help of Iconix Brand Group’s in-house fashion department.

Where do you come in?: When the buzz started around mid-spring 2010, the only thing I knew was that the clothing line was in the works. Then the publicity built up with the launch of a blog that Lourdes wrote herself (allegedly) and the crowning of the Material Girl spokesmodel: Taylor Momsen.

Now that the collection has launched, I took a look at the campaign’s microsite and saw that Macy’s is holding a Get Into The Groove contest where teens and young adults can submit a “dance-audition” video to be posted on YouTube and held to a vote to get into the finals. Non-contestants can interact by commenting and putting their input on who they think is the best dancer.

For those there to “window” shop, you can also click on the “Making of MG” video and see the gallery of photos of Taylor Momsen modeling some pieces from the line, or slides of magazines promoting Material Girl. However, to get a full look of the collection I had to go to Macy’s online site since I am from Canada and we don’t have a Macy’s here.

What works?: After taking a look at the collection, I was most impressed by the affordable prices. The highest price I saw was $78, and that was for a studded faux-leather jacket. Other than that, a lot of the items are under $45, which was definitely around the amount I’d spend on a piece.

As for the campaign, I  did like the fact that it was so internet-based. Even though magazines like Seventeen featured print ads, I thought I got a much better feel of it from the interactive site, and Lola’s fashion blog which has actually toned down the lolz speak and started adopting more of a “we” voice. So she might not be the next Tavi Gevinson,  aka the petite mastermind behind Style Rookie, but the blog is still a fast, easy way to find out about what runway trends the line was inspired by and actually did make me excited to see the final product.

Challenges: Two words: Taylor Momsen. It’s not that I have a vendetta against her because she does have a talent for acting and singing. I just wonder why Madonna chose her as a representative for Material Girl? To me, it seemed a strange image choice for a line she was launching with her daughter. I mean, we are talking about a girl who recently stripped down to skimpy lingerie for her band’s music video. I also find it funny that Taylor bashed pop-star Rihanna for wearing rock’n’roll clothing, yet then she goes and models a line of tough girl clothing made by someone this generation knows for being the Queen of Pop. It seemed a little bit hypocritical to me.

The final verdict: Even though the face of the line is the same age as me (17) and the models were in the young adult range, I thought the tough yet cute style would appeal mainly to the under 15 crowd versus older teens—with the exception of a few stylish pieces that seemed to have potential (another reason I’d have second thoughts about
Taylor “Pretty Reckless” Momsen).

Overall though, I thought the online campaign was a fun way to interact with the line. And since you had to go to the site, it felt like a more optional way to deal with advertising than ads that run on T.V. or you come across in magazines.

About Amanda

Being a true believer in the Socratic Method (no, seriously) and a 16 year-old high school junior living in London, Ontario, Canada, Amanda believes that asking questions might just get her somewhere. Even when it comes to finding her way out of the superficial labyrinth that is known as school, she is not one who refrains from a challenge. Reading novels and asking questions are what satisfies her need to learn, and to get insight on different cultures (and pop culture!), languages (she hopes to be fluent in seven… good luck with that) to International Law/Social Justice and trends. Though she has many interests, she insists that music, hiding in the library at lunch time, volunteering, being a member of Junior Achievement, making insanely bad jokes, and wishing at 11:11 to be the “few” staples she can always rely on. Another passion of hers? Writing- whether it is songs, poetry or stories, which is why Amanda is so excited to be a member of the YAB for Ypulse. Maybe asking questions might just get her somewhere after all?

For more coverage of youth marketing, go to the Ypulse Youth Marketing Channel sponsored by Youth Marketing Connection.