> Shooting in Cinque Terre

From one Jaune Catalogue to the other, I have been busy working on the vlog, and one exciting project you'll soon here about all launching in a few weeks. but today It's time to share the Summer 2019 JAUNE campaign, all shot in Italy, inspired by the beautiful mediterranean villages of Cinque Terre.

Watch the video to discover the beautiful footage and why we chose this destination:

>JAUNE fall winter behind the scenes

You've been wondering what happened since the last time I was here? Well... Fall happened! And with it the busy schedules, winter campaigns, shop windows... But it gives me nice things to share, like what we shot for JAUNE. 
Aviation and jet travel was the theme and we were lucky to shoot in two great locations: MEA training center & conference center, as well as Cedar Jet.
Watch the full video for more:

> Lisbon Stories

Ever since I saw Lisbon Story by Wim Wenders I fell in love with this beautiful city! And each time I revisit, i find new places and spaces... Here are my favorite spots since I know a lot of you are choosing Portugal as a destination this summer!

As you see, we were lately for a JAUNE shooting so I'm happy to share part of the work here, done in Caparica:



Last but not least you can still win a trip to Lisbon with Jaune: Check out the details here.

Painting the Roofs of Paris in JAUNE !

Thrilled to share with you our latest work for JAUNE, the Lebanese Men's Style brand!

"Les Toits de Paris" campaign was done as a guerilla-shooting in Paris and would not have been possible without the flexibility of the small (but GREAT) team: Jonathan Caillat as main model & producer, Imad El Khoury as photographer & videographer, myself as art director & film director, backed up of course by the JAUNE style & production team represented by their manager Joe Daher who was so cool he did not even mind ironing the outfits ;-)
Hats off also to Daniel Baradie as well who always does wonders with our rushes...

I leave you with my favorite images from the lookbook:

If you like the clothes, they are available in all JAUNE shops!

> The Young Pope & other delicacies

Forgive me Father for I have sinned, I lust after Jude Law in fabulous new series The Young Pope !

An excellent venture between Canal, HBO & Sky, The Young Pope, directed by my favorite "regista", Paolo Sorrentino of infamous "La Grande Bellezza" and "Youth", gathers an impressive cast of creme de la creme actors from France and Belgium (Cecile de France, Ludivine Sagnier) Italy (Silvio Orlando) the US (Diane Keaton, James Cromwell)...

 ...and Her Majesty's very own Jude Law, although he plays the  first American and youngest pope! He is so much into his role that you almost forget he ever was British! (Remember my guest post about Brits invading Hollywood?)

Now what would you expect this series to be? A mix of Moretti's Habemus Papam and House of cards? Well yes and no, or rather just a teeny weeny bit. The truth is that it is the most refreshing work I've seen in a movie or TV series in the past 5 years or more!

The amazing contradictory devilish-yet-pristine half-god-half-human played by Jude Law is so intense and palpable in just a silence, a look, or an unpredictable riposte; the various complex characters are divinely played as well and the writing of Sorrentino is simply top notch. Eye/Ear candy I tell you...

And did I mention the music is to die for?

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Let's make this post a "café gourmand" now shall we?
I'll share two other must-see series, and I've really chosen for you ones that have only a few episodes ;-)

Now I do not have an accent fetish, don't worry, i am actually more of a sapiosexual, hence.. Season 4 of the amazing Sherlock, starring 
my other favorite Brit, Benedict Cumberbatch. Oh we did not define sapiosexual? Why, aroused by wit of course! Or should i say elementary? BBC One's finest :

Last but not least, the most ironic one of all: 
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: a hilarious series about a hot shot lawyer from NYC who goes back to nowhere, i.e. West Covina CA, chasing after her long lost teenage boyfriend... With parody songs that put every insane situation into notes and lyrics, curvy Rachel Bloom will make you cry of laughter ;-)

So there you go! Now you know what to do if you don't want to stroll on the corniche or hit those white slopes...

Addiction risk, beware...

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> Adios Lookbooks... Hello Fashion Videos!

If like me you are a lover of all things pretty, even if you don't work in fashion, design or online marketing, you must have noticed the shift in mediums lately.
Of course "Print is NOT dead", in fact the book industry is doing quite well, and even if everyone is on kindle, many still love the touch and feel of paper.. Personally i even love the smell! However since I try to be eco-friendly I try to keep my books and magazines virtual, & I treat myself to an actual hard copy from time to time as a guilty pleasure...

But something is actually dying, hence our title today, and it is the Fashion Catalogue! 
It's a century old industry and even though we are still addicted to consumerism and fast fashion, we consume less and less catalogues. 
Why? Because Fashion Video is the new Music Clip! 
Even lookbooks are now tiny portions of moving images, as if from snapchat, just remember those Mango Cara + Kate Led screens at the beginning of the season...

Even when there is no particular story telling, the shift is here and it is beautiful eye candy! 

But when it actually tells a story, oh my, that's ART for me:



And will you look at that too:

Pure quintessence of all arts: fashion, graphics, composition, music, art direction, film direction...

The trend is also for fun, user friendly videos, where everyone can identify, like for example these videos for the brand I work for, Superga Italian sneakers:

This is the unique Man Repeller...

And here's one from our very own Lebanese bloggers, Elsa O & Bubblegum Fashion Face, for a workshop we organized together:


Fashion videos are even messing with other worlds, like cinema for example, and the great Kingsman X Mr Porter Collection
where the boutique from the film was actually a real pop up on Savile Row (I wrote about it here on Joesbox...)

Or Fashion meets Gastronomy by Mr Porter :


Of course, you have tutorials stars, like our youtuber & Leb Sweetheart Maya from Playing With Fashion,  or fashion event reports or many other styles..

In conclusion, you can do whatever you like, keep it around 1 minute, think of the details ( idea, composition, light, VO...) and the world is yours!

I leave you with an NSFW video by fashion guru Alvaro della Herran, for GQ men's fashion magazine, Spain:

Kinky isn't it? The theme is euuh, used and abused, if you permit me saying so ;-) but it is wonderfully interpreted and shows off suits quite well..

Hope u have good internet to enjoy all these,
love xx
M

Less is More JAUNE rebranding campaign

I know I always shared sneak peeks of my work before they went public but this time, given the ultra confidentiality i could not. I waited for the shops to open and the look book to be sent!
But now we can share it with the world:-)

As you know, Rectangle Jaune has been on the market for 28 years, strong with their high end quality DNA, they shifted to a smaller name, JAUNE, in order to reach more and go global.
To embrace their new design motto "Less is more", we decided to remove the pocket label and use only the yellow threads on the second button as signature:

Fun, right?
Also we brainstormed for weeks for the best concept to explain this uplifting and came up with these films, created by myself, directed by Ghassan Koteit and produced by The Filmhouse :



And this one starring Maya from Playing With Fashion:



In a nutshell, we are saying that while we are proud of our heritage, "change is the only constant"! So we simplified our approach to be more minimalist and enhance our essential qualities, which is in the current Zeitgeist...

Above a picture from the TRENDS wardrobe: new structures and patterns, with closer cuts.

On the blue background, a picture from the ICONS classic wardrobe.

And this last one is from the ACTIVE palette, with bold colors and nautical themes.

To celebrate the new branding and to present the collections into their perfect setting, BLEU design renovated our flagship boutiques. The elegant mix of rough wood and dark steel with bright yellow convey an atmosphere of boldness & warmth, portraying perfectly the style codes of the modern gentleman.

As you see, rebranding a landmark is not an easy step and it involves every possible aspect; for instance the website Jaune.me developed by ActiveWeb follows the same "Less is More" spirit:

Which is also conveyed in the publication:

This barely sums up the works did in every field to boost this launch, but more reports and posts are coming very soon so stay tuned! ~M

Vis ta Spontaneité! McDonald's Switzerland refreshing TVC

Still trying to catch the name of agency & director but here we go:
to celebrate spring, mothers' day, my 9 years of blogging (!!),
I GREET YOU WITH WHAT A REAL ADVERTISING SHOULD BE!!



Funny, fresh, not afraid to show the product in extreme situations, full of REAL people, people of all kinds, NOT THE PERFECT CLEAN FAMILY (that doesn't exist) EATING PERFECT PRODUCTS (that don't exist either). Coming from the country of "clean", It's so fun to see this "dirty" ad.

My husband who's a film director said : "someone got fired after this!", I think on the contrary someone got promoted :-)

Enjoy...

#FashionFriday: Meryl Streep in 'Out of Africa'

"I had a farm in Africa once..."
This is the sentence I remember as a child when i sneaked into my mother's room while she was watching this movie on VHS.

You know I'm always inspired by fashion & film, so today I wanted to talk to you about this epic one.

"Out of Africa" is a 1985 drama movie by Sydney Pollack, based on the novel by Danish author Karen Blixen.

It tells the story of a strong woman of the early 20th century, who takes on a plantation farm in Kenya. As her husband is more of a "wanderer",  she is the one to take care of everything despite all the obstacles, meeting Denys Hatton (Robert Redford) along the adventure. 

The great performance of this amazing duo is tripled by the performance of the movie wardrobe, designed by Milena Canonero.

She did a marvelous job with the costumes, which are of a timeless style, and are still wearable today!

In fact this film inspired lots of collections in the late eighties by Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Mugler and others...

I wish i could tell you more, but that would be Spoiler Alert :-)

So what are you waiting for ? Go rent it, or download it!

> Downton Abbey Fashion 2015

Last time we talked about this it was 2012 as you can see right here, but since we reached the #LastDaysofDownton, I thought we should have a recap of the fashion outfits of Season 6.

Will you look at that smart mix of burgundy, grey tweed, and browns?

Night Blue bag and gloves with soft greige, Bravo Lady Mary!

The art direction was very interesting a few years back, but now, each scene, each sequence is a delight, and the quotes funnier time after time...

As all good things must come to an end, I wanted to immortalize these few snapshots.

"On the road" fashion editorial ~ RJ sneak peek

You've read the book, or at least seen the movie...

If I ever want to travel through the US, it is merely for a road trip on the Mystic Iconic Route 66, but only as Jack Kerouac described it. Maybe because this time is long gone, or was never real... maybe because it only exits in our imagination and in the poems of the Beat Generation.

Here's our Kerouac inspired shoot, on a route you all know, in a valley not so far from here...
Enjoy!

Thanks again to all the RJ team & to Imad El Khoury, this editorial was shot in difficult conditions.